Evaluation of hydrogen shipping cost for potential trade routes

Abstract Shipping is a critical component of international hydrogen (H 2 ) supply chains. H 2 can be shipped in various forms or carriers, including cryogenic liquid hydrogen (LH 2 ), liquid ammonia, methanol, dibenzyl toluene (DBT), and methylcyclohexane (MCH). To compare the costs associated with shipping H 2 in different forms or carriers, this paper develops a model to evaluate the levelised H 2 shipping costs on potential international routes. The H 2 shipping cost includes the storage and operational costs incurred at the export port and the sea transportation, considering the case of using shore tanks and ships with a capacity of 100,000 cubic meters to store and transport different H 2 forms or carriers. The results indicate that methanol has the lowest H 2 shipping cost among all H 2 forms or carriers, followed by liquid ammonia, LH 2 , DBT, and MCH. Additionally, the Australia-East/Southeast Asia and West Africa-Europe routes have more competitive H 2 shipping costs when compared to the Australia-Europe, South America-Europe, Middle East-East Asia, and Middle East-Europe routes. This paper suggests that H 2 shipping costs are sensitive to ship and terminal tank capacities, and boil-off gas rates of ship tanks if using LH 2 as a H 2 transport form. The novelty of the paper lies in the developed generic evaluation model, which aids stakeholders in efficiently evaluating hydrogen shipping costs against various scenarios that fit their own interest.