News / X-Press Feeders’ methanol-fuelled newbuildings are Europe-bound

Photo: X-Press Feeders

X-Press Feeders’ 14 methanol-fuelled newbuildings will serve European routes, the world’s largest feeder operator said yesterday.

At the Marine Fuels 360 Conference in Singapore yesterday, X-Press head of sustainability Alex Hartnoll, said the operator had chosen methanol as its decarbonisation solution due to the small size of its ships.

He said: “We felt it’s the fuel type that really made the most sense for our operations, because of the nature of our trade and our cargo.

“Feeder ships travel to small ports and we need assurance that they will fit with existing infrastructure. Small ships have smaller deadweight and don’t have the ability to sacrifice space. Based on those reasons, we felt that methanol was the safest…”

The X-Press newbuildings, totalling 22,774 teu, are under construction at Chinese yards.

Mr Hartnoll added: “From our studies, in terms of LNG bunkering, you obviously need the infrastructure for that to work, and that’s fine if you’re dealing with hub ports. But if you’re dealing with, say, regional ports, small ports in South-east Asia and Asia itself, your operations go far beyond that and you have other considerations. Methanol is more flexible in terms of being easy to implement.”

Amid concerns of inadequate supply of the fuel, particularly green methanol, Mr Hartnoll said X-Press hoped to “get the ball rolling to encourage energy companies to produce methanol-based bunkers”.

Besides X-Press, Danish liner giant Maersk Line is also betting on methanol and, on 22 November signed an offtake agreement with Chinese clean energy developer Goldwind, committing to purchase 500,000 tonnes of green methanol annually, from 2026.

Mr Hartnoll said: “As an industry, it’s kind of important to set standards. People aren’t going to start making methanol if people don’t build the ships. It’s a bit of a gamble, but we feel it’s going to pay off.”