Innovate BC is leading an Integrated Marketplace project to add new zero and low-emission heavy-duty (HDZEV) trucks to operations at the Port of Prince Rupert.

This project is aiming to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and support sustainability in the province’s transportation sector.

The HDZEV project will see four new trucks, two hydrogen-powered, one battery-electric, and one hydrogen-diesel co-combustion, utilised on existing operational routes. These operations will provide data to better understand the range, reliability, and potential best use case for the vehicles.

Innovate BC is using the Integrated Marketplace to boost innovation in British Columbia by connecting strategic buyers with B.C.-based solution providers to implement, scale up, and export B.C. technology solutions. The Prince Rupert Port Authority (PRPA) is the testbed partner for the project.

The project received $2.45 million from the Government of British Columbia, $3 million from the Government of Canada, and $500,000 from PRPA. This funding will be used to purchase zero and low-emission vehicles, as well as to establish fuelling, charging, and maintenance infrastructure, including electric vehicle chargers and local green hydrogen production.

Other project partners include Velocity Truck Centres, which will support the purchase and maintenance of the hydrogen fuel cell, hydrogen-diesel co-combustion and battery-electric class eight heavy-duty trucks.

Gat Leedm Logistics will operate the trucks, powered partly by Hydra Energy’s hydrogen fuel. NuPort Robotics will install hardware and manage data collection and analytics.

Testing will assess performance, technical capability, and feasibility, running until the end of 2026.

“The Integrated Marketplace acts as a platform for partners like Prince Rupert Port Authority, which are key contributors to British Columbia’s economic growth, to de-risk the adoption of new technologies while supporting the decarbonization and innovation goals of their organizations and the province,” said Peter Cowan, President and CEO of Innovate BC.

“We are proud to lead this project and look forward to seeing its outcomes and generated data inform the greater adoption of zero emission vehicles across more industrial sectors here in B.C.”

“This partnership between governments, industry and B.C. businesses will help accelerate the Port of Prince Rupert’s continued progress toward decarbonizing port operations and to enable greater competitiveness and sustainability for Canadian supply chains,” said Shaun Stevenson, President & CEO of the Prince Rupert Port Authority.

“The utilisation of zero and low-emission vehicles is a key component of the Prince Rupert Port Authority’s strategy for reducing port-related carbon emissions by a further 30 per cent by 2030 and reaching carbon neutrality by 2050.”

Late last year, the Prince Rupert Port Authority (PRPA) commenced construction on the Ridley Island Export Logistics Project (RIELP).

More recently, Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) put the first two electrically powered trucks into operation at its in-house freight forwarder Container-Transport-Dienst GmbH (CTD).