Samskip begins constructing world's first green hydrogen shortsea container vessel

The first of two contracted vessels, the ship will be the first zero-emissions shortsea container vessel in the world to use green hydrogen as fuel.

Hydrogen fuel-powered Samskip SeaShuttle will create green corridors between Europe and Scandinavia. In zero-emissions mode, the two sea shuttles are expected to reduce CO2 emissions by 25,000 tonnes per year.

They will also achieve zero-emissions operations in ports by using green shore power at the port of call.

Samskip hosted ’The Samskip Sustainability Day’ on 29 February, a collaborative forum including maritime experts, municipality representatives, customers, politicians and suppliers. The thinktank event brought 150 guests to Rotterdam, and 60 to Oslo in a forum whose presentations and discussions focused on the “collaboration and boundary breaking necessary in the new age of sustainable logistics”.

Samskip sustainability manager Laurens Dourleijn commented, “When it comes to sustainability, we believe in transparency, setting goals and taking responsibility. Yesterday, at our event, we introduced our Sustainability Compass to accelerate our ESG goals and called everyone out to work together towards these goals.”

Samskip Group chief executive Kari-Pekka Laaksonen, said, “Our Sustainability Day event went smoothly and I am so proud to see the many stakeholders from different disciplines discussing and brainstorming together. We walked away inspired, as we pushed for accountability and teamwork. The time of just talking about sustainability is over, and I am hopeful. It all starts with us coming together, then great things happen.”

Samskip head of fleet management, Erik Hofmeester added, “It was great to see important stakeholders in the room, all positively energised in a joint effort to realise zero-emissions transport. With 2030 around the corner, there is no time to waste.”