London and Frankfurt offices participate in the World Hydrogen Summit 2024 in Rotterdam

This year WA part sponsored the largest-ever Australia stand organised by Austrade. With 15,000 people attending across the three days of exhibition fair and high-level conference, it was also the largest WHS to date, reflecting the rapid growth of the sector and heightened interest across industry and government.

Following the WHS, staff from our London and Frankfurt offices participated in Austrade-organised side visits to Germany and Sweden. In Germany, we visited steel producer and processer Salzgitter. With annual revenue nearing €11 billion (~AU $17.9 billion) and output around seven million tonnes, it is one of the largest steel producers in Europe. The steel industry accounts for seven per cent of Germany’s greenhouse gas emissions, so the focus of the visit was on the company’s decarbonisation plans and shift to production of green steel. A walking tour through the entire process of steel making, from the production of pig iron in blast furnaces – which uses ore from all over the world, including Australia – to the 400 metre-long steel mill which produces 12,000 tonnes of slab steel a day, was a particular highlight. 

In Sweden, we visited truck manufacturer Volvo. The visit included a tour of the Tuve truck factory and discussion regarding Volvo’s plans for future fuel vehicles. The factory currently produces one truck every two minutes and uses a modular construction methodology that facilitates production of trucks with different powertrains. The highlight of the visit was an opportunity to test drive some of their trucks on a special test circuit around the factory. This confirmed the feedback provided by truck drivers – that the electric trucks were clearly superior to diesel in terms of noise level and ease of driving. As part of the side visit, the group also visited the Port of Gothenburg on a converted vessel run entirely on electric power.