Navios Maritime Holdings Inc.

Thank you for joining us for Navio's Maritime Partners fourth quarter 2024 earnings conference call. With us today from the company are chairwoman and CEO Ms. Angeliki Fragu, chief operating officer Mr. Statos De Sipris, chief financial officer Mrs. Erit Zironi, and vice chairman Mr. Ted Petrone. As a reminder, this conference call is being webcast. To access the webcast, please go to the Investors section of Navio's Partners website at -mlp.com. You'll see the webcasting link in the middle of the page and a copy of the presentation referenced in today's earnings conference call will also be found there. Now I will review the Safe Harbor Statement. This conference call could contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the private securities litigation reform act of 1995 about Navio's Partners. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts. Such forward-looking statements are based upon the current beliefs and expectations of Navio's Partners management and are subject to risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements. Such risks are more fully discussed in Navio's Partners filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The information set forth herein should be understood in light of such risks. Navio's Partners does not assume any obligation to update the information contained in this conference call. The agenda for today's call is as follows. First, Ms. Frago will offer opening remarks. Next, Mr. DeSippis will give an overview of Navio's Partners segment data. Next, Ms. Stironi will give an overview of Navio's Partners financial results. Then, Mr. Petron will provide an industry overview. And lastly, we'll open the call to take questions. Now I turn the call over to Navio's Partners Chairwoman and CEO Ms. Angeliki Frago. Angeliki?

Good morning and thank you all for joining us on today's call. I am pleased with the results for the full year and the fourth quarter of 2024. For the full year, we reported revenue of $1.33 billion, of which $332.5 million related to the fourth quarter. We also reported net income of $367.3 million and $94.7 million for the full year and the fourth quarter respectively. Earnings per common unit were $11.98 for the 2024 and $3.11 for the fourth quarter. Since the pandemic, our markets were driven primarily by geopolitical events of conflict in Ukraine and the Middle East. We don't know how these events will be resolved. We also don't know the extent to which nations will be subject to continuing or even expanded sanctions. In our view, the resolution of the conflict in Ukraine and the Middle East may involve significant sanctions on oil producing nations, materially impacting world trade. In addition, the Trump administration has been vocal about its new tariff scheme, but has not yet provided a complete roadmap so we cannot fully understand its inevitable impact on global trade. Please turn to slide six. Navios Partners is a leading publicly listed shipping company with 176 vessels. These vessels have an average age of 9.8 years and are in three different segments and 16 asset classes. As you can see, the vessel value is approximately equal in each sector. We ended 2024 with a contracted revenue of $3.6 billion and $312.1 million of cash on our balance sheet. We also entered 2025 well positioned as 63% of our 2025 available days are fixed. As a result, our break even is estimated at about $425 per open index day. Our net LTV as of the end of the fourth quarter was calculated at .8% resulting from a contraction in value primarily in the dry bike sector. Please turn to slide seven. I would like to focus on our return on capital program. Under our dividend program, we paid 20 cents dividend per unit annually or $6.1 million in total for 2024. In addition, in 2024, we purchased 489,955 common units for $25 million under the unit repurchase program, including dividends we returned a total of $31.1 million in 2024. Through February 7, 2025, we purchased a total of 585,420 common units for $29.2 million retiring .9% of the original float. As unit repurchases were well below estimated NAV, we effectively returned another $1.8 per unit of value to each unit holder through this NAV creation. As of February 7, 2025, we have $70.8 million available under our unit repurchase program. The volume and time of further repurchase will be subject to general market and business conditions, working capital requirements, and other investment opportunities among other factors. Please turn to slide eight where we provide a sales and purchase update for the fourth quarter and 2025 -to-date sales, we generated $18.8 million gross sales proceeds from the sale of two dry bulk vessels with an average age of 18.7 years. We acquired one vessel for an effective price of $25.4 million by exercising an option on a chartering vessel. We also received delivery of four previously announced new building vessels, three container ships, and one tanker vessel. You can see the terms of the related charters on the slide. Contracted revenue update. We continue to focus on building contracted revenue, which is now calculated at about $3.6 billion. We added $79 million of contracted revenue as follows, $59.4 million relating to tankers, and $19.6 million related to a container ship. Our operating cash flow potential remains strong. For 2025, we have an estimated break even of $425 per open index day with 37% of our fleet available days open or index. Please turn to slide nine where we focus on how we are executing on our strategy. We have achieved a 23% decrease in net LTV since year end 2022. In terms of fleet renewal and modernization, we have purchased 46 new buildings since the first quarter of 2021, of which 23 vessels have been delivered. We have also sold 33 vessels since the third quarter of 2022. We provide a view of the evolution of our fleet through selected metrics. As you can see, our fleet is the same size as it was in the year end 2022. Our fleet age remains about the same. We maximize energy efficiency by maintaining a fleet of useful vessels with the latest technology. In addition, as you can see from vessel value, the steel value of our fleet has increased by about 34% since the end of 2022. I would also note that these steel values do not give any consideration to a $3.6 billion contracted revenue. We present at the bottom of this slide the average analyst estimate of the companies per unit for the period starting fourth quarter 2022 and ending fourth quarter 2024. Now, per unit increase by $32.2 to $143.2, an increase of 29% over the two-year period. I now turn the presentation over to Mr. Stratos.

