The number of ships may exceed 940! The demand for such ships has surged

As a new generation of clean energy transportation solution, liquefied hydrogen (LH2) carriers use -253℃ cryogenic technology to compress the volume of gaseous hydrogen to 1/800, increasing transportation efficiency by more than 10 times, and are becoming a key layout direction for the global shipping industry. Although many countries have launched technical research, limited by bottlenecks such as materials and processes, large commercial ships above the 10,000-cubic-meter level have not yet achieved a breakthrough. 

On June 20, the Maritime Safety Administration of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism of Japan officially released the "Forecast of Future Carbon Neutral Cargo Transport Ship Demand in Japan (Mid-term Report)" in order to formulate a domestic shipbuilding development vision for emerging needs. The study focuses on shipping demand under the carbon neutrality goal, and focuses on calculating the demand for transport ships for emerging goods such as hydrogen energy, ammonia energy imports and carbon dioxide exports by 2050. The results show that the market for related ship types will usher in significant growth, among which the demand for liquefied hydrogen carriers may be as high as 940.

In 2024, HD Hyundai Group signed an agreement with Shell, and the two parties plan to jointly develop large liquefied hydrogen transport ships, with the goal of achieving commercial production in 2030. In addition, HD Korea Shipbuilding and Offshore is working with Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) and Australian companies to develop liquefied hydrogen transport ships with a tank capacity of 80,000 cubic meters.

The domestic marine hydrogen energy market ushered in an important breakthrough in 2023. The successive commissioning of hydrogen-powered ships such as "Three Gorges Hydrogen Boat No. 1" has injected strong development momentum into the industrial chain. This milestone progress has significantly boosted the market confidence and innovation vitality of domestic marine hydrogen energy and fuel cell companies.

In 2024, the domestic marine hydrogen energy market continued to show a rapid development trend. The application of marine green methanol has achieved a breakthrough, driving more than a dozen hydrogen energy ship and power system projects to land one after another, and many companies have successfully obtained domestic and foreign classification society certification. In terms of demonstration applications, projects such as hydrogen energy container ships, medium-sized passenger ships, and long-distance liquid hydrogen transportation have made important progress.

In February, the 708th Research Institute under China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation released the design plan of two types of liquefied hydrogen carriers (180,000 cubic meters and 20,000 cubic meters), which attracted strong attention from the industry. Among them, the 180,000 cubic meters liquefied hydrogen carrier is currently the world's largest liquefied hydrogen carrier. In October, the carrier of the world's longest liquid hydrogen shipping demonstration project implemented by China National Offshore Oil Corporation traveled more than 10,000 nautical miles and successfully arrived at Shenzhen Yantian Port.