A pilot liquified hydrogen carrier (LHC) has arrived at its load port in Australia after a maiden voyage from Japan in preparation for a first cargo shipment of the potential future fuel.

The 1,250-cbm Suiso Frontier (built 2021), which is the vessel central to the Hydrogen Energy Supply Chain Project, left Kobe in southern Japan on 24 December and berthed at Hastings, near Melbourne in southeast Australia on 20 January after a 9,000 km (5,592 mile) 16-day voyage.

The ship's single double-walled, vacuum-insulated LH2 cargo tank, which is positioned in the forward cargo hold, will be depressurised at the quayside before it is loaded.

It is expected to leave in days for the return pioneering laden voyage to Japan's Iwantani Cor-managed liquefied hydrogen receiving terminal Hy touch Kobe.

The CO2-free Hydrogen Energy Supply-chain Technology Research Association or HySTRA, which is responsible for the Japanese side of the project, has said previously that the shipment is due to arrive in Japan in mid-February.

Production underway

Hydrogen extracted from brown coal, which has been used in the power sector, started being produced at a plant in the Latrobe Valley 135 km to the east of Victorian state capital in March 2021.

This gasification process involved reacting coal with oxygen and steam while under high temperature and pressure.

The hydrogen is moved by truck to the port area where is cooled to a temperature of minus – 253 degrees Centigrade to liquefying it for shipment.

Suiso Frontier, which was built by Kawasaki Heavy Industries, will be managed and operated by Shell Trading & Shipping Co while transporting hydrogen produced in Australia by Japan's Electric Power Development Co (J-Power).

Hystra, whose members comprise Iwantani Corp, Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI), Shell Japan, J-Power, Marubeni Corp, Eneos Corp, and K Line, is the operating body responsible for the production, handling and transport of hydrogen.

Australian company AGL Energy is supplying the brown coal.

AGL is part of Hydrogen Engineering Australia, which also includes J-Power, Iwatani Corp, Marubeni Corp and Sumitomo Corp, and is funding the Australian side of the project.