OCI Global and X-Press Feeders Sign Green Methanol Offtake Agreement
OCI Global will supply X-Press Feeders with OCI HyFuels green methanol for their newbuild methanol dual-fueled common feeder ships from 2024.
The green methanol will be used to fuel X-Press Feeders’ upcoming dual-fuel vessels servicing European ports and will be supplied in the Port of Rotterdam from 2024.
X-Press Feeders says it will be the first common feeder operator with methanol fueled vessels on the water in Europe.
Earlier this year OCI announced its partnership with Unibarge to retrofit the first methanol powered bunker barge which will be deployed at the Port of Rotterdam. OCI will work with Unibarge to fuel X-Press Feeders’ feeder ships.
This is OCI HyFuels’ second green methanol sale in the marine sector in just under a month following its partnership with Maersk to fuel the world’s first green methanol-powered container vessel.
Bashir Lebada, CEO of OCI Methanol / OCI HyFuels, said: “With growing public and regulatory pressure on the shipping industry, we need to find ways to decarbonize every link in the chain. Through our new partnership with X-Press Feeders to supply them with OCI Hyfuels green methanol, and our existing collaboration with Unibarge to deliver the fuel via their green methanol bunker barge, we are creating an end-to-end decarbonization solution for the maritime industry in Europe.”
On 5 June 2023, Eastaway, a member of the X-Press Feeders Group, ordered six new 1,250 TEU dual-fuel methanol container vessels. The first ship is set to be delivered in 2025, and the order brought the number of dual-fuel vessels in the pipeline for the X-Press Feeders Group to 14.
Compared to other vessels that run on conventional fuels, the new dual-fuel vessels will produce about 75% less emissions when operating on green methanol. The vessels will adopt the Sdari Sealion CV1250 Methanol dual fuel design, built by CSSC Huangpu Wenchong Shipbuilding Company Limited.
Shmuel Yoskovitz, CEO of X-Press Feeders, said: “X-Press Feeders’ partnership with OCI and the procurement of green methanol is the next logical decision in our journey towards our decarbonisation goal of Net Zero 2050. In Q2 2024 we will receive our first of 14 dual fuel methanol vessels. The advance procurement of green methanol allows us to offer the Main Line Operators and interested European Beneficial Cargo Owners the ability to deliver an Intra-European green corridor by mid 2024.”
