PROVARIS Energy has entered a technical partnership with UK-based Northern Marine to advance the development of the GH2 compressed hydrogen carrier.

Having signed a memorandum of understanding, energy company Provaris and Northern Marine aim to support the ongoing engineering and development program of the company’s first GH2 carrier H2Neo.

Northern Marine is expected to bring more than 40 years of expertise in naval architecture, marine engineering, regulatory and marine quality assurance and ship management to H2Neo’s development and commercialisation.

Provaris chief technical officer Per Roed said the company looks forward to working with Northern Marine’s technical exports on the H2Neo development program.

“The opportunity for Provaris to leverage their global experience and expertise in engineering, approvals, newbuilds and operations will enable the company to have the first H2Neo ship on water and operational in 2026, to support the pipeline of hydrogen export projects we are now developing in Australia,” he said.

The partnership will cover specialist technical and operational services to support the program through class and flag approval, shipbuilding contract negotiations, newbuild supervision and operations.

“A partnership with a globally recognised ship manager like Northern Marine is an endorsement of our development for a compressed hydrogen carrier and an indication of the commercial potential as a new class of bulk carrier to support the transition of green fuels, in this case green hydrogen,” Provaris CEO and managing director Martin Carolan said.

During the term of the MOU, Northern Marine and Provaris will aim to identify opportunities for Northern Marine to be appointed ship manager for future operational fleets of GH2 carriers, beginning with H2Neo.

Northern Marine managing director Philip Fullerton said the company was pleased to support the development and future operation of the GH2 carrier.

“At Northern Marine, we operate at the vanguard of safe and sustainable shipping and relish the opportunity to deploy our operational capability on world-leading new energy projects.”