Monjasa prepares to supply bio bunker fuels in Latin America while demand increases

International bunkering firm Monjasa on Thursday (14 September) said it has enabled a sustainable and scalable biofuel option for the maritime industry in Latin America in its preparation for the marine fuel mix of the future.

However, Monjasa said it still awaits the shift away from biofuel trial voyages to a broader pick-up in demand. 

“The recent revised IMO 2050 climate strategy is a noticeable boost to the green fuels industry, however, more concrete and binding requirements are needed to ensure a broad fuel transition away from fossil fuels for the global merchant fleet,” said Jesper Nielsen, Group Responsibility Director at Monjasa.

“Monjasa holds a unique position in the value chain between upstream fuel producers and downstream customers. Therefore, although our data indicates that the demand for biofuel blends is only emerging slowly, we keep preparing our global supply chains, fleet logistics and organisation for the fuel mix of tomorrow.”

Most recently, Monjasa’s efforts have been focused on Latin America and the Colombian port of Cartagena. 

Monjasa already supplies traditional bunker fuels in Colombia and the company now extends its local maritime logistics to include a monthly capacity of 5,000 to 7,000 metric tonnes of 2nd generation biofuel blends, primarily B20 and B30.

“Together with our partners, we have enabled biofuels supply not only for the Colombian market, but potentially also for the main ports across Latin America, including the Panama Canal. Looking at the current demand, it is the large container lines who are showing concrete interest and driving demand for

biofuels in this market,” said Camilo Angulo Ferrand, Trading Manager at Monjasa Americas.

“Looking towards 2025, we expect that biofuels will become a broadly accepted option to comply with IMO’s strategy on reducing CO2-emissions from maritime shipping.”

By July 2023, Monjasa achieved the globally applicable sustainability certification system, ISCC, across offices and operations in Panama, USA, Denmark, Dubai and Singapore. 

Monjasa also provides biofuel options in other parts of the world, including this summer’s first B24 biodiesel supply for a Very Large Gas Carrier (VLGC) off Dubai. 

This operation was the result of new collaboration across the supply chain involving Astomos Energy, Inpex Corporation and Monjasa, with the product being blended and supplied by Monjasa’s locally deployed bunker tanker, Monjasa Shaker.

In Asia, Monjasa recently revealed new maritime logistics adaptable to biofuels supply in the Port of Singapore. The new operation will consist of a total of three vessels by the end of 2023.

Overall, Monjasa supplied a total of 6.4 million tonnes of marine fuels in 2022.

Related: Astomos and INPEX complete Middle East’s first ever biofuel bunkering to VLGC
Related: Monjasa to add two bunker tankers in Singapore later this year
Related: Monjasa moves into new Singapore office at 1 Raffles Place building

Photo credit: Monjasa
Published: 15 September, 2023