Monjasa and Trafigura dominate West Africa bunker market

A big part of the ship traffic in West Africa - notorious for hijackings and bunker quality fraud as well as insufficient volumes of delivered bunker - consists of tanker vessels transporting oil and chemical products in and out of the region. The deteriorating security situation, and particularly due to the significant risk of assaults and hijackings, have however caused numerous companies to give up on delivering bunker fuel in West Africa. There are only a few small Asian and local bunker companies left operating in the area in addition to Danish Monjasa and trading house Trafigura, whom now have secured a dominant position in the West African bunker market. Stena Oil, having withdrawn from operations in the region, does not rule out that the bunker company will return to the region if security is improved significantly in the area, and in Nigeria, in particular. There is a very clear system concerning tanker hijackings according to Hans Tino Hansen, CEO at Risk Intelligence. The organized groups of criminals operating in West Africa have specialized in hijacking product tanker vessels and stealing the cargo, and the excess demand for certain products in Nigeria have only made the market increasingly lucrative.