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 1,170TEU feedership Eco Umande (built 2024) on 23 June after three months of work on the ship.
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.
X-Press Feeders contracted 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.
