For years, the conversation around hydrogen trucks has been dominated by a single, frustrating question: what’s the point of a truck with no fuel to run on?

Daimler Truck has just provided a very clear answer to build the supply chain yourself.

Hydrogen Moves – But Infrastructure Doesn’t

At ZeroMission, we’ve watched the evolution of hydrogen freight with interest and, at times, impatience. Hydrogen trucks work. They’ve been tested, proven, and pushed to their limits. Daimler’s prototypes alone have clocked over 225,000 kilometres, hauled real freight, and even crossed Germany on a single tank. The technology isn’t the problem.

The missing link has always been the infrastructure. Pipelines are years away, refuelling hubs are scarce, and large-scale hydrogen distribution remains more a topic of conferences than construction.

Until now.

Daimler Stops Waiting

This week, Daimler Truck announced a landmark agreement with Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA), the port authority of Hamburg, and Kawasaki Heavy Industries.

The goal? To explore how green liquid hydrogen can be imported through Hamburg, Europe’s second-largest port, and distributed inland via road and rail.

It’s a memorandum of understanding for now, not a concrete project but the intent is clear:
Daimler is no longer waiting for someone else to solve the hydrogen puzzle. It’s taking the first steps to put the missing pieces together.

A New Alliance of Energy and Motion

The partnership is a logical, powerful trio:

HHLA brings the port infrastructure and logistics expertise.
Kawasaki brings deep experience in hydrogen shipping, having already launched the Suiso Frontier, the world’s first liquid hydrogen carrier.
Daimler brings the trucks and the demand, the fleets are ready to run.

Together, they’re mapping out a future where hydrogen can actually flow from ship to shore to road.

As Dr Andreas Gorbach, Daimler’s Head of Truck Technology, put it:

“Hamburg can also become Europe’s gateway to the world of hydrogen.”

Polite, perhaps, but beneath it is a message: Europe has talked long enough it’s time to act.

The Chicken-and-Egg Era Is Ending

Hydrogen technology is ready across the board. Cars from Toyota and Hyundai, diggers from JCB, trucks from Daimler and Iveco, even BMW’s own logistics fleet they all work.

The bottleneck isn’t engineering; it’s energy distribution. Daimler’s move signals a broader industry shift from waiting for infrastructure to building it through partnerships.

It’s not a final plan yet, but it’s a clear signal: the era of talking about hydrogen is over. The era of doing something about it has begun.

ZeroMission’s Take

At ZeroMission, we see this as a pivotal moment for fleet decarbonisation. For hydrogen to play its role in clean, long-haul transport, OEMs, port authorities, energy suppliers, and digital twin platforms like ours must align data, demand, and delivery.

Because smart transport isn’t just about vehicles, it’s about the ecosystem that fuels, tracks, and optimises them.

Daimler’s step into hydrogen logistics marks a turning point from potential to progress.

Hydrogen can’t wait for perfect conditions. Neither can the planet.

And in Hamburg, the future of clean freight may have just found its first real gateway.

Reach out to our expert team at zeromission