Suiso Frontier, the First LH2 Carrier — Demonstration of Technologies and Operational Phase

Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd. has developed, designed, and built a liquefied hydrogen (LH 2 ) carrier (LH 2 C) in collaboration with Shell and ClassNK for a pilot hydrogen energy supply chain project conducted by HySTRA (CO 2 -free Hydrogen Energy Supply-Chain Technology Research Association) and promoted by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization in Japan. This pilot LH 2 C, the Suiso Frontier , debuted in 2021 to demonstrate a series of operational stages ranging from the initial cooling down/loading/unloading of LH 2 to sea-going operations using a newly built pilot LH 2 terminal in Kobe, Japan. The first international sea-going voyage by the Suiso Frontier between Japan and Australia was accomplished at the start of 2022. This study intends to describe briefly the ship design focusing on an overview of safety design and risk assessment results, and to provide an update on the demonstration progress describing the operational phase conducted as a series of demonstration tests highlighting the extended gas trial program conducted in Japan and the data-gathering exercise for the Suiso Frontier .