The ‘world’s first’ hydrogen fuel cell mobile crane has been put into trial operation by Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries as its transitions away from fossil fuel reliance in ports.

Situated in Shanghai, China, the port is now utilising the first successful application of a hydrogen fuel cell hybrid power system to operate a mobile crane, the company said.

With this, it is expected that more port machinery could well be further decarbonised using hydrogen fuel cells with the technology providing significant potential to achieve net zero emissions.

Using hydrogen, the equipment provides clean energy for the whole machine whilst only discharging purified water.

Compared with traditional mobile cranes with high-power diesel generators, the annual average carbon dioxide emission of the equipment can be reduced by more than 300 tonnes.

This could be a significant development for the entire industry and could spearhead the wider use of hydrogen fuel cell technology within port logistics.