Pangaea Logistics Solutions Ltd.

Good morning. My name is Erica, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Pangea Logistics Solutions First Quarter 2026 Results Conference Call. Today's call is being recorded, and I will be available and will be available for replay beginning at 11 a.m. Eastern. The recording can be accessed by dialing 800-938-2241 for domestic or 402-220-1121 for international. All lines are currently muted, and after the prepared remarks, there will be a live question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question during the Q&A segment, please press star 1 on your telephone keypad. If your question has been answered, you may remove yourself from the queue at any time by pressing star 2. We do ask that you please pick up your handset for optimal sound quality. It is now my pleasure to turn the floor over to Stephan Mealy with Ballon Advisors. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Operator, and welcome to the Pangea Logistics Solutions First Quarter 2026 Results Conference Call. Leading the call with me today are CEO Mads Pedersen and Chief Financial Officer Gianni Del Signore. Today's discussion contains forward-looking statements about future business and financial expectations. Actual results may differ significantly from those projected in today's forward-looking statements due to various risks and uncertainties, including the risks described in our periodic reports of the FTC. Except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update our forward-looking statements. At the conclusion of our prepared remarks, we will open the line for questions. With that, I would like to turn the call over to Matt.

Thank you, Stephen, and welcome to those joining us on the call today. We delivered a strong start to 2026 with year-over-year growth across revenue and profitability. Our performance was driven by higher activity, strong market fundamentals, and the continued benefits of Pangea's operating model. In the first quarter, our CCE rate averaged 20% above the prevailing market for the Panamax, Supermax, and Heavy Size indices. This premium reflects the value of our operating platform, long-standing customer relationships, and ability to manage a volatile market effectively across trade routes. Total shipping days increased 14% year-over-year, supported by a strong market and our use of chartered-in capacity to complement our own fleet. Our chartered-in fleet increased by 54% during the quarter, allowing us to capture market opportunities without compromising our long-term flexibility. That better market and increased activity translated into meaningful operating leverage. Adjusted EBITDA grew by more than 10 million year-over-year to $25.2 million. We also benefited from the second consecutive quarter of record EBITDA contributions from our terminal, Stephen Doering, and Port Services operations. We continue to expand our short-sighted district platform in the first quarter as we began activities in the ports of Aransas, Texas, and Lake Charles, Louisiana. We also expect operations in Tampa, Florida, to begin in June. strengthen and deepen the integration of our services across our customer supply chain while creating additional recurring revenue beyond ocean freight. We also advanced our fleet renewal strategy. As previously announced, we entered into an agreement to sell the bulk share market for 9.6 million, and we expect the sale to close during May. This transaction is consistent with our focus on fleet renewal and maintaining an efficient fleet that meet our customers' needs as well as commercial and environmental performance. We continue to evaluate potential additions to our fleet as part of our disciplined approach to capital allocation. Our balance sheet remains strong, giving us the flexibility to allocate capital towards the growth and modernization of our fleet and the expansion of our port operations while also enabling us to return value to shareholders. We ended the first quarter with $19 million of cash after paying out $3.9 million of dividends during the period. Looking at the market, near-term dry-buck fundamentals remain supportive for our mix of miner blocks. Stronger Chinese iron imports and the recent improvement in Indonesian coal exports have contributed to a firmer seasonal backdrop and a healthy demand over the medium term. Limited effective supply growth and continued strong strong mild demand supports a positive market outlook. Geopolitical developments in the Arabian Gulf have not directly impacted Bangia, as we do not currently have vessels in the region, and it has not historically represented a significant part of our trade patterns. That said, the broader industry continues to see indirect effects through shifting trade flows and greater volatility in crude prices. We remain focused on actively managing these risks, and Johnny will provide more detail on our fuel cost management later in the call. At the same time, our flexible operating model has allowed us to respond quickly to changing market conditions. For example, the suspension of the Jones Act created an opportunity for us to support a longstanding customer with a voyage between U.S. ports. The ability to quickly adjust to changing market dynamics and take advantage of opportunities like these are a core strength of the Pentia operating platform. As we move through the second quarter, market sentiment remains positive, showing strength ahead of the usually stronger markets in the second half of the year. We are entering this seasonally stronger part of the year with a good visibility, healthier customer demand, and continued focus on managing fuel cost volatility. We have booked 4,051 shipping days at a TCE of 18,808 per day for Q2. Overall, we are pleased with our first quarter performance and the momentum we are carrying into the balance of 2026. Our strategy remains consistent, operate with discipline, expand where we see effective returns, maintain balance sheet flexibility, and create long-term value for customers and shareholders. With that, I'll turn the call over to Johnny to walk through our first quarter financial results.

