The tide of orders for container ships since last year seems to have "filled" the delivery schedule of traditionally built container ship yards. Ship owners have even started to have to look for shipyards that have never built container ships. This has also allowed two Chinese shipyards that specialize in building chemical ships and bulk carriers to receive "lucky" to receive a large order for 16 methanol dual-fuel container ships.
On November 29, Singapore container shipping group X-Press Feeders announced the ordering of 16 1170TEU dual-fuel branch container ships, which will be built by Xindayang Shipbuilding and Ningbo Xinle Shipbuilding respectively. The new ship will be equipped with an ultra-modern dual-fuel engine that can be operated with conventional fuels or green methanol and is specially designed for high fuel efficiency.
is expected to be delivered in succession between the fourth quarter of 2023 and 2024, and the first ships will be deployed to Europe and on weekly trade routes.
X-Press Feeders did not announce the specific price of this order, but according to Clarkson's data, the current new ship construction price of 1000/1100TEU-class branch container ships has risen to US$23.5 million per ship. Considering that the new X-Press Feeders will operate with dual fuel, the construction cost of dual fuel ships is at least 10% higher than that of ordinary ships. It is estimated that the construction cost of these 16 ships will exceed US$400 million (approximately RMB 2.548 billion).
It is worth mentioning that neither Xindayang Shipbuilding nor Ningbo Xinle Shipbuilding have accepted container ship orders before. In addition to the 30,000 cubic meters of LNG ship "Coral Encanto" that was once delivered by Xinle Shipbuilding, the ships built by these two shipyards are operated by traditional power.
Clarkson data shows that the ships built by Xinle Shipbuilding were mainly chemical ships and grocery ships. Currently, the company has a total of 13 hand-held orders of 89,800 dwt, including 6 chemical ships and 7 grocery ships, and will be delivered all this year and next two years. The orders of X-Press Feeders are also the first order undertaken by Xinle Shipbuilding in the past year. The last time Xinle Shipbuilding received the order was in August 2020, when Guangdong Ruigao Maritime Logistics Co., Ltd. ordered two 4,000-dollar stainless steel chemical ships.
In addition, Xindayang Shipbuilding mainly builds bulk carriers. According to Clarkson's data, the current New Ocean Shipbuilding hand-held orders total 35 ships with a total of 2.04149 million dwt, which are 33 bulk carriers, 1 multipurpose supply ship (MSV) and 1 heavy gondola , respectively. Since the beginning of this year, Xindayang Shipbuilding has successively undertaken orders for 24 new ships, all of which are bulk carriers, including Guoyin leasing a large order for 9 60,000-ton bulk carriers, with a contract value of US$261 million.
Industry insiders speculate that X-Press Feeders chose to order ships in these two shipyards, probably because of delivery time. Due to the surge in container ship orders this year, shipyards that mainly build container ships have basically struggled to provide delivery schedules before 2024. Some shipyards also want to retain some of the ship's seats so that they can receive more expensive ships. Information on the official website of
shows that the X-Press Feeders fleet currently operates nearly 100 ships, most of which are small ships below 3,000 TEU. As part of its fleet renewal plan, X-Press Feeders plans to use a new generation of container ships that can reduce fuel by more than half of existing ships. The company has been working with engine manufacturers to designate the most advanced technology engines for new shipbuilding, which can be operated using clean fuels including methanol, ammonia , etc. "We are very pleased to place orders for these new ships, which will provide cutting-edge technology to balance environmental sustainability and operational excellence," said Shmuel Yoskovitz, CEO of
X-Press Feeders. "The X-Press Feeders Group is committed to maintaining an environmentally friendly approach to expanding our fleet of global operations and modernizing our fleet."
