First hydrogen cargo vessel on target

The hydrogen vessel will be owned by French inland shipowner Compagnie Fluvial de Transport (CFT), a subsidiary of the Sogestran Group, and put to work moving goods on pallets and in containers along the River Seine in Paris. CFT is currently developing a new business for urban distribution with transport vessels in the Paris area.

“The demand for more sustainable technologies in inland waterway transport is on the rise,” said Matthieu Blanc, director of CFT. “As part of the Flagships project, we are happy to be leading the way on reducing emissions from transport and demonstrating the superior features of hydrogen fuel cells in waterborne applications.”

Zero-emission operations

In Belgium, Sogestran Group subsidiary, Blue Line Logistics (BLL) operates three cargo vessels sailing under the concept name ‘Zulu’. One Zulu vessel has also been put into operation in Paris, and an additional two Zulu ships are currently under construction for the same market. The Flagships project will install a hydrogen power generation system on one of the newbuilds, scheduled for delivery in September 2021. BLL plans to have the ship operating on hydrogen before the end of 2021.

The vessel will operate on compressed hydrogen produced from electrolysis for zero-emission operations. The power generation system will be supplied by ABB Marine & Ports, with fuel cells from Ballard. LMG Marin is responsible for detail design drawings, with hydrogen provided by suppliers in the Paris region.

The Flagships project was awarded EUR5m in 2018 from the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme, under the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH JU), to deploy two hydrogen vessels in France and Norway.