Athe coal island of all things. The port of Duisburg, Duisport for short, could hardly have chosen a more symbolic location for the Duisburg Gateway Terminal (DGT) future project. Since the middle of the 18th century, the fossil fuel hard coal has been handled on the 24-hectare site. At the turn of the millennium it was still around 20 million tons a year. Since then, the energy market has changed fundamentally, and Duisport discontinued the classic operation of the coal island in 2020. From next year, the port will operate Europe’s largest inland trimodal container terminal here, which will also serve as a “flagship project” for hydrogen-based energy technology.
The concept of the port operation, which is considered climate-neutral, has been developed since 2019 with the Enerport project. The second part of the project, which will run until 2025, started in December last year. Enerport II is about implementing hydrogen-based energy conversion practically in the port. Duisport has brought the Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental, Safety and Energy Technology, the MTU brand from Rolls-Royce Power Systems and various local and regional energy suppliers on board as partners.
At first glance, the planned terminal in the world’s largest inland port does not differ from other modern handling facilities for containers. Quays, storage areas, roads and railway tracks can be seen on the simulations. Nevertheless, Alexander Garbar, Head of Corporate Development and Strategy at Duisport, sees the project as a pioneer for change in the industry. “In the future, Enerport can serve as a blueprint for other ports,” says the business graduate. The focus is on electrifying as many processes in the terminal as possible. Fuel cells and combined heat and power plants are to generate the electrical energy for this from hydrogen. The heat that is generated can also be fed into the municipal local heating network in Duisburg – this is possible because the port area, which has grown over time, is embedded in the city.
Terminal as a climate-neutral handling facility
Every port knows the challenges that Duisport wants to overcome with the project. Ships need a shore power supply so that they do not have to keep their engines running on the quay. Local emissions also occur when forklifts or straddle carriers transport containers in the terminal, just like when trains are shunted with diesel locomotives. The trend towards electrification is correspondingly strong. Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG, for example, operates a fleet of automatic, battery-powered container transporters at its Altenwerder container terminal. They were a key to being able to certify the terminal as a climate-neutral handling facility.