International Seaways, Inc.

Good morning all and welcome to the International Seaways fourth quarter and four year 2023 results call. All lines have been placed on mute during a presentation portion of the call with an opportunity for question and answer at the end. If you would like to ask a question please press star followed by one on your telephone keypad. I would now like to hand this conference call over to our host James Moore, International Seaways General Counsel. Please go ahead.

Thank you Candice. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to International Seawaste Earnings Call for the fourth quarter and full year 2023. Before we begin, I would like to start off by advising everyone on the call today of the following. During this call, management may make forward-looking statements regarding the company or the industry in which it operates. Those statements may address, without limitation, the following topics. Outlooks for the crude and product tanker markets, changes in trading patterns, forecasts of world and regional economic activity and of the demand for and production of oil and other petroleum products, the effects of ongoing and threatened conflicts around the globe, the company's strategy, our business prospects, expectations regarding revenues and expenses, including vessel, charter hire, and G&A expenses, estimated bookings, TCE rates, and or capital expenditures during 2024 or in any other period, projected scheduled dry dock and off-hire days, purchases and sales of vessels, construction of new build vessels, and other investments, the company's consideration of strategic alternatives, anticipated and recent financing transactions, and any plans to issue dividends, the company's relationships with its stakeholders, the company's ability to achieve its financing and other objectives, and other economic, political, and regulatory developments globally. Any such forward-looking statements take into account various assumptions made by management based on a number of factors including management's experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions, expected and future developments, and other factors that management believes are appropriate to consider in the circumstances. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties, and assumptions, many of which are beyond the company's control, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those implied or expressed by the statements. Factors, risks, and uncertainties that could cause international COAs' actual results to differ from expectations include those described in our annual report on Form 10-K for 2023 and in other filings that we have made or in the future may make with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Now, let me turn the call over to our President and Chief Executive Officer, Ms. Lois Zabrocki. Lois?

Thank you very much, James. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining International CEWA's earnings call for the fourth quarter and for the full year of 2023. You can find our presentation on the investor relations section of our website. 2023 was a record year for International Seaway. Our net income was $556,011.25 per share. This eclipsed 2022's net income of $388,077 per share. Net income for the fourth quarter of 2023 was $132 million, $2.68 per share. Included in these figures are gains on vessel sales and a write-off of deferred financing costs. Excluding these special items, adjusted net income was $525 million for the year and $108 million for the quarter. Seaways closed 2023 with just over $600 million in total liquidity, $187 million in cash, and $414 million in undrawn revolvers. Jeff will highlight our balance sheet in just a few moments, but stealing a little bit of his thunder, our $547 million in net debt is well below our fleet recycle market value. In 2023, we repaid $475 million in debt, of which $300 million was incremental to our natural debt amortization schedule. With this sizable prepayment during the year, we reduced our break-even levels to an impressive sub $14,500 per day level across the fleet. We unencumbered 30 vessels, and we doubled the size of our revolving credit capacity to $414 million. Today we announced that we signed an MOA to purchase six ECO MR vessels for $232 million. We expect to fund this through shares of common stock for 15% of the price, and the remainder will be financed from our available liquidity. We anticipate closing this series of transactions prior to the end of the second quarter. These MRs are high quality vessels that reduced the age of our overall MR fleet by one year. During 2023, we sold three MRs for $39 million in net proceeds after debt repayment. The sales of the older ships crystallized value generated since our merger with Diamond S in 2021 at the bottom of the tanker market. These ships returned nearly 80% all in, from purchase price due to both their strong earnings and the strong price realized in their sales. Finally, we added two vessels to our charter out portfolio, which now has over 354 million in contracted revenue with an average term of nearly three years. On the lower right hand of the slide, you can see the chart where we continue to share our strong earnings returning a substantial portion to shareholders. During 2023, we paid $308 million in dividends, plus $14 million of repurchases. Combined, we returned over $320 million to shareholders, a 16% return on our average market cap over the year. Today, we build upon the Seaways record, declaring a combined dividend of $1.32 per share to be paid at the end of this quarter. This is 60% of adjusted net income. At Seaways, we're committed to our balanced capital allocation strategy. We pulled all the levers to secure our future and to provide value to shareholders in 2023. We continue to high grade the fleet, investing in our profitable LR1 joint venture, We're renewing the MR fleet, and we have time-chartered out selected vessels with strong customers to secure revenue beyond today. Our balance sheet is strong, with net loan-to-value of 17%. We have liquidity over $600 million, and break even so low you would expect them for a company with only smaller vessels, not for a tanker company where half the fleet is large crews. We continue to share success with the shareholders with double digit yield on our share value. Turning to slide five, we've updated our bullets on tanker demand drivers with green up arrows next to the bullets representing positive developments for tankers, black dashes for neutral impact, and red down arrows indicating tanker negatives. Pulling some highlights, the forecast for oil demand in 2024 remains robust, with demand growth estimated to be about 1.5 million barrels per day in 2024, representing a percent and a half growth year over year. This is an above average demand growth forecast. Particularly for seaborne transportation demand, oil demand growth is largely concentrated in Asia, where countries are structurally short oil with incremental new supply coming from the West. Quite a long haul trade for tankers. Non-OPEC production growth of around a million barrels per day is mostly coming from the Americas in 2024, a supportive tanker trend. In the chart at the bottom of the page, we highlight oil supply and oil demand projected trends for the next few years. Europe and Asia, structurally short, and therefore focused on imports from the Americas, the Middle East, and Russia. With sanctions on Russian oil, further ton-mile support underlies demand and is very supportive for the tanker market going forward. Much of this hinges upon the global macro environment. With recent data suggesting and leaning toward a softer landing, It is constructive that commercial inventories are low. Any trade disruptions within the market increases the call for seaborne transportation. Slide six. The supply side continues to be a compelling part of the strong tanker market story. On the lower left-hand chart, we break down the order book by each vessel class relative to the operating fleet, and more specifically, potential candidates in the next few years that would be, at the very least, removed from broad commercial trading at around 20 years of age. Since the order book is largely fixed through 2026, we are showing vessels that would be 20 years old by this inflection point. They are 18 years old today. In aligning the dark bars on the graph, you can see that the vessels on order do not even meet the need to replace the existing fleet on the water. On the lower right-hand chart, we show expected deliveries in the near term. In most categories, they are largely lower than they have been over the last 30 years. The number of ships reaching over 20 years of age as a percentage of the total fleet continues to rise exponentially. Essentially, when the cycle turns, the fleet size will rationalize, laying the foundation for the future health of the tanker industry. We do not expect a meteoric rise in new orders either. As tanker owners face pending environmental regulations, shipyards are full of other shipping sectors and prices remain very robust. We expect a great run for tankers over the next few years. As mentioned, Regional imbalances of oil should continue to increase the need for tankers as growth in oil production is coming from the West and the oil demand is driven by non-OECD in the East. At Seaway, we will continue capturing the strength of the tanker market. We will utilize every possible lever to build upon our track record of returning to shareholders, maintaining a healthy balance sheet, and growing the value of Seaway. I'll now turn it over to Jeff Pribor, our CFO, to provide the financial review. Jeff?