The prototype of Hyster’s world-first, hydrogen-powered reachstacker has arrived disassembled at eastern Spain’s Port of Valencia, for testing in real-world conditions until the end of December.

The container handler will be assembled before refuelling and operational tests are conducted by the technical team of Hyster, MSC Terminal Valencia, the Spanish National Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology Testing Centre (CNH2), Carburos Metálicos and the Valenciaport Foundation.

“The fuel cell powered Hyster reachstacker is expected to offer comparable performance to a diesel reachstacker in terms of capacity and lift and drive speeds, helping to maintain similar productivity levels, and will feature independent traction and hydraulics with different electric motors to serve different functions,” the Port Authority of Valencia said in a statement.

“When combined with the right application and operating intensity, Hyster expects this reachstacker to provide up to two shifts of operation before a hydrogen refuelling is required. The design includes four hydrogen tanks as a standard option to store hydrogen inside the reachstacker.

Announced in 2021, Valenciaport Foundation, in collaboration with the Port Authority of Valencia and financed by the Clean Hydrogen Partnership program, is implementing the H2PORTS initiative to “test and validate hydrogen technologies in port machinery”.