Hamburg advances plans for ammonia bunkering. by Ship & Bunker News Team Wednesday July 22, 2026 The port is considering an ammonia bunker barge to support future ship-to-ship bunkering. File Image / Pixabay Germany's Port of Hamburg has completed key safety work to support future ammonia bunkering operations. Hamburg Port Authority (HPA) and energy company MB Energy have jointly developed a comprehensive risk analysis and safety concept for ship-to-ship ammonia bunkering, HPA said in a LinkedIn post on Tuesday. The work was carried out in cooperation with terminal operators, shipping companies and local authorities. It is intended to support the safe bunkering of future ammonia-powered container ships, cruise ships, RoRo and ConRo vessels calling at the port. HPA said it expects ammonia to become an important alternative marine fuel in the coming years. MB Energy also plans to develop an ammonia import terminal from 2029, which is expected to help ensure long-term ammonia supply for Hamburg and other ports in northern Germany. Ship & Bunker reported in April that MB Energy had secured government approval for a new ammonia import terminal in Hamburg, which is planned to include ammonia bunkering services. An ammonia bunker barge is also being considered to support future ship-to-ship bunkering operations. Ship & Bunker News Team To contact the editor responsible for this story email Ship & Bunker at [email protected]

Daimler Truck, Kawasaki and MB Energy turn Hamburg into Europe's gateway for liquid hydrogen. Published on 22 May 2026 On 11 May 2026, Daimler Truck, Japan's Kawasaki Heavy Industries and German energy company MB Energy signed a Joint Development Agreement to jointly build an international supply chain for liquid hydrogen into Europe. The signing took place during the Hamburg Port Anniversary - one of the largest port festivals in the world - and underlines Hamburg's ambition to serve as an energy hub for Europe. The partners are aiming for commercial hydrogen deliveries to start in the early 2030s. What the three partners bring. The division of roles is clear. Kawasaki Heavy Industries delivers the heavy infrastructure: hydrogen liquefiers, liquid hydrogen (LH2) storage tanks and LH2 carrier ships. The Japanese company is currently building a 40,000 m^3 tanker and an LH2 terminal in Kawasaki City with 50,000 m^3 of storage - one of the largest in the world. MB Energy, a Hamburg-based energy group with more than 75 years of experience in fuel trading and logistics, brings the European distribution network. It owns and operates thirteen tank storage facilities in Germany, Denmark and Hungary and can convert its filling stations to LH2 sites at key logistics hubs. Daimler Truck is the offtaker on the other end: the manufacturer is developing hydrogen trucks that turn this fuel into transport. Why Hamburg. Hamburg is Germany's largest port and an established node for heavy industry and international logistics. Bringing liquid hydrogen in through this port lets it spread into the European hinterland via existing tank, road and rail infrastructure. The choice follows an earlier Memorandum of Understanding from October 2025, in which Daimler Truck, Kawasaki and Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) agreed to study the feasibility of a European LH2 import route. The new agreement turns those plans into concrete development. Why liquid hydrogen? For heavy road transport, liquid hydrogen (LH2) offers a significantly higher energy density than compressed hydrogen at 350 or 700 bar. The same tank volume therefore delivers more kilometres - crucial for long-haul transport where range determines operations. Daimler Truck demonstrated this in 2023 with a GenH2 prototype that covered 1,047 kilometres on a single liquid hydrogen fill under real-world conditions. A fleet of five GenH2 trucks has since covered more than 225,000 kilometres in customer operations; a second trial phase is currently running. Daimler Truck plans to start a small series of 100 Mercedes-Benz NextGenH2 trucks with end customers from late 2026. Industrial-scale production of hydrogen trucks is scheduled for the early 2030s - exactly when this supply chain is expected to be operational. What this means for the market. The key message is in the timing. Daimler Truck explicitly states that scaling hydrogen trucks across Europe will only work if there is a reliable, competitive supply of liquid hydrogen. By aligning truck production and hydrogen production on the same timeline, the partners avoid the classic chicken-and-egg problem of the hydrogen market: trucks without supply, or supply without offtakers. For the wider European hydrogen economy, this is one of the first deals in which a truck manufacturer, an infrastructure builder and a fuel distributor commit to a single timeline. For Dutch operators, it matters because Hamburg is close and Dutch freight corridors connect directly to it.

MB Energy wins government permit for Hamburg ammonia import terminal. by Ship & Bunker News Team Wednesday April 15, 2026 The firm plans to build the facility on the site of the Blumensand tank terminal in the Port of Hamburg. Image Credit: MB Energy Energy firm MB Energy has won government approval for a new ammonia import terminal in Hamburg planning to add bunkering to its range of services. Hamburg's Authority for Environment, Climate, Energy and Agriculture has granted the firm a permit to build and operate the new terminal, MB Energy said in a statement on its website on Wednesday. The firm plans to build the facility - with ammonia throughput of up to 600,000 mt/year - on the site of the Blumensand tank terminal in the Port of Hamburg. "The planned terminal is intended for the import and redistribution of ammonia, which is not only a storage medium for hydrogen, but can also be used both as an industrial raw material and as an alternative fuel in shipping," the company said. "Importing these molecules will support the domestic ammonia market and lay the groundwork for scaling up the hydrogen economy. "In the long term, this is expected to further support the energy transition in shipping." Ship & Bunker News Team To contact the editor responsible for this story email Ship & Bunker at [email protected]