Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI) will partner with Royal Dutch Shell to develop technologies to ship hydrogen, a project the Japanese shipbuilder has been working on for years with some very futuristic looking ship designs already on display.

In the past KHI has worked with fellow Japanese firms Iwatani and J-Power developing hydrogen shipping concepts. This trio will now work with Shell which aims to produce hydrogen from low-quality brown coal abundant in Australia at low cost and then ship liquefied hydrogen in special vessels.

KHI aims to commercialise liquid hydrogen carriers by 2020 with Japanese authorities keen to import considerable volumes of the energy.

Source: splash247.com (Sam Chambers)