The general objective of sHYpS is to support the decarbonisation of the shipping industry, by leveraging on previous and on-going work and investment made by Viking and some consortium members. It will develop a hydrogen-based solution, which can be adapted to multiple types of vessels and in some cases can already achieve IMO’s target for 2030 and 2050. The project will develop a (i) novel hydrogen storage intermodal 45’ ISO c-type container, (ii) the complete detailed design of modular containerised powertrain based on optimised PEM Fuel Cells and (iii) their dedicated logistics. On one hand the project will define a logistic based on swapping pre-filled containers, on the other hand it will define a perspective scale-up of the storage capacity and the supply applied to the Port of Bergen use-case. This will allow to kick start a supply-chain without waiting for the full infrastructure to be in place. We show how this approach can already support a remarkable part of the vessels in the EU waters. The project will use the window of opportunity of 1 Viking’s newbuilds Ocean Cruise vessel to install the storage system onboard with the complete gas handling and energy management system and test it during the shakedown cruise by 2026, with a limited power Fuel Cell. When the 6MW will be in place (pendent investment decision by Viking) this will allow to cut 50% of emissions in a 14 days fjord cruise. The midterm outcomes are remarkable, since Viking has a building program of 6 Ocean Cruise ships by 2030 and several river ships. With the right logistics in place the ISO container technology can develop in hundreds of units per year. In the meantime, the upscaled design of the container from this project will approach more segments in sea and IWW application and look to hundreds of vessels in the order book of commercial fleets. The value-chain include LH2 suppliers, giving the opportunity to speed up a supply of thousands tons of LH2 per year in the next 20 years.

The GASVESSEL aims to prove the techno-economic feasibility of a new CNG transport concept enabled by a novel patented Pressure Vessel manufacturing technology and a new conceptual ship design including safe on- and offloading solution. It carries out research and innovates different steps in the value chain from a decision support model to simulate and benchmark scenarios until the process of ship design, new Pressure Vessel designs and manufacturing as well as novel high pressure on- and offloading. The project supports the European Commission’s Maritime Transport Strategy in which maritime transport is considered key to securing Europe’s energy supply. It sets the knowledge base for identifying where the novel CNG concept has added value, develop prototype technologies and related business cases, promote the concept with end-users and foster market introduction, first in Europe, and subsequently beyond. The GASVESSEL project contributes the Energy Union to become less dependent on energy imports by serving as a flexible interconnector which enables energy to flow freely across the EU. The project will make it possible to supply natural gas to places where natural gas is not yet a part of the energy supply e.g. where large investment in regassifiers are not feasible or done (yet) such as the Mediterranean Islands. The concept offers novel cost effective gas transportation and hence promising prospects to start using and monetising the huge amount of currently wasted (flared), stranded and associated gas which is currently wasted or not used, while contributing to reducing an important environmental side effect of global oil exploitation. The validation and proof of concept of the GASVESSEL project is performed by a cost-benefit analyses (financial viability), safety assessment, environmental impact analyses and value chain business cases development in relation to real-life geo-logistic scenarios.