Dutch shipping company; Van Dam Shipping is working with the European division of India-based Tata Steel to develop a short sea vessel entirely powered by Hydrogen. This vessel is reportedly the first of its kind in this sector and will be chartered long-term to transport steel coils for Tata Steel.
The two companies announced that the new vessel would have around 5,000 tonnes of carrying capacity and would sail from 2024. The ship would have zero CO2 emissions, which will save 3,000 tonnes of CO2, which would have been emitted by a similar vessel operating on conventional fuel. Tata Steel will use it to transport the 2 million tonnes of steel coils to Europe, which it transports yearly. They also stated that Hydrogen-powered shipping currently only consists of inland vessels and small ferries and that the industry continues to progress on the designs of hybrid, partly Hydrogen, and fully Hydrogen-powered vessels.
Both Van Dam Shipping and Tata Steels are committed to reducing their carbon footprint. Van Dam Shipping won an award in late 2019 for installing a wind-based propulsion system aboard their 3600 DWT vessel, ANKIE. At the same time, Tata Steel worked with Mitsui OSK Lines to develop a green carrier of raw materials for steel production. Tata Steel was the first steel-producing company to sign the Sea Cargo Charter, a global framework for gauging the climate alignment of various chartering activities.
