A new hydrogen filling station for ships was officially inaugurated in the port of Ostend on Friday. Jera Nex BP developed the hydrogen filling station, and in the initial phase, only one ship will use it: the Windcat 48, which uses green hydrogen to sail from the port of Ostend to a wind farm in the North Sea.

The Ostend Hydrogen Refueling Station seeks to fill a critical gap in the flow of green hydrogen from production to maritime users, acting as a proof of concept of what is possible in decarbonizing offshore wind at sea.

Climate-neutral shipping

The green hydrogen is produced from renewable electricity from France and Germany. The hydrogen is bunkered, buffered, and stored in large tanks. It is pressurized at the filling station to serve ships quickly. The station has the capacity to fuel several vessels per day.

Demonstrating that ships can run on green hydrogen aims to drastically reduce emissions and stimulate the development of climate-neutral shipping in Europe. “By investing in projects like this, we’re accelerating the shift toward cleaner, smarter offshore operations, and proving that sustainability and performance can go hand in hand,” said Kristof Verlinden, head of global O&M at JERA Nex BP.

No emissions

Hydrogen is more environmentally friendly than other fuels because it produces no emissions. Currently, there are only a few hydrogen-powered ships. “With this project, we want to prove that hydrogen is a viable alternative energy source in shipping,” explains Verlinden.

However, the Ostend Hydrogen Refueling Station is not the first of its kind. In June 2021, Cmb.Tech opened what is described as the world’s first ‘multimodal hydrogen refueling station’ for ships, trucks, cars, and buses, at the Port House site in Antwerp.

It features high-pressure compression and dispensers for cars, buses, and trucks, as well as a ‘marine bunkering location’ for ships. The Port of Antwerp‑Bruges (as the port authority) positions itself as offering climate-neutral fuels, including hydrogen, methanol, and ammonia, for shipping.

The fact that this station supports marine bunkering is essential: it shows that hydrogen bunkering for ships is feasible in practice. The cost of ‘green hydrogen’, however, remains high; the business model depends on scale, utilisation, and regulatory/market incentives.

Positive signal

Hydrogen bunkering for large maritime vessels (long-range, high fuel volumes), therefore, remains a challenge — many ports and operators are still in demo mode rather than mass roll-out.

But both facilities illustrate that hydrogen bunkering for maritime use is moving from concept to real deployment in European ports. This is a positive signal for the broader decarbonization of shipping.