Monjasa Acquires 5 Tankers for 2020 Supply

Global bunker company Monjasa Group has acquired full ownership of five tankers ahead of IMO2020.

"Monjasa secures five tankers with a total 37,500 deadweight and thereby extends ownership of the supply chain across core markets in the Arabian Gulf, West Africa and the Panama Canal at a critical point of time in bunkering and shipping," said a press release from the global partner in the oil and shipping industries.

Shipowners around the world are tightening marine fuel supplies ahead of the IMO2020 low-sulfur fuel transition effective by 1 January.

With global marine fuel logistics expected to be challenged on parameters such as flexibility and storage capacity due to the introduction of the new Very Low Sulfur Fuel Oil (VLSFO) products, Monjasa is active securing the right tonnage for its long-term bunker operations.

“Last year, we increased our total supply volume by 17% to 4.1 million tonnes of marine fuel and we continue to see a growing demand for our services. This is also part of the reason we are now purchasing five quality tankers,” says Group CEO, Anders Østergaard.

“We are on the brink of bringing new low-sulfur fuel products to the market and the entire industry needs to adapt to a new multiple products demand. These five tankers can segregate between two and six different types of oil products onboard and this contributes to making them an attractive investment for us. Coupled with an average age of 10 years the tankers are fully-furnished to handle the leap in quality required to perform bunker operations come 2020,” Østergaard concludes.

Leading up to the acquisitions, four tankers have previously been on bareboat charter by Monjasa. The high reliability of the tankers now leads to definitive Monjasa ownership.

All five tankers will be deployed for continued bunker operations in Monjasa core markets in the Arabian Gulf, West Africa and the Panama Canal. On 15 August, Monjasa took delivery of the first two tankers in Dubai. The remaining tankers will be delivered during the coming months.

In total, Monjasa controls some 20 tankers globally of which 10 are fully owned. It remains a priority to have the fleet composed by the right mix of chartered and owned tankers to ensure both operational and financial flexibility across the group.