ISL Provide study reveals potential offered by containerised hydrogen transport

Against the backdrop of Germany’s transition to green energy, the current challenges – including the incremental shutdown of coal and nuclear power plants, supply bottlenecks for natural gas and gas price trends – clearly highlight the need to become less dependent on fossil fuels from both an environmental and an economic perspective. Blue and green hydrogen are a good way of making progress towards this goal. This move towards independence is particularly pertinent for areas such as manufacturing, combined heat and power plants supplying residential and commercial districts, the operation of emergency power generators, the construction of hydrogen refuelling stations and logistics and research projects.

Germany’s push for net zero will require significant imports of green hydrogen. This can either be imported by pipeline or by ship. Existing natural gas pipelines can be converted, which experts estimate would take three to five years, while the process of building a new hydrogen pipeline is expected to last up to ten years.

This makes imports by ship an important alternative. However, vessels, transshipment facilities and storage capacity are not currently available in sufficient scale to support the transport of hydrogen in its pure form as a bulk commodity. Another hydrogen import option that has not yet been investigated in detail in the maritime sector is the transport of compressed gaseous hydrogen in special pressurised gas tanks. A key advantage of this method is the high degree of flexibility, since the hydrogen containers can be transported as additional cargo using the existing infrastructure and transport methods for standard containers.

The concept of containerised hydrogen also offers small producers the opportunity to produce hydrogen and make use of the existing container transport network with its adaptable supply chains. This would allow them to operate in the hydrogen market from anywhere in the world. With its container terminals and established transport chains, Bremerhaven on the north coast of Germany offers existing infrastructure for the import of containerised hydrogen. This structure can help to ensure a reliable supply of hydrogen to German consumers.

A study by the Institute of Shipping Economics and Logistics (ISL) in Germany has analysed various concepts and their potential in terms of using hydrogen containers to import hydrogen. The study also focuses on the feasibility of implementing these concepts.