TECO 2030 and the HyEkoTank consortium announce that Samskip has been formally approved by the EU as partner in the HyEkoTank project.
The consortium also announces that the vessel to be retrofitted with their zero-emission technology will be Samskip’s MPP vessel Kvitnos.
Samskip Kvitnos, built in 2015, is a cargo ship which operates in a fixed route on a weekly multipurpose service from Rotterdam, along the Norwegian west coast, all the way north to Hammerfest.
The HyEkoTank project is the world’s largest ongoing fuel cell retrofit project, aiming to demonstrate zero-emission fuel cell and hydrogen technology contributing to decarbonization of the worlds existing fleet of more than 100,000 ships. By introducing zero-emission hydrogen technology, the project partners have set a clear goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Samskip, as a container ship operator, is facing increasingly stricter requirements to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through regulations such as FuelEU Maritime and EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS). Container ships are also required to operate with zero emissions at major EU ports from 2030, and will be subject to zero emissions requirements when sailing in Norwegian world heritage fjords.
Fuel cells and hydrogen provides the most energy-efficient and cost-efficient fuel solution for the Kvitnos vessel, because Kvitnos consumes much more energy than can be charged by shore-power, and hydrogen is the most energy-efficient and least expensive zero-emission fuel.
With support from HyEkoTank, this vessel will be retrofitted in 2025 with fuel cells from TECO 2030 and hydrogen storage from Umoe Advanced Composites. This retrofit aims to make Kvitnos compliant to FuelEU Maritime and EU ETS regulations for the remainder of its expected lifetime.
The HyEkoTank project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon Europe Innovation Actions programme under grant agreement No. 101096981. The project partners are TECO 2030, BLOM Maritime, TECO Solutions, Shell International Trading and Shipping Company, Shell International Exploration and Production, Samskip, Nav-Tech, Umoe Advanced Composites, FKAB Marine Design, Tarbit Shipping and project coordinator UiT The Arctic University of Norway.