Recently, the national first 64TEU hydrogen fuel cell-powered container ship in the inland waterway - Dongfang Heping - was completed by the Binhai Group Company of Jiaxing Port Area. It has also obtained the domestic navigation vessel classification certificate issued by the China Classification Society.
As a zero-carbon innovation benchmark in the inland shipping sector, this vessel has a total length of 64.5 meters and is equipped with two sets of 240-kilowatt hydrogen fuel cell systems. It uses hydrogen as the sole power source and produces only water as a reaction product, achieving zero carbon emissions throughout the entire voyage. United Hydrogen provided the vessel with a marine high-pressure hydrogen storage system, completing the supply, installation, and commissioning. The vessel's hydrogen storage capacity is 550 kilograms, with a cruising range of approximately 380 kilometers. It also overcame multiple technical challenges and fully met the safety standards of the Chinese Classification Society.
Previously, global hydrogen-powered ships were mostly small ferries or experimental vessels. However, "Eastern Hydrogen Port" is a commercial operation vessel with a cargo capacity of 64 standard containers and a one-way route of 120 kilometers. It has filled the gap in the inland river container transportation scenario and laid the foundation for the large-scale application of hydrogen-powered ships. From a national strategic perspective, the success of this project has verified the feasibility of hydrogen as an ideal power source for green ships, and it is highly consistent with the requirements in the "Transportation Strong Nation Construction Outline" of "promoting new energy and clean energy-powered ships".
Relying on the abundant hydrogen resources in Jiaxing Port Area, the hydrogen storage system of United Hydrogen can enable hydrogen-powered ships to be refueled in large quantities and quickly, meeting the "high frequency and short cycle" requirements of inland container transportation. This "hydrogen production - hydrogen storage - hydrogen usage" full-chain collaboration makes the "Eastern Hydrogen Port" the core carrier of the first green hydrogen inland container transportation line in China, reducing carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 700 tons annually, with the emission reduction effect equivalent to that of a thousand acres of forest ecosystem contribution.
In the future, with the large-scale deployment of green vessels such as hydrogen fuel cells, by leveraging the "sea-river intermodal transportation" advantage of Jiaxing Qianhai Houhe, container transport vessels can gradually shift from the "scale-speed type" to the "economic efficiency type". The technology output of United Hydrogen Energy will accelerate this process, promoting the transformation of China's inland waterway shipping from the "scale-speed type" to the "economic efficiency type", assisting in the realization of the "carbon neutrality" goal, and providing a replicable solution for the low-carbon transformation of the sea-river intermodal transportation in the Yangtze River Delta.
