The “world’s first” hydrogen-powered inland container ship has hit the water in the Netherlands, and has been chartered by major American label Nike to regularly transport its products from Rotterdam to Belgium — adding just €0.01 to a pair of the brand’s signature sneakers and demonstrating the cost competitiveness of non-fossil hydrogen-based shipping, according to the ship’s builder Future Proof Shipping (FPS).

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But the company has benefitted from a government subsidy for the ship’s €4m ($4.3m) retrofit — and while the hydrogen powering the ship is not made from fossil fuels, it is not necessarily of renewable origin either.

FPS Maas is the first inland container vessel retrofitted to run on hydrogen fuel cells rather than diesel, FPS says, adding that while other hydrogen-powered ships rely on hybrid propulsion or have a backup diesel engine, FPS Maas is the only example with fuel-cell propulsion with batteries as a backup.

Nike has now chartered the vessel, which has capacity to carry 192 twenty-foot containers, via barge services firm BCTN to exclusively transport its goods from the Dutch port of Rotterdam to Meerhout in Belgium.

FPS claims that since running the vessel on hydrogen is only 0.2% more expensive than diesel, this only adds a single euro cent of transportation costs per pair of sneakers.

But although the hydrogen powering the ship is not made from fossil fuels, it is unlikely to meet the EU’s definition of green hydrogen.

Air Liquide is supplying FPS with compressed hydrogen produced electrolytically as a chlor-alkali byproduct.

FPS says the electricity powering this process “is of green origin”, but this may not meet requirements for additionality and temporal correlation as set out in the EU’s delegated acts on what constitutes green hydrogen.

This could mean that using renewable hydrogen that meets the EU’s standards will bump up such vessels’ operating costs.

And while the operating costs compare favourably to diesel, the company spent €4m in capex to retrofit the barge, supported by subsidies.

The project received funding from the government’s Netherlands Enterprise Agency and the EU-backed Interreg North Sea Program, as well as a stimulation scheme for sustainable inland shipping from the Port of Rotterdam executed by the Expertise en InnovatieCentrum Binnenvaart.

However, the shipping company has not clarified what proportion of the capital costs were covered by each backer.

FPS Maas has been awarded an A0 emission label from the Dutch government, which means it is free of CO2 emissions as well as the lowest possible release of air pollutants such as NOx.

FPS has recently joined the EU’s FLAGSHIPS programme in an effort to accelerate the launch of its second hydrogen-fuelled vessel, the FPS Waal, this summer. This barge will be of a similar size to FPS Maas, capable of carrying around 200 twenty-foot containers, but will travel an extra forty kilometers along its planned route between Rotterdam and Duisburg in Germany.

UPDATED: corrected typo in standfirst