Thank you, Mads, and welcome to those joining us on the call today. Our first quarter financial results were highlighted by sustained TCE premiums relative to the prevailing market. First quarter TCE rates were $15,252 per day, a premium of 20% over the average published market rates for Panamax, Supermax, and Handy-sized vessels in the period. Our adjusted EBITDA for the first quarter was $25.2 million, an increase of approximately $10 million, driven by a 34% increase in TCE earnings year-over-year. Our total charter hire expenses increased by 122% due to a year-over-year increase in chartering vessels used to complement our own fleet, as well as an increase in market rates to chartering vessels. Our chartering cost on a per-day basis was $14,000, in the first quarter of 2026. And through today, we've booked 1,550 days at $16,880 per day for the second quarter. Vessel operating expenses decreased by 7% year-over-year as a result of a decrease in owned days due to the sale of two vessels in 2025. On a per-day basis, vessel operating expenses met of technical management fees was $5,644 per day, a 2% increase from the prior year. Total general and administrative expenses increased by 38%, from $7.3 million to approximately $10 million. The increase was primarily due to an increase in non-cash stock compensation expense, along with higher compensation costs associated with added headcount across the organization as we grow our business. In 2026, we made a prospective change to our depreciation policy on non-ice class vessels in our fleet to reduce the depreciation period from 30 years to 25 years. This change resulted in $1.6 million of incremental depreciation expense for the quarter. In total, our reported gap net income for the first quarter was $13.3 million, or 21 cents per diluted share. Our GAAP net income included a significant gain resulting from our hedging strategy on bunker fuel exposure given the significant increase in fuel prices we've experienced in recent months. As we've discussed in the past, we utilize bunker swaps and options to selectively hedge our exposure to the market on our long-term cargo contracts and forward cargo bookings. While this approach locks in future cash flows, the mark-to-market unrealized gains or losses can lead to fluctuations in our reported results on a period-to-period basis. When excluding the impact of these unrealized gains from derivative instruments, as well as other non-GAAP adjustments, our reported adjusted net income was $7 million, or 11 cents per valued share. Moving on to cash flows, during the quarter, we paid off the remaining balance on the bulk Yamaka finance lease for $1.3 million in advance of the sale, as Matt previously mentioned. At quarter end, we had approximately $90 million in unrestricted cash in total debt, including finance lease obligations of approximately $359 million. Our capital allocation priorities remain disciplined and balanced. Looking ahead, we will continue to allocate capital with a focus on preserving financial flexibility, supporting the growth of our integrated logistics platform, and returning capital to shareholders. We remain focused on investments that enhance the durability of our earnings base, including the expansion of our terminal and port services, capabilities, and ongoing fleet renewal initiatives that improve efficiency, support customer needs, and position us for evolving regulatory requirements. With that, we will now open the line for questions.

Thank you. As a reminder at this time, if you would like to ask a question, you may do so by pressing the star and 1 on your keypad. To leave the queue at any time, press star 2. Again, we do ask that you please pick up your handset for optimal sound quality. And once again, that is star and 1 to ask a question. We'll take our first question from Liam Burke with the Riley Securities. Please go ahead.

Yes. Good morning, Matt. Good morning, Gianni.

Good morning, Liam. Good morning.

You had chartered in vessels of 54% year over year. Now, that's part of the flexible charter, I mean, the cargo first strategy, but is there any pressure on you to add vessels rather than continue to charter it?

No, I wouldn't say that that's the pressure. I expect that you mean to add owned vessels?

Yes.

I mean, we're always looking, right? But as you say, that sort of increase in the chartered-in fleet when the market is good and we like the outlook, that will not change depending on how many own vessels we have in the fleet. So I wouldn't say that we charter in more if we have soldiership, for instance. So the chartered-in fleet is... The primary function of that is an arbitrage against the owned vessels. And in markets such as these, we will always, you know, look to take advantage of those opportunities.

Great. And as we move into the summer season, the Arctic activity picks up. Are there any geopolitical ripples that will affect your Arctic business during the summer?

No, I do not expect so. Our business in the Arctic is between Canada and Europe mainly, and we're gearing up to start that around the same usual time towards the end of the – or in early Q3. So I don't expect – I don't see any disruption there.

Great. Thank you, Mads.

Thank you.

Thank you. And we'll take our next question from Poe Fratt with AGP Alliance Global Partners.

Please go ahead. Hi. Good morning. Gianni, just a quick question on G&A. I know that you talked about headcount expansion to support the business model. If I back out non-cash comp of 1.7, I get, you know, a run rate that's in, you know, about $8.3 million. Is that a reasonable run rate for the rest of the year, or sort of can you give me an idea sort of how G&A looks for the rest of the year?

Yeah. You picked up exactly, you know, one of the issues with G&A for the first quarter is the recognition of non-cash stock compensation expense that hits the quarter, and it's 1.7. So backing that out, that is definitely – something that impacts first quarters, so removing that, it's more reflective of a run rate for the year. The other item that's in our first quarter and will also impact future quarters is the recognition of incentive compensation for the year, so that is a variable component of our G&A that will impact future quarters, but I think subtracting Backing out the non-cash, that's going to be more reflective for the balance of the year.

