The Port of Antwerp in Bruges is actively developing a €250 million hydrogen and ammonia storage and export facility at Namibia’s Port of Walvis Bay, in collaboration with the African nation’s state logistics firm.
The facility, which Chief Executive Officer Jacques Vandermeiren said may receive European Union funding, is part of Namibia’s plan to develop a green hydrogen industry to harness its abundant solar and wind energy to produce what’s being touted as a carbon-friendly fuel of the future.
The facility, which will be equally owned by the Port of Antwerp and the Namibian Ports Authority, will be built within three to five years at a greenfield site near the existing port site, which includes a container terminal. A unit of MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company SA is in talks to operate the facility.
It will store and ship hydrogen and a derivative, ammonia, produced by companies including Belgium’s Cie Maritime Belge SA.
The aim is to refuel passing ships and transport ammonia for use in heavy industry clusters in Belgium, Germany, and elsewhere in Europe that are struggling to reduce their carbon emissions and aren’t suitable for conversion to the use of renewable electricity.
Namibia can serve “as a production hub of green molecules and Antwerp-Bruges as a gateway to serve the European market,” Namport and Port of Antwerp said in a statement.
Renewable energy splits water to create green hydrogen, which can be utilized as fuel or transformed into ammonia, facilitating easier transportation.
