Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) is participating in a forward-looking partnership to establish the world’s first import corridor for liquid hydrogen.
The planned corridor will connect the Port of Duqm in Oman with Amsterdam as well as logistics locations in Duisburg and other key regions of Germany, thus securing the supply of climate-friendly energy.
“For HHLA, hydrogen is an important element of the journey towards climate neutrality by 2040,” emphasised Annette Walter, chief financial officer of HHLA.
“With our European logistics network, we want to efficiently transport hydrogen from the import ports to end consumers in Germany and Europe. Today’s partnership represents another step towards providing a scalable and reliable supply of liquid hydrogen.”
Collective supply chain
HHLA is contributing both its expertise and infrastructure to the project – in particular via the Europe-wide intermodal network of its rail subsidiary Metrans to ensure the efficient onward distribution of hydrogen.
On 15 April 2025, a Joint Development Agreement was signed as part of the state visit of His Majesty the Sultan of Oman to the Netherlands.
In total, eleven partners have signed the agreement, including Hydrom, energy company OQ, Tata Steel Nederland, Hynetwork and HHLA, representing all key elements of the planned supply chain.
The development of a central facility for liquefying, storing and shipping hydrogen at the Port of Duqm is planned. From there, the hydrogen will be transported to Amsterdam on board specially developed liquid hydrogen ships.
In addition to the Port of Duisburg, other logistic hubs in Germany will be included, while distribution infrastructure via pipeline, railway and inland waterway ship will be established.
The agreement is also a strategic move by Oman to position itself as a leading player in the global green hydrogen market. It’s also an initiative which supports the EU’s climate goals and promotes the decarbonisation of particularly carbon-intensive sectors, such as steel and transportation.
It builds on an existing partnership between Hydrom, the Omani Ministry of Energy and Minerals, the Port of Amsterdam, ECOLOG and EnBW to develop a liquid hydrogen corridor. With this step, the partners move closer to their goal of delivering large volumes of green hydrogen from Oman to Europe by 2029.
