First hydrogen bunkering licence issued in the Netherlands

The first hydrogen-powered vessel of its kind, Hydrocat 48 is used to transport crew to and from offshore windfarms for construction and maintenance activities. The vessel sails from Ijmuiden in the Netherlands, but the vessel’s normal operational activities – the maintenance of 44 Vestas turbines for Belgian windfarm Norther – will be based out of the port of Oostende, Belgium.

Windcat Workboats said it aims to use more hydrogen-powered vessels in the future. Hydrocat 48 takes the Windcat Mk 3.5 design and enhances it with dual-fuel engines supplied by MAN Engines that are capable of burning hydrogen. CMB.TECH has taken a MAN dual-fuel engine (the MAN D2862 LE428) and retrofitted it with a hydrogen injection system.

The introduction of the dual-fuel CTV follows the earlier development by CMB.TECH of a hydrogen-powered passenger shuttle.

One of the world’s first hydrogen-powered tugboats was also launched in May 2022 for work in the Netherlands and Belgium. 

Hydrotug 1 is part of an integral greening programme for the Port of Antwerp-Bruges fleet. The port is striving to integrate the most environmentally friendly technologies available and to innovate in its vessel operations.

“Our common goal is to become carbon neutral by 2050, by walking many different sustainability paths, such as carbon capture and storage, and efforts in hydrogen,” said Port of Antwerp-Bruges manager for operations Rob Smeets.

“By 2028, our goal is to have the first green hydrogen molecules on our platforms,” he explained. “Moreover, we are investigating a hydrogen pipeline between the two ports and towards the European hinterland, so we can use as much renewable energy as possible. This hydrogen-powered tug is a fantastic example of what our sustainable future should look like.”

With classification society Lloyd’s Register verifying the technology on board Hydrotug 1, hydrogen could become more common as a fuel and propulsion system for tugboats in the future.

“We are delighted Port of Antwerp-Bruges will be the first user of Hydrotug 1,” CMB.Tech chief technology officer Roy Campe said. “The technology has been approved by Lloyd’s Register and we are ready to approach the global market of 10,000 tugs.

The North Sea is seen as a major location for the delivery of sustainable energy. A large part of the 21 GW in wind at sea planned for 2030 will be realised and maintained from the North Sea Canal region. Meeting this challenge will require space for port and quay infrastructure. In this framework, there are planned investments for preparing the infrastructure for windfarm production, installation and maintenance.

"Now that the vessels sailing to and from these windfarms can benefit from bunkering hydrogen, working on the transition will be... as clean as possible," the project participants’ statement read.

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The Maritime Hybrid, Electric & Hydrogen Fuel Cells Conference, Bergen will be held 25 October 2022. Details and tickets can be found here