Construction starts on world’s first green hydrogen-powered shortsea boxship

Dutch logistics solutions provider Samskip and Indian shipbuilder Cochin Shipyard have held a steel-cutting ceremony for a next-generation, hydrogen-powered shortsea containership.

As informed, the ceremony marks the official start of the construction of the next-generation zero-emission shortsea container vessel Samskip SeaShuttle.

Samskip placed an order for two green hydrogen-powered boxships at Cochin back in March 2023. According to Samskip, the ship will be the first zero-emission shortsea container vessel in the world to use green hydrogen as fuel.

The hydrogen-fuel-powered Samskip SeaShuttle is destined to create green corridors between the European continent and the Scandinavian region.

The 135-meter vessels will be powered by a 3.2 MW hydrogen fuel cell each, with diesel generators installed for backup. 

In zero-emission mode, two Sea Shuttles are expected to achieve around 25,000 tons of CO2 reduction per year. They will achieve zero emission operations in ports as well by using green shore power at the port of call, Samskip emphasized.

They are due for delivery in the third and fourth quarters of 2025.

Acknowledging the milestone’s significance, the company also hosted “The Samskip Sustainability Day” on February 29, a collaborative forum including maritime experts, municipality representatives, customers, politicians and suppliers. The thinktank event brought together 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.

“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,” Sustainability Manager, Samskip – Laurens Dourleijn, commented.

“It was great to see important stakeholders in the room, all positively energized in a joint effort to realize zero-emission transport. With 2030 around the corner, there is no time to waste,” Head of Fleet Management, Erik Hofmeester, added.

“It has been a long journey, but I always had faith in this project from the start. I have had the pleasure of being involved from the beginning and helped get both our Norway and Rotterdam teams aligned. The SeaShuttle will provide a great green corridor and it’s really inspiring to see the leadership and commitment of our customers who have already booked space on this service. Now we go from planning to building!” Regional Director – Norway & Sweden Multimodal, Are Grathen concluded.