Twelve thousand tonnes of steel left Luleå harbour on Tuesday, bound for a car plant in northern Germany. It is the first commercial shipment of steel made with hydrogen instead of coal.

The cargo is cold-rolled sheet, the kind used for doors, roofs and body panels. It will be pressed into parts for an electric hatchback that goes on sale next spring.

From mine to car body

Every step in the chain is our own. The ore was mined in Kiruna, carried to the coast on our electric ore line, reduced with hydrogen in Luleå and rolled in Oxelösund. The ship, MV Norrsken, runs on biofuel for the crossing.

The customer will receive a certificate for each coil, showing the carbon emitted at every stage. For this shipment, the total is under 0.1 tonnes of CO₂ per tonne of steel, compared with around two tonnes for steel made in a blast furnace.

Demand is ahead of supply

Car makers have already signed for most of our fossil-free output until 2029. The steel costs around 20 per cent more to make today, a gap we expect to close as hydrogen production scales and carbon prices rise.

A second shipment, for a truck maker in the Netherlands, leaves Luleå in November.