Tata Steel sees a future for Hydrogen-powered Ships
Partnership entered into with Van Dam Shipping for development and long-term contract
Tata Steel has sought cooperation with shipping company Van Dam Shipping from Spijk in Groningen to develop a hydrogen-powered ship. With this, the steel company wants to reduce the CO2 emissions of the sea transport of coils of steel.
The vessel to be developed is a so-called Short-Sea Vessel with a loading capacity of approximately 5,000 tons and will be the first vessel of this type. Hydrogen-powered shipping currently mainly consists of inland vessels and small ferries; both hybrid, partly on hydrogen, and fully powered by hydrogen.
Cem Ugur, Head of Chartering and Operations, Tata Steel: “We want to be a sustainable company on all fronts. This not only means that in the future we will be making green steel using hydrogen, but we are also looking at how we can use hydrogen even more. For example, to make our logistics more sustainable. That is why we are also using green ships for the transport of our coils of steel.”
Jan van Dam, Director, Van Dam Shipping said: “I am delighted to be working with Tata Steel on the delivery of a zero-emission vessel. Our relationship with Tata Steel goes back many years and one of our ships loads steel in IJmuiden every week. This partnership will intensify our relationship and contribute to our energy transition goals as a company and the shipping industry.”
Every year Tata Steel ships 2 million tons of coils of steel to different countries within Europe. Van Dam is an established name in the Dutch shipping industry and through the collaboration, Tata Steel will have the opportunity to transport the coils of steel in a more sustainable way from 2024. The aim is that the hydrogen-powered ship can sail 100% CO 2 emission-free and thus save about 3000 tons of CO 2 per year compared to a ship that sails on gas oil and fuel oil.