The Port of Savona will host a five-party green hydrogen pilot running across port logistics, maritime operations and rail freight under a Memorandum of Understanding signed on September 28 and scheduled to remain in force until December 31, 2027.

The agreement was signed in the presence of Italian Vice Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Edoardo Rixi. Signatories are the Western Ligurian Sea Port Authority, the Sustainable Intermodal Logistics Association, terminal and oil-logistics body Assocostieri, energy group Edison, and FS Logistix, the logistics arm of state railway group Ferrovie dello Stato.

What does the pilot cover?

The project targets an integrated hydrogen supply chain inside the port perimeter. Partners will identify potential users across landside logistics activities, including cargo handling operations and maritime support services, while defining the optimal technical and economic layout for hydrogen production and distribution facilities.

A separate workstream will assess hydrogen's potential to power rail freight, including last-mile rail operations linking the port to industrial customers in the Savona hinterland.

The MoU also spans the wider hydrogen ecosystem: production, storage, distribution and end-use applications across the five participating organisations.

Who is taking part?

The partnership assembles infrastructure, energy, transport, technology and industry players within a single ecosystem.

• Edison supplies the energy and electrolyser expertise.
• FS Logistix covers rail and intermodal logistics.
• Assocostieri represents terminal operators and oil logistics interests.
• The Sustainable Intermodal Logistics Association provides industry coordination.
• The Western Ligurian Sea Port Authority hosts, regulates and coordinates the project.

Why Savona?

Vice Minister Rixi described Savona as positioned to become a genuine testing ground for the clean energy transition of Italian ports, "combining innovation, logistics and last-mile rail links to enhance the competitiveness of the port and the wider local industrial community."

The Ligurian port's rail connectivity and proximity to energy-intensive industrial users in the Savona hinterland make it a practical site for testing hydrogen at port scale rather than in a laboratory setting.

What are the next milestones?

After the development and testing phase, the partners will evaluate subsequent implementation phases based on technical, financial and regulatory assessments.

Port Authority President Matteo Paroli framed the initiative as taking hydrogen beyond the study phase and into a real port environment, with a clear roadmap from design through to testing.

"We are focusing on identifying actual user energy requirements, building appropriate technological solutions and assessing costs, compliance, safety and performance," Paroli said.

He described the approach as the correct model for energy transition: "innovation that must be tested, measured and, where successful, scaled to an industrial level rather than remaining a statement of principles."

What does it mean for shippers and forwarders?

For shippers and forwarders routing through Savona, the practical impact during the pilot phase remains limited. Energy infrastructure shifts in Italian ports typically feed into terminal handling tariffs and bunker supply over multi-year horizons, and the December 2027 horizon places any operational conversion beyond the current contracting cycle.

The MoU explicitly tasks participants with mapping actual energy demand before specifying electrolyser capacity, storage volumes or distribution layouts — sequencing design work after use cases are confirmed rather than the other way around.

If the Savona pilot clears its technical and economic benchmarks within the two-year MoU window, the framework could seed similar decarbonisation work at Italy's other gateway ports on the Ligurian and Tyrrhenian coasts, where pressure to replace diesel-powered cargo handling equipment and rail-shuttle traction is steadily building.