Concordia Damen reports that the hull of the first ever inland hydrogen vessel is on its way onboard a heavy-lift ship, along with other hulls for conventional vessesl, from the Yizheng Yangzi shipyard in Shanghai, ready for outfitting in the Netherlands.
The vessel, to be named Antonie, will be 135m long, feature a cargo capacity of 3,700t and will employ electric propulsion powered by a hydrogen fuel cell. Antonie will be used to transport salt between Delfzijl in the north of the Netherlands to Botlek in the Port of Rotterdam for chemical company Nouryon.
Concordia Damen CEO Chris Kornet said: “At Concordia Damen we have always been at the forefront of bringing increased sustainability to our industry. Greening the inland shipping sector is something which we feel passionate about and we will continue to work towards this goal. I believe there will not be one single way to reduce emissions in our sector, but a number of approaches. Hydrogen is likely to play an important role in the achievement of zero emissions in inland shipping. Lenten Scheepvaart are to be commended for taking this leading role.”
Shipowner Lenten Scheepvaart received a subsidy for the construction of the vessel to the value of €4m. The subsidy, from the Netherlands Governmental department of Infrastructure and Water Management, aims to stimulate the development the use of hydrogen as a fuel on the path towards zero emissions inland shipping. Likewise, the vessel and its operation will benefit from the subsidised hydrogen bunker station in Delfzijl.
Concordia Damen claims a long track record in the development of sustainable vessel technology for the inland shipping sector, including a number of hybrid propulsion vessels.
