Danish bunker supplier and tanker owner Monjasa has further strengthened its operations across West Africa with the addition of two secondhand tankers, one of which has become the the company’s single largest ship investment to date.
The Federicia-headquartered company has recently taken delivery of the 2008-built 68,589 dwt Monjasa Leader, ex-Cabo San Antonio and the 2009-built 13,051 dwt Monjasa Refiner, formerly known as Saturn.
The units have been added to Monajsa’s previously owned 13-strong fleet and will be used for floating storage and bunkering in West Africa, respectively.
The Monjasa Leader is currently the company’s biggest owned vessel and the second-largest to date after the 84,100 dwt Aeolos, purchased back in 2013 and scrapped in 2019 after about 29 years in service.
The vessel, estimated to be worth around $27.7m, is set to replace the 2010-built 119,456 dwt LR2 tanker SKS Dokka, which has been chartered-in for the past three years.
“The Monjasa Leader becomes our largest fleet member and represents our single most important tanker acquisition ever,” said Torben Maigaard Nielsen, group shipping director at Monjasa, adding: “Given the limited opportunities of storing fuel products ashore, our floating storage solution is the backbone of our West Africa marine fuels operations and allows for our supply tankers to frequently go alongside the vessel to load cargo. Providing maritime end-to-end logistics in West Africa is a challenging task, but we are confident that our two new vessels bring the efficiency and flexibility needed.”
Monjasa has grown its owned fleet from five to 15 ships since 2013, worth about $134.5m according to VesselsValue, and ranging roughly between 3,800 dwt and 25,100 dwt, excluding the Monjasa Leader. One exiting the fleet, soon is the 1998-built 13,781 dwt oil and chemical tanker Monjasa Runner, which will be sold to new owners for operations in the Mediterranean.
