The first commercial hydrogen-powered ferry is setting sail this month

The first commercial ferry powered entirely by hydrogen is set to make its maiden voyage across San Francisco Bay this month, The Guardian reports. The MV Sea Change ferry will embark on a one-hour zero-emission journey as part of a plan by the San Francisco Bay Area Water Emergency Transportation Authority to phase out diesel-powered ferries by 2035, the news outlet said. The shipping industry emits almost 3% of the world’s greenhouse gasses, The Guardian said, citing a 2020 study published by the International Maritime Organization.

Could the transition to hydrogen-powered be feasible? 43% of the cargo voyages made on the shipping corridor between China and the US could be fueled by hydrogen without any modifications for fuel or refueling, the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) says. Nearly all voyages on this route could be hydrogen-fuelled with some minor tweaks including expanding cargo space by 5% to stock up on more hydrogen fuel or adding a port of call for refueling en route, ICCT adds.

But storage still poses the trickiest barrier: If the hydrogen is in gas form, high-pressure containers are needed to store it. If in liquid form, the fuel will have to be stored in extremely low temperatures of almost -153 °C. A lightweight tank is currently being designed by US-based HyPoint and Gloyer-Taylor Laboratories, the Guardian writes, and Norway’s Marine Service Noord has designed double-walled pipes for pressurized hydrogen-storage systems.