Okay. And then when you look at your TCE maps for the quarter, you know, you booked, you know, it's just over 4,000 days and, you know, close to 19,000. Are you currently booking in that range or higher or lower for the rest of the quarter? I'm assuming a little bit higher, but if you can just give me some color on that. you know, what the rest of the quarter might look like from a TCE standpoint.

Yeah, I think it's likely going to be a right around there, maybe a tick higher on average, I would guess. I mean, we also do have some voyages that we have yet to perform in Q2, but I think you will see that the indices, where they're trading at the moment, and that's, of course, around the levels where we are fixing business now. Okay. And then, sorry.

No, go ahead. And then, you know, in your remarks, you mentioned the suspension of the Jones Act. Did that have a, you know, is that going to have a more meaningful impact over the rest of the year, or is it sort of just something that, you know, just happened in the quarter, but, you know, it's more just color, not actually a meaningful impact?

I would say that it was sort of a more opportunistic approach. It's a customer that we are working with already, have been for a long time, and they had an opportunity that we could work together on, something that we would like to do more of as long as it remains possible for us to do so. But I wouldn't attribute sort of a sizable contribution from that activity right away.

Okay. And then just lastly, nice to see a nice bump sequentially in year over year in the terminal business or stevedoring. Is that a reasonable run rate for the rest of the year? You mentioned another, you know, expansion in Florida. You know, what's the rest of the year look like for the terminal stevedoring business?

Yeah, Q1 was, in Terminal C, was definitely one of our highest quarters. We had the addition of two port operations that we mentioned previously. And then also in Port Everglades, it was a busy quarter from a dry bulk perspective. We had a really busy quarter that drove, you know, I would say $200,000 to $300,000 of incremental costs. income in that quarter. So Q2 will probably see a small decline, about $200,000. And then after that, I expect it to be somewhat like Q1 for the third quarter and fourth quarter. Okay.

And that's helpful. How about on a margin basis? Because, you know, the highest margin that I've seen over the last, you know, two years or so, close to 30% gross margin is Is that sustainable, or should that sort of moderate over the rest of the year?

I think some of that is from the dry bulk activity, which does pay a higher margin, but we expect that to be sustainable for Q3 and Q4, for sure. And then the other thing to point out, Paul, when we think about our terminal and sea water operations, also in our P&L, we have other income below the line. That is also attributable to our pork operations. It's the income on our JVs that are in Gramercy. So that also is part of the income for the quarter.

Sorry, I didn't notice that. Is that the $2 million or is that, I thought that was interest income was $2 million.

No, it's the other income. It's about $500,000. I think it's $484,000 in other income. Okay. That is the recognition of our ownership interest in Port and Cibidor joint ventures.

Perfect. Great. Thanks, Rod.

Thank you. And as a reminder, if you would like to ask a question, it is the star and one on your touchstone keypad. We'll take our next question from Clement Mullins with Value Investors Edge. Please go ahead.

Hi. Good morning. Thank you for taking my questions. Most has already been covered, but I want to touch upon operating expenses. What were the key drivers behind the significant quarter-over-quarter decrease? Is this kind of like a sustainable run rate going forward?

Yeah. On OPEX, Clement, I think the decrease, one is we sold two vessels in the prior year, that reduced our total owned days, so driving it from an absolute figure, it has declined. On a per-day basis, we're seeing a slight increase. It was, I think, a 2% increase on a per-day basis on the ships, but still within reason and our expectation of a declining vessel operating expense. So, it was what we expected going into the year. And we hope we'll see it continue for the balance of the year.

Thanks for the cover. And I also wanted to ask about your fleet positioning. As you think about fleet renewal or expansion, are you seeing any attractive acquisition opportunities? Where do you currently see them, Osmanio?

Yeah, I mean, we are... you know, positive on the near and sort of medium-term outlook for the markets, and we are always evaluating the opportunities that we see. We can still make sense of those at today's prices, even though they sort of in historical terms are quite high. We have the business to support that. So in the second-hand market, we do expect to be more active there on the – buying side over the next year or so. We still see who value that.

Okay, that's helpful. I'll do it over. Thank you for taking my questions. Thanks, Glenn. Thank you.

Thank you. And again, as a reminder, that is the star in one to ask a question or pause just for a second. Up here to ask further questions and cues, I'd like to turn it back over to Matt Peterson for any closing comments.

Thank you. Once again, thank you for joining our call. Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at investors at njls.com, and a member of our team will follow up with you. This concludes our call today. You may now disconnect.

Thank you. This brings us to the end of today's meeting. We appreciate your time and participation. Have a good evening.