The former Finnish state-owned oil company high-specification tanker Neste has left Europe to join Monjasa’s fleet in West Africa
Global oil and shipping group Monjasa has acquired 2005-built, 25,117-dwt flexi tanker Monjasa Trader (formerly Neste) as a new combined cargo and bunker vessel for its West Africa operations.
On 15 August 2021, Monjasa Trader flew the Monjasa flag for the first time, left the Port of Rotterdam and set course for Lomé, West Africa.
Monjasa Trader was built to a high specification (ice-class 1A*) for European coastal trade and is said to be very well maintained by its former sole owner, Neste Corporation in Finland.
The need for extra bunker tonnage in the West Africa region has arisen following the implementation of IMO 2020 on 1 January 2020 (although some states like Sierra Leone are only just starting to adopt low sulphur fuels).
In most of West Africa, the availability of very low sulphur fuel oil for the marine industry has substantially increased following the IMO 2020 transition. These high-quality products are emerging from local refineries across the region including Angola, Nigeria, Ghana and Ivory Coast for the benefit of the global maritime trade in the area.
Monjasa Group chief executive Anders Østergaard said, “We are operating in an extremely competitive commodities market and we need to constantly adapt our fleet logistics to the shifting market dynamics.”
He added, “Before the IMO 2020 transition to low-sulphur marine fuels, we used to purchase and transport the fuel from Europe to West Africa using Suezmax tankers. Today, we are sourcing much of our fuel oil products from local refineries across West Africa and for this purpose the flexi size and high specifications of Monjasa Trader makes it an ideal vessel for accessing various local loading points.”
Monjasa is a leading supplier of marine fuels in West Africa and has been operating throughout the region from the Gulf of Guinea to Namibia since 2008.
In 2020, Monjasa supplied more than 1M tonnes of marine fuels in West Africa and the company currently deploys 10 regional tankers, including 120,000-dwt oil tanker SKS Dokka, which serves as a floating storage vessel off Lomé, Togo.
Monjasa currently ranks as the sixth-largest global marine fuels supplier with 4.9M tonnes delivered in 2020. Overall, Monjasa controls a fleet of 25 tankers and barges globally.
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