A five-party consortium led by the Ports of Genoa will build a green hydrogen supply chain at the Port of Savona and test its use as an alternative power source for rail freight, including last-mile movements inside the port area.

The agreement, signed in the presence of Italy's Deputy Minister of Transport Edoardo Rixi, brings together the Ports of Genoa — which also oversees Savona — with FS Logistix, Edison, Assocostieri and the Logistics Association of Sustainable Intermodal (ALIS). The pact runs until 31 December 2027.

"Savona could become a concrete laboratory for the energy transition of Italian ports," Rixi said at the signing ceremony.

The project's scope goes beyond simply fueling locomotives. Partners will map potential hydrogen users across landside logistics activities — cargo handling among them — as well as maritime operations at the northwestern Italian port. They will also assess the optimal technical and economic configuration for hydrogen production and distribution facilities, subject to applicable authorisations and regulatory requirements.

A central deliverable is the assessment of hydrogen's viability as a power source for rail freight transport, specifically including the last-mile shuttle movements that connect quays, terminals and yards within the port perimeter. That is the segment where diesel shunting locomotives still dominate and where electrification is often uneconomic to install.

What it means commercially

For shippers and forwarders using Genoa-system ports, the pilot signals a longer-term shift in how landside drayage and intermodal shuttles may be powered — though nothing changes operationally before the testing phase concludes. The agreement sets a defined decision point: based on the results of development and testing activities, together with technical, financial and regulatory assessments, the partners will evaluate the next implementation phases in line with the solutions identified.

For FS Logistix, the rail logistics operator in the group, the project offers a potential pathway to cut diesel consumption on non-electrified port trackage. For Edison, the energy producer, it opens a route into industrial hydrogen demand at Italian ports. Fabrizio Mattana, Executive Vice President of Gas Assets at Edison, framed the ambition explicitly: the aim is a model that meets the Port of Savona's needs but can also be replicated at other Italian ports.

Replicability is the commercially significant word. If Savona produces a workable template for hydrogen production, distribution and rail traction under Italian regulation, the model could extend across the national port system — a factor that will shape whether the 2027 assessment leads to deployment or another round of study.

Hydrogen in rail freight: a crowded but cautious field

The Savona pilot joins a small but growing list of attempts to decarbonise rail freight with hydrogen. In the UK, GB Railfreight has partnered with US-based HyOrc to convert conventional diesel engines to hydrogen power. China is moving as well: last summer CRRC unveiled VELFORCE, a new brand covering modular freight power units based on battery, hydrogen fuel cell and diesel-battery hybrid technologies.

The pattern across these projects is consistent — hydrogen competes directly with battery-electric hybrids for the same duty cycles, namely branch lines, shunting and port last-miles where overhead wires do not reach. Large-scale adoption of hydrogen in rail freight still appears some way off, with battery-electric hybrids remaining the more immediate option for operators seeking emissions cuts now.

That context sets the bar for Savona. The pilot must demonstrate not just that hydrogen can move wagons, but that producing and distributing it at port scale makes economic sense against the hybrid alternative. The partners will weigh exactly that trade-off — cost, regulation and technical performance — before committing to the next phase, with the 2027 deadline now the date to watch for a verdict on whether Savona becomes Italy's hydrogen rail blueprint or another shelved feasibility study.