Tokyo Metropolitan Government announced to have concluded an agreement with four companies including Mitsui E&S and Iwatani to proceed with the project to introduce fuel cells (FC) into the cargo handling equipment for Oi Container Wharf in Port of Tokyo.

The project is part of the Tokyo Carbon-Neutral Port (CNP) Plan which was formulated in March of this year by Tokyo Metropolitan Government for promotion of decarbonization in Port of Tokyo. It will be promoted under the name of “FC Project of Cargo-handling Equipment in Tokyo Port.” The five participants of the project are Bureau of Tokyo Port & Harbor, Nippon Yusen Kaisha, Uni-X NCT, Mitsui E&S and Iwatani. In this project, the current rubber-tired gantry cranes (RTG) driven by diesel engines are replaced by FC power generators for cargo handling.

An action plan will be made out within this year to enter the design and assembling process of cargo-handling equipment. From 2024 to 2025 the current cargo-handling equipment will be retrofitted to the FC-driven system for implementation and verification.

The place for implementation will be NYK’s Tokyo Container Terminal in Oi Wharf, where Mitsui E&S will retrofit the cargo-handling equipment to the FC generating system and Iwatani will supply hydrogen.

Uni-X CNT will be in charge of cargo-handling and hydrogen filling works. It is planned that the FC-driven supply of hydrogen pressurized up to 35MPa using the supply unit for filling into the RTG.