Danish owner Monjasa has acquired the full ownership of five bunkering vessels in order to meet the growing demand for low sulphur fuel bunkering, a result of upcoming IMO 2020 regulations which will become effective bon January 1.
All five tankers will be deployed for continued bunker operations in Monjasa’s core markets in the Arabian Gulf, West Africa and the Panama Canal. Four of the five tankers have previously been on bareboat charter by Monjasa.
“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 Sulphur Fuel Oil (VLSFO) products, Monjasa is active securing the right tonnage for its long-term bunker operations,” the company said in a release.
The company took delivery of the first two tankers in Dubai this month, and the remaining tankers will be delivered during the coming months.
The five vessels are the 2009-built Aarhus, Delhi, Amsterdam, 2010-built Accra and the 2004-built Annie, and have a total capacity of 37,500 dwt.
“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,” said Monjasa Group CEO, Anders Østergaard.
“We are on the brink of bringing new low-sulphur 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 added.
In total, Monjasa controls some 20 tankers globally of which 10 are fully owned.
