The Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) have announced that the agency awarded nearly $25 MM in grant funding to the Port of Houston Authority (Port Houston) as part of a public-private collaboration between Port Houston and Linde Inc. (Linde), a leading industrial gases company, with additional partners GTI Energy, Argonne National Laboratory, and Center for Houston’s Future. This award will be used to construct and operate a H₂ fueling station for heavy-duty trucks.

The project, Bayport HRS, will result in an innovative pipeline-based H₂ refueling station (HRS), which will offer high fueling throughput with convenient and publicly accessible fueling options, further enabling supply chain development in Texas and the Gulf-Coast region. Linde will design, construct, own and operate the new facility, creating a cost-effective heavy-duty (HD) truck H₂ fueling station in Bayport, Texas.

This project will be a coordinated public-private collaboration between the public agency leading the most important and busiest port in the U.S. (Port Houston), a major industrial leader in HRS and H₂ supply (Linde), a worldwide leader in energy innovation (GTI Energy), a non-profit with extensive experience in energy transition in Houston (Center for Houston’s Future, CHF), and a global leader in modeling H₂ delivery infrastructure (Argonne National Laboratory, ANL).

The project supports the Port’s Sustainability Action Plan and ambitious goal of net-zero emissions by 2050. It also aligns with national strategies for transportation decarbonization and clean H₂.

“The Houston Ship Channel is the busiest waterway in the nation,” said Port Houston CEO Charlie Jenkins. “As one of the channel’s leading advocates, Port Houston is committed to fostering sustainability, resilience, collaboration, and quality of life for the community and nation we serve.”

“Partnering with Linde, one of the largest H₂ producers in the world and owner of a major pipeline complex that serves the Houston region, is in line with the Port’s strategy of engaging the Houston Ship Channel industry on projects that benefit the community, promote sustainability, decarbonization, and clean transportation,” said Port Houston Chief Infrastructure Officer Rich Byrnes. “This project exemplifies Port Houston ‘walking the talk’ of sustainability and net zero. Port Houston’s sustainability roadmap and grants strategy is about accelerating and de-risking business decisions supporting decarbonization and energy transition.”

“Linde looks forward to working with Port Houston to develop key H₂ infrastructure to support the future decarbonization of heavy transport in Texas,” said Richard Minter, President, H₂ Mobility. “We look forward to working with our partners, contributing Linde’s extensive experience and network of H₂ production assets.”

"The Houston/Gulf Coast's regional clean H₂ economy continues to gain momentum, including with announcements such as this,” said Brett Perlman, managing director at the Center for Houston's Future. "We are excited to be part of this important work to build out a clean H₂ transportation network. This is also another great example of collaboration among business, government and community to get things done."

“H₂ has tremendous potential to reduce emissions in hard-to-abate sectors like heavy-duty trucking,” said Kristine Wiley, Vice President, Low Carbon Energy Solutions, GTI Energy. “The Bayport HRS project demonstrates how collaboration and innovative infrastructure can accelerate H₂’s integration into a low-cost, low-carbon future. We look forward to contributing to this project, leveraging the Houston area’s energy resources to drive tangible progress in decarbonization, energy security, and economic resilience.”

A goal of the collaboration is to support the U.S. National Blueprint for Transportation Decarbonization, the National Zero-Emission Freight Corridor Strategy, and U.S. National Clean H₂ Strategy and Roadmap.

Last year, the Port’s grants team secured nearly $57 MM in grant funding further supporting the Port’s sustainability plan to lead, partner with others, or support to produce tangible results.

“With this $25-MM grant award, Port Houston’s highly effective grants program is off to a strong start in 2025,” Jenkins concluded.