Danaos Corporation

Good day and welcome to the Denao's Corporation conference call to discuss the financial results for the three months ended September 30th, 2023. As a reminder, today's call is being recorded. Hosting the call today is Dr. John Kustis, Chief Executive Officer of Denao's Corporation and Mr. Evangelos Hatsis, Chief Financial Officer of Denao's Corporation. Dr. Kustas and Mr. Hatzis will be making some introductory comments, and then we will open the call to a question and answer session. Please go ahead.

Thank you, operator, and good morning to everyone. Before we begin, I quickly want to remind everyone that management's remarks this morning may contain certain forward-looking statements and that actual results could differ materially from those projected today. These forward-looking statements are made as of today, and we undertake no obligation to update them. Factors that might affect future results are discussed in our filings with the SEC, and we encourage you to review these detailed safe harbor and risk factor disclosures. Please also note that where we feel appropriate, we will continue to refer to non-GAAP financial measures such as EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA, and adjusted net income to evaluate our business. Reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures to GAAP financial measures are included in our earnings release and accompanying materials. With that, let me now turn the call over to Dr. John Koustas, who will provide the broad overview of the quarter. John?

Thank you, Evangelos. Good morning, and thank you all for joining today's call to discuss results for third quarter of 2023. The macroeconomic environment continued to deteriorate during the third quarter of 2023, and container transport stagnated in most areas due to continued inventory destocking and weak retail sales. As a result, profitability of liner companies has dramatically decreased, and major operators have announced sweeping cost-cutting measures. The chartering market continued to remain under pressure, particularly in the market for vessels smaller than 3,000 tu, where charter rates returned to pre-pandemic levels. In larger vessel segments, charter rates have remained relatively stable, given the scarcity of open tonnage for next year, a factor that has enabled us to forward-fix all our vessels above 10,000 tu on three-year charters at profitable levels. that will commence after expiring of existing charter contracts in 2024. As a result, our charter cover for 2024 has increased 90%. Separately, through the date of this release, we've taken delivery of the first four Cape size Baltarias, and we have achieved rates well ahead of our expectations. While we do not expect a sustained upwards momentum in charter rates in the near term, we will closely monitor the dry bulk market and pursue opportunities to expand our presence in this market. The resilience of our business model has been confirmed by the continuation of our solid results, despite the significant fall in the charter market. Our strategy of delivering has also been effective and well-timed, as we have not been impacted by higher interest rates. Our charter backlog of $2.5 billion and contracted revenue also provides us with significant cash flow visibility and allows us to maintain flexibility in our capital allocation policy. In this regard, we decided to increase our causal dividend to $0.80 per share and also to authorize an additional $100 million in share buybacks, as our initial $100 million authorizations had been almost exhausted. Due to the prudent execution of our strategy, We have been able to return over $200 million to our shareholders over the last 18 months and simultaneously grow our fleet in the container segment by placing 10 new building orders and create exposure to the dry bulk segment through investments in companies and vessels. We will strive to continue to create value for all our shareholders while ensuring the long-term prosperity of Danaos. I'll hand the call back over to Evangelos, who will take you through the financials for the quarter.