Below-Deck Liquid Hydrogen Tanks — the Technology BV Is Betting On

The Hardest Version of the Hydrogen Problem

Bureau Veritas has joined NavHyS, a European research project funded by the Clean Hydrogen Partnership, bringing together 14 partners across Europe with the shared goal of decarbonising shipping through hydrogen. BV, working with ArianeGroup, helped develop the project's proposal and consortium structure, contributing its expertise in safety, rule development, and classification.

Why Below-Deck Matters

NavHyS focuses specifically on one of the technically hardest aspects of hydrogen deployment at sea: below-deck Type C liquid hydrogen (LH₂) tanks used as fuel for service operation vessels (SOVs). Above-deck hydrogen storage is comparatively straightforward from a safety-engineering standpoint — ventilation and leak dispersal are simpler to manage in open air. Below-deck storage is where the genuinely hard classification and safety questions live, and it's exactly where BV has chosen to focus its regulatory collaboration effort.