HHLA now in hydrogen partnership between Oman and Europe

24 April 2025

Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG to set up world's first import corridor for liquid hydrogen from Oman to Europe

Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) is now in a partnership to set up the world’s first import corridor for liquid hydrogen, a press release said Wednesday (April 16, 2025). Green hydrogen will be transported along a corridor from Oman to Europe after a Joint Development Agreement was signed during a a state visit by the Sultan of Oman to the Netherlands. HHLA is one of eleven partners as well as Hydrom, the energy group OQ, Tata Steel Nederland and Hynetwork. The agreement builds on an existing partnership between Hydrom, the Omani Ministry of Energy and Minerals, the Port of Amsterdam, Ecolog and Energie Baden-Württemberg (EnBW).

Scalable and reliable supply of liquid hydrogen

"Today’s partnership represents another step towards providing a scalable and reliable supply of liquid hydrogen,” said Annette Walter, Chief Financial Officer of HHLA. Liquid hydrogen plays a key role as it can be transported independently of pipelines making it ideal for transport, logistics, aviation and small and medium-sized industrial and chemical companies, she noted. The liquid hydrogen corridor will connect the Port of Duqm in Oman with Amsterdam, the Port of Duisburg and other logistic hubs in Germany.

The plans also foresee building a hub for liquifying, storing and shipping hydrogen in Duqm. Specially developed liquid hydrogen ships will transport the commodity to Amsterdam. HHLA will input its expertise to set up infrastructure for distributing liquid hydrogen per pipeline, on railways and inland waterway ships. The hydrogen will be supplied via the pan-European intermodal network of Metatrans, a rail subsidiary of HHLA,

Hydrogen key to Hamburg's climate neutrality

"For HHLA, hydrogen is an important element of the journey towards climate neutrality by 2040. We want to transport hydrogen efficiently from the import ports to end consumers in Germany and Europe via our European logistics network," Walter added. Gasnetz Hamburg's HH-WIN network will connect the Port of Hamburg to the long-distance pipeline in Europe. "Hamburg will play a key role in green energy imports for Germany in future, as significant quantities have to be imported by sea and the infrastructure is in place," said Patrick Zimmermann, Research Associate at Fraunhofer CML and author of a study on the production and seaborne import capacities of green hydrogen.

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