The Chinese shipyards New Dayang Shipbuilding and Ningbo Xinle Shipbuilding Group have won their first container ship orders, after X-Press Feeders equally split a 16-ship commission between the pair.
The contract signing with X-Press Feeders CEO Shmuel Yoskovitz was held via video link on 29 November, due to Covid-19-related travel restrictions.
The methanol-fuelled 1,170TEU newbuildings will be delivered from late 2023 to 2024. The newbuilding price was not disclosed, but shipping brokerage Clarksons assesses prices of similar newbuildings at around US$23.5 million.
New Dayang, which was revived in 2018, following a government-led restructuring of bankrupt Yangzhou Dayang Shipbuilding, focuses on building bulk carriers, while Ningbo Xinle specializes in chemical/products tankers.
Surging container ship orders have seen major shipyards fill their slots until 2024 and liner operators and tonnage providers craving earlier deliveries are turning to smaller shipyards, which have never built boxships.
Yoskovitz said that X-Press Feeders will operate the ships in the company’s Europe and America trade routes, as the newest addition to its operated fleet of over 100 ships.
The newbuildings have been designed by naval architects TECHNOLOG Servies GmbH and being methanol-fuelled aligns with X-Press Feeders’ target of operating its first ‘zero-emission ready’ vessel by 2025.
Yoskovitz said, “We are very excited to welcome these ships into our European and Americas network. These newbuild vessels will provide cutting-edge technology to deliver a balance of environmental sustainability and operational excellence.”
Martina Li
Asia Correspondent
