Danaos Corporation

Good day, and welcome to the Denauss Corporation conference call to discuss financial results for the three months ended December 31st, 2024. As a reminder, today's call is being recorded. Hosting the call today is Dr. John Kustis, Chief Executive Officer at Denauss Corporation, and Mr. Evangelos Hatzis, Chief Financial Officer at Denauss Corporation. Dr. Kustis and Mr. Hatzis will be making some introductory comments, and then we will open the call to a question and answer session. Gentlemen, the floor is yours.

Thank you, Operator. Good morning to everyone, and thank you for joining us this morning. 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 filing 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, adjusted net income, time charter equivalent revenues, and time charter equivalent dollars per day to evaluate our business. Reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures to GAAP financial measures are included in our earnings release and the accompanying materials. With that, let me now turn the call over to Dr. John Custas, 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 our results for the fourth quarter of 2024. The world is entering uncharted territory, and any near-term predictions about the direction of shipping markets are inherently unreliable. The tariff war is bound to generate disruptions, which have historically benefited shipping. However, an economic slowdown might negate these benefits. The dry bulk market continues to suffer from ongoing malaise due to the pace of the recovery of the Chinese economy, which has not shown signs of accelerating. The delivery of new tonnage starting this year will add to this weakness, particularly in the Panamax and smaller segments where the order book is concentrated. The Cape Side segment, where our fleet is concentrated, continues to have an order book that remains at historically low levels. The container charter market remains healthy. Our bideliners are exhibiting more caution, particularly with respect to forward dates. While box rates are weakening, they were still much higher than pre-pandemic levels. We'll have to wait until after Chinese New Year to gauge the effect of the front-loading of exports that occurred in anticipation of tariffs and the demand pattern in the new trade environment. The analysis highly insulated from near-term market uncertainty with 97% coverage for 2025 and 79% for 2026 at healthy rates, shielding us from market volatility. Our chartered backlog of $3.4 billion provides us with a certainty of income and firepower to explore accretive investments. We've chartered 13 out of our 15 new buildings for five years and have arranged a new $850 million facility from the bank syndicate to fully cover the financing of all vessels in order. Our profitability remains consistent, and we're using our strong balance sheet to increase dividends, continue the share buyback, and source opportunities to grow our company for the benefit of our shareholders. Our strategic focus remains on maintaining a robust financial position, securing long-term contracts for vessels coming off charter, and investing in modern fuel-efficient container vessels to enhance our competitive position in the market. We are committed to delivering value to our shareholders through prudent financial management and strategic growth initiatives. I'll hand the call back to Evangelos, who will take you through the financials for the quarter. Evangelos?