Singapore’s X-Press Feeders Group has returned to China’s Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding (SWS) for container ship newbuildings worth about $320m.
The company’s shipowning arm — Eastaway — has signed up for four more 7,000-teu conventionally fuelled ships. The deal lifts the total number of neo-panamax boxships that it has on order at the Shanghai-based yard to 12.
The company’s earlier eight newbuildings, which were ordered last year at a reported price of $73m each, are due for delivery between the third quarter of 2023 and 2024.
X-Press Feeders chief executive Shmuel Yoskovitz confirmed the order, adding that the vessels would be delivered by mid-2024 and would be fitted with conventionally fuelled engines.
Yoskovitz did not disclose the price but brokers said Eastaway is paying about $80m apiece for the ships.
The higher shipbuilding price indicates that the four newbuildings are not optional units linked to the company’s earlier eight newbuildings.
The vessels will be the largest container ships that X-Press Feeders — a subsidiary of Sea Consortium — operate.
Yoskovitz said they are likely to be deployed in the company’s Asia services.
X-Press Feeders claims that it is the world's largest independent common carrier. It was established in 1972, starting out with operations in South East Asia. It has since expanded and now operates throughout Asia, the Middle East, Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America, the Mediterranean and Europe.
According to Alphaliner, X-Press Feeders is the 16th largest liner company with an operating fleet of 92 vessels, of which 35 are owned.
Eastaway also has a series of methanol-powered, 1,170-teu container ships under construction at two shipyards in China, which were ordered at the end of last year.
New Dayang Shipbuilding and Ningbo Xinle Shipbuilding Group were each contracted to build four firm vessels and options for an additional four ships. The 1,170-teu newbuildings are slated to be delivered between the final quarter of 2023 and the end of 2024.
Eastaway did not disclose the shipbuilding price of the methanol-fuelled ships but said the vessels will be outfitted with ultra-modern dual-fuel engines that can operate on regular fuel or green methanol, and are "designed to be highly fuel-efficient".
X-Press Feeders will use the ships on its Europe and Americas trade routes.
Eastaway also has three 3,100-teu newbuildings under construction at Zhoushan Changhong International Shipyard that are slated to be delivered in 2023.
