While 2024 is generally seen as a year of delays and set-backs for industrial hydrogen projects, not so for hydrogen in shipbuilding. This year has been very eventful with a large number of hydrogen-fueled ships entering into operation(6) as well as new ships (16!) being announced, backed by subsidies from Norway and the EU. This is a very positive development, especially because these newly publicized vessels are significantly larger in size and power requirement.
Many vessels delivered
In 2024 a large number hydrogen vessels entered into operation, which clearly demonstrate the feasibility of hydrogen as fuel. Among those vessels are the following.
- Project 821, the Feadship superyacht on liquid hydrogen. See details here.
- Hydromer dredging vessel, though awaiting the hydrogen installation on deck
- Coastal Liberty with a hydrogen system for auxiliary power on deck.
- H2 Barge 2, the next inland vessel of Future Proof Shipping.
- Zulu 06 another inland barge on hydrogen.
- Hydrocat 55, another crew transfer vessel of Windcat.
Enova enables more project of zero-emission ships
This year Enova, Norway’s state enterprise dedicated to promoting environmentally friendly energy solutions, significantly advanced the maritime sector’s transition to zero-emission vessels through substantial funding initiatives.
In June, Enova announced its largest-ever funding allocation within the maritime transport sector, committing NOK 1.2 billion to support the development of ammonia and hydrogen-powered vessels. Then in December the next funding round was announced with two more hydrogen vessels.
The beneficiaries to develop the 11 more hydrogen ships are:
- Maris Fiducia five hydrogen-powered dry-bulk vessels.
- Halten Bulk: two dry bulk vessels.
- Napier: two general cargo ships.
- Møre Sjø: live fish carrier.
- Cruise Service: two hydrogen-powered passenger vessels.
Equally important, in a separate funding round, Enova granted EUR 65 million to five hydrogen production projects aimed at supplying fuel for ships.
And so does the EU
On 22 October results of the 2023 EU Innovation Fund call were announced. 85 innovative net-zero projects were selected to receive grants of a total €4.8 billion. A small part of this went so shipping projects to demonstrate the feasibility of sailing on liquid hydrogen.
- Swap2Zero Ponant’s cruise ship project with liquid hydrogen for auxiliary power
- Samskip’s HydroShuttles two liquid hydrogen-powered containerships.
- Energy Observer 2 a 1,100 TEU containership on liquid hydrogen.
More information will be made available on this site’s ships page.
The awarded EU Innovation Fund grants will also support a number of industrial developments of hydrogen infrastructure in compressed and liquid state to support the maritime industry. More details on that later in this blog.
On a slightly smaller scale but equally important, the Dutch Maritime Masterplan has also awarded subsidies to a few hydrogen shipbuilding projects just before the end of 2024. However these have not yet been publicly announced.
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