Monjasa Acquires Two Tankers

Oil and shipping group Monjasa announced it has acquired the oil and chemical tankers Monjasa Thunder (19,991 dwt) and Monjasa Shipper (7,991 dwt) for bunkering and cargo operations across West Africa and in the Arabian Gulf. Both tankers will assume operations during this month.

Monjasa said it has already taken delivery of Monjasa Thunder (formerly Solando) in Riga, Latvia and Monjasa Shipper (formerly Pearl Mercury) in Singapore, and the two tankers are currently inbound Lomé, Togo and  Dubai, UAE respectively. Following delivery, both tankers were dry docked for renewal survey, name change and subsequent hull  blasting and painting according to the Monjasa fleet design.

Group Shipping Director, Torben Maigaard Nielsen said, “We are pleased to seal these two acquisitions in a challenging tanker market. Both of these vessels are very well-maintained and highly functional additions to our existing fleet of tankers. In fact, as part of Monjasa Thunder’s current voyage to West Africa, we successfully completed the first cargo operation in Rotterdam. Here, we experienced the ship’s high-efficiency potential and in today’s tanker market it is not an easy task to find quality second-hand tonnage.”

Capacity-wise both tankers match the demand for performing ship-to-ship refueling operations and  transporting oil cargoes and thereby further bolstering Monjasa’s end-to-end logistics, the company said.

With a carrying capacity of around 20,000 dwt, Monjasa Thunder, is somewhat bigger than Monjasa’s existing West Africa tankers, which usually range between 8,000-13,000 dwt. Accoridng to Monjasa , this size positions the ship in the flexi tanker segment and thereby built to a high specification for moving cargoes.

Monjasa Shipper was built in 2018 and brings a very high operational standard. The vessel is able to carry and segregate several different fuel grades, which fits well with Monjasa’s emerging biofuel activities in the UAE, the company said.