A global first: new hydrogen inland ship will soon sail across Rotterdam waters. Harm Lenten still sails with a diesel-fired cargo ship between Delfzijl and the Rotterdam Botlek. But in two years’ time he hopes to transport the salt with a brand new ship: the first inland ship in the world to run on hydrogen.
Those involved speak of an important step in making the inland shipping sector more sustainable. Because a lot still needs to be done in order to be able to sail all five thousand ships emission-free by 2050.
Some ships already run on batteries, liquefied natural gas or with cleaner ship engines and / or catalytic converters. But developing and building a whole new ship for hydrogen, that had to take twenty years before it was put on the drawing board to be implemented in Rotterdam. Now it is really going to be built.
“It shows vision and guts that this entrepreneur dares to do this,” said director Femke Brenninkmeijer of inland shipping cooperative NPRC on Wednesday afternoon during the presentation in the Cruise terminal. The cooperative supervises the project in which many parties are involved.
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The 135-meter-long freighter will cost ten million euros: twice as much as a ‘normal’ ship. Hydrogen is now also three times as expensive as diesel, which means that many other skippers do not dare to take the risk of switching.
Harm Lenten dares to undertake the experiment. He believes in hydrogen as a new sustainable fuel. And Minister Cora van Nieuwenhuizen is making 4 million euros available for the development and construction of the ship. Thanks to a European subsidy, there will also be a hydrogen filling station in Delfzijl, which other transporters will also use.
“We do not yet know which technology will be decisive in the future, which is why it is so important to test all possibilities,” says Van Nieuwenhuizen. “The project will probably also face teething problems. But by taking on this project, we can continue to experiment and learn for the future.”
Wereldwijde primeur: nieuw binnenvaartschip op waterstof vaart straks over Rotterdamse wateren, 10 MAART 2021
