A hydrogen-powered heavy-duty truck has entered Pass4Core, the secure parking facility serving Cargo City at Milano Malpensa Airport, ahead of deliveries to airport operators.
The operation saw Gruber Logistics deploy a hydrogen fuel-cell truck to transport goods to BCUBE AIR CARGO and ALHA, bringing hydrogen mobility directly into the day-to-day logistics environment of one of Italy’s major international cargo hubs.
Rather than being presented as a standalone technology demonstration, the trial was integrated into the normal flow of airport logistics. The truck carried out deliveries within Cargo City while connecting with the airport’s operational and digital processes through the Smart City workflows used to manage shipments and deliveries.
The initiative was conducted by Gruber Logistics with the support of SEA Milan Airports and Edison, providing an opportunity to assess how hydrogen-powered vehicles perform within the demanding environment of airport cargo operations.
A hydrogen truck at the heart of Cargo City
Introducing a heavy-duty hydrogen vehicle into Cargo City means testing more than its performance on public roads. The vehicle must operate within an environment where delivery schedules, airport access, cargo handling and coordination between multiple operators all have to work together without interfering with established processes.
That is at the heart of the Malpensa trial. The objective is to evaluate hydrogen mobility during an actual logistics operation and under the conditions encountered at a major international airport.
The project also brings together experience and technologies developed through several European initiatives focused on reducing emissions from transport and airport operations.
From long-haul road transport to airport logistics
Gruber Logistics is working with Scania on the European ZEFES – Zero Emission flexible vehicle platforms with modular powertrains serving the long-haul Freight Eco System project.
Within ZEFES, Gruber Logistics is testing a hydrogen fuel-cell heavy-duty vehicle for long-haul freight transport under real operating conditions.
The vehicle deployed at Malpensa now brings that road-transport experience into a different operating environment: airport logistics.
This creates an opportunity to assess how hydrogen technology developed for long-haul freight can be adapted to other logistics chains and how zero-emission vehicles can interact with the operational requirements of an international cargo hub.
Malpensa prepares for a hydrogen ecosystem
The truck trial is also linked to broader plans to establish a hydrogen ecosystem at Malpensa.
As part of this development, Edison is working on a project for a green hydrogen production and distribution hub near the airport’s Malpensa Truck SafePark. The proposed infrastructure would eventually make it possible to produce hydrogen locally and supply vehicles serving airport-related transport and logistics operations.
A refuelling facility located directly within the airport area could encourage the wider deployment of hydrogen-powered vehicles serving Malpensa, strengthening the connection between energy production, refuelling infrastructure and airport mobility.
Hydrogen-powered mobility offers zero-emission operation and could contribute significantly to reducing emissions from transport activities. For Malpensa, this supports the airport’s ambition to achieve its Net Zero target by 2030.
The current trial is therefore an important step even before the planned infrastructure is operational. Testing hydrogen vehicles in real Cargo City conditions allows operators to build practical experience and expertise that could support a broader deployment in the future.
SEA brings the trial into the European OLGA project
The initiative also forms part of the European OLGA (hOListic Green Airport) project, funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 programme.
OLGA aims to accelerate airport decarbonisation through innovative approaches covering energy, sustainable mobility and airport operations.
SEA Milan Airports is participating in the project, including activities related to energy and hydrogen. Its work includes the development and testing of solutions covering hydrogen production, refuelling and use at Milano Malpensa.
The hydrogen truck trial brings this experimentation directly into airport operations. It connects the vehicle itself with refuelling considerations and existing cargo processes, allowing the partners to assess in practical terms how hydrogen could become part of different stages of the airport logistics chain.
For Malpensa, the deployment of the Gruber Logistics truck consequently represents more than the arrival of a new vehicle. It is a real-world test of how hydrogen mobility, airport logistics, digital processes and future energy infrastructure could work together as the airport moves towards its 2030 decarbonisation objectives.
