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Baselland Business 2/2022 English / Sustainability

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Business guide for the Basel-Landschaft region in German and English

The Dutch shipping

The Dutch shipping company Future Proof Shipping (FPS) is currently converting the FPS Maas from a diesel to a hydrogen container ship. After the conversion, the ship will operate between Rotterdam and Antwerp. FPS aims to build and operate a fleet of a total of ten zero-emission inland and short-sea vessels. Other projects are hybrid, such as the Berlin pusher barge, which runs on battery power for short distances and hydrogen for long distances. Silversea Cruises plans to launch the Silver Nova in 2023. This cruise ship will use liquefied natural gas as an energy source, which in turn will be converted into hydrogen for the fuel cells. Overall, experts in this sector have greater doubts as to whether hydrogen alone can solve the problems and make shipping climate-neutral. From ferries to cruise ships, the needs and requirements are very different - and the range of research projects is correspondingly wide. Let's look at Switzerland and the canton of Basel-Landschaft. Here, too, hydrogen is an issue. This region is located on one of Europe's main traffic axes, disposes of an airport and a ship port - all this in the border triangle. So, if you just look at the mobility of tomorrow, hydrogen has to be an issue. That is also the case. IWB and Fritz Meyer AG recently planned a pilot plant for green hydrogen at the Birsfelden power station. However, the canton's building appeal commission has said no to this project. For a sister plant at the Augst power station, a decision by the authorities is still pending, writes the Basellandschaftliche Zeitung, but it assumes that this will also be negative. The plans are more concrete at the Swiss Rhine ports: IWB and AVIA, the umbrella organization of Fritz Meyer AG, are working together with other partners on the H2 Hub Switzerland. However, IWB and Fritz Meyer AG see enormous potential in the use of green hydrogen, especially in PHOTO SHUTTERSTOCK 14 Baselland Business

the Basel region. "It can make a major contribution to decarbonization in the future," according to a joint statement from the two companies. "However, to gain experience in its application, hydrogen from pilot plants is needed in a timely manner." Green hydrogen will one day become an important location factor, they are convinced. Switzerland is also an experimental field for hydrogen. The world's first fleet of mass-produced Hyundai XCIENT Fuel Cell heavyduty hydrogen commercial vehicles has already covered five million kilometers here in just two years. In 2020, the company handed over 47 units of the hydrogen-powered, zero-emission commercial vehicles to 23 Swiss companies, which have since used them for logistics, distribution and supermarket delivery. This as part of a partnership project with H2Energy. By 2025, there should be 1600 vehicles, writes the service station operator Avia in a media release. For this reason, more and more hydrogen filling stations are also being put into operation. In March, the first one in the canton opened in Frenkendorf, followed by the second one in Pratteln next year. One thing is clear: Whether ship, airplane, truck or forklift truck - the success of any new propulsion system stands or falls with the refueling possibilities and refueling times. After all, the schedules in all these areas are very tight - and the store has to keep running. It will take a lot more investment in propulsion, infrastructure, supply chains and research in the pioneering era we are currently in before we find the ideal solutions for decarbonization in each case. It will also take people and companies that continue to drive this energy turnaround. And from today's perspective, green (!) hydrogen is a central element of this new era. PHOTO AIRBUS Baselland Business 15

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