Ports of Duisburg and Rotterdam looking to establish hydrogen hubs

The port authorities of Duisburg and Rotterdam have signed a letter of intent (LOI) to renew and expand their collaboration, as well as to look for ways for establishing future hydrogen hubs.

As explained, the LOI includes agreements on looking into the possibility of linking the port community systems Portbase (Rotterdam) to the RheinPorts Information System (Duisburg).

With regard to the energy transition, both ports plan to investigate whether they can jointly take on the development of hydrogen hubs, i.e Rotterdam as the future ‘hydrogen gateway’ to Europe and duisport as the hub for Germany. Setting up a physical link between the two is therefore an obvious choice, port officials emphasized.

The Rotterdam Port Authority recently informed that, together with other partner companies, it can supply Northwestern Europe with 4.6 million tonnes of hydrogen annually by 2030.

The port officials believe that using sustainable hydrogen substantially can contribute to the European objectives of reducing climate change and increasing Europe’s energy independence. 

Furthermore, under the LOI, the ports of Duisburg and Rotterdam plan to work on joint initiatives in the area of digitization and the energy transition. According to the partners,  each year more than one million TEU of containers are exchanged between the two logistics hubs, and almost a third of them are already shipped by rail.

“We are facing major challenges that we will overcome together much faster, more efficiently and more intelligently,” said Markus Bangen, CEO at duisport.

“Particularly in the areas of digitalization and the energy transition, it is important to work together and share our knowledge and expertise.”

“Digitisation and energy transition are as important to duisport’s strategy as they are to our own. We believe in the power of collaboration with likeminded organisations. This LOI represents a positive step in that direction,” Allard Castelein, CEO at Port of Rotterdam, added.

Digitization and data sharing could further increase the part played by this sustainable mode of transport, the port authorities pointed out.

“This LOI is aimed at creating the most digital and most sustainable port-inland hub connection in the world by linking Duisburg’s ‘Rail Freight Data Hub’ initiative with Rotterdam’s ‘Rail Connected,” they concluded.

To remind, last December, duisport revealed its plans to construct Europe’s first climate-neutral container terminal based on hydrogen technology.  The port plans to construct the trimodal Duisburg Gateway Terminal (DGT) by 2023 together with Cosco Shipping Logistics, Hupac SA, and the HTS Group.