CIMC Enric to provide methanol fuel supply systems for ships to sail on Xijiang River

CIMC Blue Water Technology Development (Guangdong) (CIMC Blue Water) on Friday (24 January) said the construction of the first batch of China’s inland methanol-powered vessels began in Zhaoqing City on 21 January. 

The newbuilding project is expected to build 50 vessels for the Xijiang River in Zhaoqing.

CIMC Enric’s subsidiary, CIMC Blue Water, will provide methanol fuel supply systems for this batch of order, helping to promote the green energy of China’s inland river transportation.

At the groundbreaking ceremony, leaders from Zhaoqing Municipal Transportation Bureau, Zhaoqing Haifa Shipping, which is responsible for ship construction, China Classification Society (CCS), and CIMC Enric all showed up to show their support and delivered speeches. The leaders and guests at the ceremony highly affirmed the help of this batch of methanol-powered ships in the green transformation of Xijiang.

Xijiang River is the main waterway in Guangdong Province, flowing from west to east through the entire territory of Zhaoqing, and is also one of the main waterways for water transportation in Guangdong Province. 

In August 2024, after the Ministry of Transport and the National Development and Reform Commission jointly issued the “Implementation Rules for Subsidies on the Scrapping and Renewal of Old Operating Vessels in Transport”, the retrofitting and new orders for clean energy powered ships began to increase. 

In addition to the commonly used LNG (liquefied natural gas), methanol is also one of the alternative marine fuels options. 

The methanol-powered ship that started construction this time is also the first batch of single methanol-powered ships in China’s inland waterways and rivers, which has great significance in the domestic shipping industry. 

In addition, this batch of Xijiang methanol-powered ships will also be equipped with the company’s ship networking technology. 

This technology connects clean energy-powered ships to water refuelling stations and refuelling pontoons, and opens up data sharing in the upstream and downstream industrial chains of clean energy. It can realise remote real-time monitoring of various data operation conditions via mobile phones, and manage ship fuel refuelling plans, warehousing, and scheduling.

In the field of clean energy business for inland river shipping in China, CIMC Enric has deployed business scenarios such as the supply of LNG bunkering, tank replacement, LNG/methanol fuel power systems and fuel tanks for inland vessels, as well as the transformation and construction of related new energy powered inland vessels in important waters such as the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, the Yangtze River, the Xijiang River, and the Jiujiang River. 

The company also obtained an order for the design and power package of five multi-purpose inland LNG-fuelled ships in Anhui Province in January 2025. This batch of ships is also the first batch of alternative-fuelled ships to be built in Anhui Province. 

Photo credit: CIMC Blue Water Technology Development
Published: 27 January, 2025