While decarbonizing heavy-duty port logistics is essential for regional sustainability, the large-scale transition to green hydrogen in industrial clusters is systematically constrained by a “Low-Load Trap”, where localized resource scarcity and fragmented demand create a self-reinforcing cycle of high costs. Although existing techno-economic frameworks typically treat hydrogen infrastructure as isolated nodes, this study addresses these spatial limitations by modeling the structural transition of such environmental-energy systems through a proposed “Nested RIS-PTE” framework (Regional Innovation System embedded with Policy-Technology-Economy flows). Taking China’s Yangtze River Delta as a case study, we simulate how the spatial-functional coupling of inter-provincial comparative advantages, drawing on regional strengths in R&D, manufacturing, and renewable energy, converges in a high-density port application hub to dismantle entrenched cost barriers. Results demonstrate that this regional synergy drives a non-linear Levelized Cost of Hydrogen (LCOH) reduction from 55.5 RMB/kg to approximately 30.6 RMB/kg, close to the diesel parity threshold. Beyond simple cost-cutting, we reveal a “Denominator Effect” triggered by a “Port-Corridor” strategy, which provides a mechanistic pathway for infrastructure to transcend the utilization bottleneck—elevating rates from a stagnant 36% to a commercially viable 75%. By identifying the exact techno-economic tipping points for heavy-duty commercialization, this study offers a framework that can be adapted to other port agglomerations, suggesting that while the synergistic mechanisms are conceptually general, their application requires context-specific parameterization.
Wu et al. (2026) studied this question.