Hydrogen Fuel Cells Propel MOL’s Hybrid Hanaria to Win Ship of the Year 2024

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) is turning heads with its latest game-changing vessel, the hybrid ferry Hanaria, which just clinched Japan’s highly coveted Ship of the Year 2024 award. This isn’t just a trophy—it’s a major milestone in the push toward maritime decarbonization. Launched in April 2024, Hanaria is packed with next-gen clean tech, blending a 450kW PEM fuel cell, a solid lithium-ion battery system, and biodiesel generators that meet strict IMO 2020 regulations.

Thanks to this smart setup, the ferry can run completely zero-emission during day-to-day operations—helping to slash roughly thousands of tonnes of CO₂ every year compared to standard diesel-powered ships.

Pushing boundaries in industrial decarbonization

This isn’t MOL’s first clean-tech breakthrough, but Hanaria definitely raises the bar. This cutting-edge hybrid design marks a major leap forward in Japan’s larger effort to cut carbon from its shipping sector, tightly aligned with the country’s Green Growth Strategy and updates to maritime legislation.

MOL has already made waves with earlier projects—the Wind Challenger vessel in 2023 and an LNG-powered ferry back in 2022. But with Hanaria, the company is doubling down on sustainable energy solutions, showcasing the power of hybrid systems and hydrogen fuel cells as the backbone of cleaner maritime transport.

Setting the stage for a nationwide transformation

What really sets this endeavor apart is MOL’s long-game vision: they’re not stopping at just one ferry. The plan is to use Hanaria as a blueprint, with an ambitious goal to retrofit 23 more coastal ferries across Japan by 2030. It’s all part of a determined push to bring scalable, future-ready solutions to the nation’s ferry fleet—supporting a larger shift to sustainable energy and showing that clean and efficient shipping isn’t just possible, it’s already happening.