The International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) has published a report on the feasibility of U.S. domestic green corridors utilizing hydrogen and wind-assist technologies.
The analysis identifies four key Jones Act corridors—the Pacific Northwest, West Coast, Pacific, and the Great Lakes—and presents opportunities for zero-emission vessel projects and collaboration with local hydrogen producers. According to the report, these corridors are ripe with opportunities for zero-emission vessel feasibility projects. Several identified stakeholders, such as local hydrogen producers, may be able to move forward with the necessary infrastructure.
What is the Jones Act?
The Jones Act is a U.S. federal law that regulates maritime commerce in the United States. The primary purpose of the Jones Act is to promote and maintain a strong merchant marine (commercial shipping industry) and ensure a reliable stream of vessels and qualified seafarers for national defense and commerce
Key findings of the report include:
- Modeling of the four ships shows they could complete 99% of the legs making up their routes on liquid hydrogen alone, with no cargo space modification required. While oceangoing vessels, on average, operate for 25 to 30 years before scrappage, the average age of the ships assessed is 43 years old. Jones Act ships tend to stay in service longer than other vessels because it is typically more expensive to build a ship to the law’s specifications than it is to build a ship outside the United States. When these four ships are retired, their replacements could be powered solely by hydrogen.
- Rotor sail performance was highly variable, with energy-generating capabilities heavily dependent on route location, heading, speed, or season. Predominantly lateral east-west routes produced higher net energy-generation rates, along with routes operating in the fall or winter. The net energy-generating time from rotor sails in the fall and winter increased by more than 70% on the routes between Honolulu, Hawaii, and the California ports of Oakland and Los Angeles, and between Honolulu and Seattle, Washington.
- Wing sails consistently produced net positive energy generation regardless of route, heading, or season. However, the annual energy savings of wing sails were 40% lower than rotor sails. Given wing sails’ passive capabilities to generate energy, they produce fuel savings more consistently than rotor sails but at lower rates.
- A single rotor sail or wing sail can save tens of thousands of dollars in annual hydrogen fuel costs for a U.S. Great Lakes vessel and hundreds of thousands of dollars in hydrogen costs for U.S. ships on ocean routes. Wind-assisted propulsion on the Pacific corridor saved the most in total fuel costs. However, wind assist on the Great Lakes provided the greatest percentage reduction in total fuel costs.
