A Chinese shipyard has delivered what it claims is the world’s first container ship to be retrofitted with a methanol dual-fuelled propulsion system as X-Press Feeders opts for a quick upgrade on its newbuilding.
Pacific Ocean Engineering (Zhoushan) Co handed over the 1,170-teu feedership Eco Umande (built 2024) on 23 June after what appears to be a three-month job.
The ship was originally contracted by Singapore-based X-Press Feeders in November 2021 and built as a methanol-ready vessel at New Dayang Shipbuilding.
It was delivered to the X-Press’ shipowning arm Sea Consortium in March 2024 and went straight to Pacific Ocean Engineering’s yard to be retrofitted as a fully methanol dual-fuelled vessel.
The vessel has been fitted with a MAN Energy Solutions 5S50ME methanol dual-fuel engine.
During the retrofit job, the yard had to install a methanol fuel system, including stainless steel pipes for the fuel supply along with other systems and modifications to existing installations.
Methanol-fuelled expansion
X-Press Feeders went big on methanol-fuelling, contracting 14 dual-fuel vessels in China, including four at New Dayang Shipbuilding.
In May, the company bunkered its first dual-fuel vessel with green methanol in the Port of Singapore.
The ships will be based out of Rotterdam, where X-Press has a green-methanol supply contract with Dutch fuel supplier OCI Global. These ships will initially operate on routes to the Baltic Sea and Scandinavia and later expand to other European ports.
X-Press Feeders has described the vessels as having “carbon neutral potential” when run on green methanol.
