Speakers for the Third North Sea Hydrogen Ports and Maritime Conference in Brussels

The Third North Sea Hydrogen Ports and Maritime Conference will be held in Brussels on Tuesday 22 November 2022.  The One Day Conference will examine the hydrogen potential of the North Sea Region in terms of the ports and maritime sectors.  It will be held in Scotland House in Rond-Point Schuman which is opposite the Berlaymont Building.  We are pleased that the Conference is being sponsored by CMB Tech and Nedstack.

A wide range of speakers from across the North Sea Region have agreed to speak.  The Conference opens with an examination of the activities in individual ports as they move towards creating Hydrogen Valleys.  We begin by looking at two ports in Scotland carrying out an energy transition from oil and gas to hydrogen and renewable energy.  The ORION project is leading activity in the Shetlands Island to develop hydrogen in the ports and wider community.  Joe Najduch from the Shetland Islands Council will outline the work in the ORION project and describe its ambitions.  The Port of Cromarty Firth is well advanced in its preparations to couple increased green hydrogen production to a wide range of applications including its use in whisky distilleries.  Both Shetland and Cromarty Firth are making plans to export green hydrogen to mainland Europe.

Kees Turnhout from the Port of den Helder spoke at the Second North Sea Hydrogen Ports and Maritime Conference in February 2020 and he will update participants about the progress and plans of den Helder since that Conference.  The session also has a presentation from Janna Kohler from the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen.  The City co-operates closely with its port and Janna will outline the hydrogen projects in the port and city.

If the emission reduction targets of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) are to be realised, there needs to be an emphasis on vessel design.  This is an important topic in the Conference.  The session begins with a presentation from Jogchum Bruinsma, the Chief Commercial Officer of Nedstack and he will look at the introduction of Hydrogen Harbour Tugboats.  This will be followed by a presentation from Milinko Godjevac, from Future Proof Shipping on System Design and Safety for Hydrogen-Powered Inland and Short-Sea Vessels.   There has been a growing number of inland waterway vessels using hydrogen and the expertise learned from these vessels can be transferred into short sea shipping.

There will also be a contribution from Tomas Tronstad, Head of Shipping and Technology at Wilhelmsen.  He will outline the Topeka Project. The Topeka project revolves around the construction of two vessels servicing the short sea segment. The vessels will, amongst other tasks, move goods between offshore supply bases along the Norwegian west coast. In addition, the Topeka vessels will transport hydrogen to different filling stations where local ferries and other vessels as well as land transport will have hydrogen as a ready-to-use fuel.

If you would like to come to the Conference then go to the European Policy Solutions website https://europeanpolicysolutions.com and click on the link to seminars.  You can also contact Jon Jordan at +44 1259 781404