Ship manager V.Ships will manage four methanol-powered dual-fuel container vessels to be delivered this year to feeder operator X-Press Feeders.
A technical management contract has been signed between V.Ships France and Eastaway France, a subsidiary of X-Press Feeders.
The ship manager will manage four 1,170-teu newbuildings to be delivered in the coming months through to September.
They will be the first such vessels operated under the French flag.
V.Ships France is currently managing six LPG and LNG dual-fuel vessels.
This includes two LNG bunker vessels, for which the company also manages the LNG bunkering operations.
The addition of container ships “consolidates our expertise in dual-fuel operations, both ashore and on board,” V.Ships France managing director Thierry Sarrazin said.
He said the deal would also “increase the number of V. seafarers with experience of dual-fuel vessels, allowing us to strengthen our offering as we train seafarers to handle methanol”.
X-Press, which claims to be the world’s largest independent feeder container operator, is building a series of 1,200-teu methanol dual-fuel boxships in China that are due for delivery between now and mid-2026.
The company’s shipowning arm Sea Consortium took delivery in March of the 1,170-teu methanol dual-fuel container vessel Eco Umande (built 2024), the first in the series of eight sister ships to be delivered from Chinese yards.
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.
As more vessels are delivered, X-Press will expand the route network to other ports in Europe as well as the Mediterranean.
Oman office
The move comes amid the expanding presence of ship management and services company V.Group, which this week opened an office in Muscat, Oman.
The new office will mainly focus on crew management. It will also help Asyad Shipping, a subsidiary of Oman’s Asyad Group, with the recruitment of Omani seafarers.
The move adds to V.Group’s portfolio of offices in the Middle East, which includes two offices in Dubai and one in Abu Dhabi.
