Hydrogen and hydrogen carriers: Value chain
Industrial-gas giants, Japanese shipbuilders and new network builders
What this tab covers Who does what, from equipment makers to builders, owners, operators, traders and users, with the leading companies at each step.The chain runs from equipment makers (pipes, compressors, cylinders, ships) to network and industrial-gas operators, project developers and offtakers, overseen by energy regulators.
The chain
Cylinder and trailer makers Shipbuilders and terminal developers Industrial-gas pipeline operators New network developers Regulators and policy makers| Stage | What happens | Leading companies |
|---|---|---|
| Cylinder and trailer makers | Build high-pressure steel and composite tanks, tube trailers and modules | Hexagon Purus (Norway) Luxfer (United Kingdom) Tenaris (Luxembourg)21 |
| Shipbuilders and terminal developers | Design liquid hydrogen ships, tanks and import terminals | Kawasaki Heavy Industries (Japan) Japan Suiso Energy (Japan)7 |
| Industrial-gas pipeline operators | Run today's merchant hydrogen pipelines and caverns serving refineries and chemical plants | Air Products (United States) Air Liquide (France)1213 |
| New network developers | Build and convert transmission pipelines for national networks | Sinopec (China) Tangshan Haitai New Energy Technology (China) Energinet (Denmark)101415 |
| Regulators and policy makers | Approve networks, set tariffs, access rules and subsidies | Bundesnetzagentur (Germany) European Commission and ENNOH (EU) US Treasury and IRS (45V credit, United States)9162223 |
Most hydrogen today is made and used at the same site, so the transport chain is still small and dominated by industrial-gas companies. Air Products describes its 600-mile US Gulf Coast system, fed by over 20 plants, as the world's largest (a company claim); Air Liquide runs a competing Gulf Coast network linked to a large salt cavern at Spindletop.
New public networks are being built by gas transmission operators and state-linked firms, funded partly by regulated tariffs. Few firms dominate any one stage yet, so the companies named here are leading examples from market research and project news rather than a market-share ranking.
Sources
- Kawasaki Heavy Industries to build world's largest 40,000 m3 liquefied hydrogen carrier H2 Tech, 2026
- Bundesnetzagentur approves hydrogen core network Bundesnetzagentur, 2024
- World's longest: construction begins on USD 1.9bn, 1,000km-plus hydrogen pipeline network in northern China Hydrogen Insight, 2025
- Hydrogen pipelines (Gulf Coast network; 'world's largest' is a company claim) Air Products, 2026
- Air Liquide invests 50 million to expand hydrogen network on US Gulf Coast Pipeline and Gas Journal, 2025
- Sinopec granted approval for China's first cross-provincial green hydrogen pipeline Hydrogen Insight, 2025
- Danish-German hydrogen pipeline delayed three years Clean Energy Wire, 2024
- The Section 45V Clean Hydrogen Production Credit (IF12602) Congressional Research Service, 2026
- Hydrogen storage tanks and transportation market: leading companies MarketsandMarkets, 2025
- Decarbonising gas markets: EU H2 Regulation and H2 Directive enter into force Linklaters, 2024
- Hydrogen and decarbonised gas market package (EU policy tracker, updated August 2026) Clean Hydrogen Partnership, European Hydrogen Observatory, 2026