Under the agreement, Shell will from 2024 launch heavy-duty hydrogen-refuelling stations between the green hydrogen production hubs at the Port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands and in Cologne and Hamburg in Germany.

Daimler Truck meanwhile aims to start delivering heavy-duty hydrogen trucks to customers in 2025.

"The plan aims to continuously expand the hydrogen powered freight corridor, which will cover 1,200 kms by 2025, in order to deliver 150 hydrogen refuelling stations and around 5,000 Mercedes-Benz heavy-duty fuel cell trucks by 2030," the two companies said in a joint statement.

(Reporting by Maria Sheahan, editing by Emma Thomasson)