“We have just completed the construction of our autonomous inland vessel Zulu 06,” says Director of Compagnie Fluviale de Transport (CFT), Matthieu Blanc.   

The journey from the shipyard in Romania to France is well underway. Via the Danube River, Zulu reached Budapest earlier this week.   

“In approximatively four weeks, Zulu will arrive in Le Havre where the hydrogen equipment from ABB and Ballard will be installed by Sogestran´s technical teams,” Blanc says.    

Two 200kW fuel cells will be installed together with a 350 kg hydrogen storage unit containing compressed hydrogen (300 bars).    

“In Le Havre, we will also equip the vessel with all necessary safety and operational systems. Zulu will become the first zero-emission hydrogen-propelled river barge in Europe. The Flagships project makes it possible to work collectively and double the efforts to position river transport as a major solution in the decarbonization of transport,” says Matthieu Blanc.    

“We want to raise the readiness of hydrogen-powered waterborne transport to an entirely new level globally. To do that, we need to demonstrate our ground-breaking technology. Seeing Zulu sailing emission-free in the middle of Paris will be an important step for our project to reach its goal. This milestone will enable the world, and last but not least, the whole consortia behind FLAGSHIPSs, to see what we have developed,” says Flagships Project Coordinator Jyrki Mikkola, from VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland.

Zulu 06 will be operated by BLL – Blue line logistics, a subsidiary of the Sogestran Group.  The vessel will operate the route between Gennevilliers and Bonneuil-Sur-Marne on the River Seine in Paris. Blue Line Logistics will market urban logistics services from September 2022.