The great advantage of this hydrogen boat is its environment-friendly character. The boat is a so-called "zero emission vessel": absolutely no emission (such as CO2) of detrimental substances takes place.

photo: Kenneth Veenenbos

World's first commercial hydrogen boat
The ‘green’ roundtrip boat has a capacity of 100 passengers and is expected to be completed later in 2007. In order to enable this, the consortium will also place a tank station that will supply the boat with hydrogen. The required hydrogen will be produced by means of electrolysis on the basis of electricity from wind energy. Today, small boat vessels operating on hydrogen already exist, but a commercially exploited hydrogen boat of this dimension is a world first.

"mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">First customer
The first potential customer is also a known fact: Shell Amsterdam. The plan is to utilize the environment-friendly hydrogen boat to transport approximately 600 Shell-employees on a daily basis, over the IJ river in Amsterdam, to and from their work: between the Amsterdam Central Station and the new technology centre (NTC) of Shell. The Amsterdam shipping company, Lovers, will purchase this first hydrogen boat and will be responsible for exploiting it.

Innovative undertaking with durable energy
"This step is a splendid example of the innovative vigor of the Dutch knowledge-based industry and a breakthrough in the field of sustainable energy, states Hauke Sie of Fuel Cell Boat. " The development and construction of this hydrogen boat is taking place in close dialogue with the involved governmental organizations, research institutions and companies".

The consortium exists of 5 companies: Alewijnse, Integral, Linde Gas, Marine Service North and the shipping company Lovers. The Dutch Ministry of Economics has provided a subsidy for the development of this first hydrogen boat.