Thank you, Eligiene. Good morning, all. Please turn to slide 10, which details our operating free cash flow potential for 2025. We fixed 63% of our available days at the net average rate of $26,198 per day. Contracted revenue almost covers our total cash expense for the year, leaving an estimated $3.5 billion per day, which is the average break-even of $125 per open index day. We have 21,018 remaining open or index linked days that should provide substantial cash flow. So that you can perform your own sensitivity analysis, on the right side of the slide, we provide our 56,387 available days by vessel type. Please turn to slide 11. We are constantly renewing our fleet in order to maintain a young profile. We reduce our carbon footprint by modernizing our fleet, benefiting from newer technologies and advanced environmentally friendly features. In Q4 and so far in Q1, we took delivery of four vessels. Two 5,300 TU container ships all charter out for an average period of 5.3 years at an average net daily rate of $36,818. One LR2 Afermax vessel, which has been chartered out for five years at $25,253 net per day. Our first 7,700 TU LNG dual fuel container ship, which is chartered out for 12 years at an average rate of $41,753 net per day. Following these deliveries, we have 23 additional new building vessels delivering to our fleet through 2028, representing 1.6 billion of investment. In container ships, we have five vessels to be delivered with a total acquisition price of about 0.6 billion. We have mitigated this risk with long-term credit-worthy charters, expected to generate about half a billion in revenue over a six-year average charter duration. In tankers, we have 18 vessels to be delivered for a total price of approximately 1 billion. We chartered out 14 of these vessels for an average period of five years, expected to generate aggregate contracted revenue of about 0.7 billion. We have also been opportunistically replacing older vessels. In 2024 and 2025 to date, we sold 11 vessels with an average age of 17.8 years for about 202 million. At the same time, we exercised purchase options on five chartering Japanese-built dry-back vessels with an average age of eight years for a total price of 142 million. Moving to slide 12, we continue to secure long-term employment. In Q4 and 2025 year to date, we created about 79 million additional contracted revenue. Approximately 20 million is from container ships and about 59 million from tankers. Our total contracted revenue amounts to 3.6 billion. 1.4 billion relates to our tanker fleet, 0.2 billion relates to our dry-back fleet, and 2 billion relates to our container ships. Charters are extending through 2037 with a diverse group of quality counterparts. I now pass the call to Erich Ironi, our CFO, who will take you through the financial highlights. Thank

you Stratos and good morning all. I will briefly review our unaudited financial results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2024. The financial information is included in the press release and is summarized in a slide presentation available on the company's website. Moving to the earnings highlights on slide 13, total revenue for the fourth quarter of 2024 increased to 333 million compared to 327 million for the same period in 23, due to higher fleet time charter equivalent rates and available days. Our fleet ECE rate for the fourth quarter of 2024 increased by 2.6 percent to 23,205 per day compared to Q4-23 and our available days increased by 1.1 percent to 13,671 days. In terms of sector performance, the TCE rate for our dry-back fleet and our container fleet increased by approximately 1 percent to 17,079 per day and 30,623 per day respectively. In contracts, the time charter rate for our tankers was approximately 3 percent lower at 26,646 per day. EBITDA was adjusted as explained in the slide footnote. Excluding these amounts, adjusted EBITDA for Q4-24 decreased by 45 million to 182 million compared to Q4-23. Please note that the 23 figures include the prepayment of charter high received by our charters of which 47 million relates to periods from 2024 onwards. Net income for Q4-24 was 95 million. Total revenue for the full year 24 increased by 27 million to 1.33 billion compared to 2023. The increase in revenue was mainly a result of higher fleet time charter equivalent rates despite slightly lower available days. Our 2024 fleet TCE was 22,924 per day. In terms of sector performance, TCE rate for our dry-back fleet increased by 18 percent to 16,959 per day compared to 2023. In contracts, TCE rates for our containers and tankers were approximately 10 and 5 percent lower respectively. For 2024, TCE rates for our containers stood at 30,370 per day and for our tankers at 27,093 per day. Adjusted EBITDA for the year 2024 decreased by 16 million to 732 million compared to last year. Excluding the 47 million prepayment mentioned earlier, 2024 EBITDA would have exceeded 2023 levels. Net income for 2024 stood at 367 million. Earnings per common unit for the fourth quarter and full year 2024 were $3.11 and $11.98 respectively. Turning to slide 14, I will briefly discuss some key balance data. As of December 31, 2024, cash and cash equivalents including restricted cash and time deposits in excess of three months were $312 million. During the year we paid $282 million under our new building program, Net of Debt. We concluded the sale of 10 vessels for $190 million, adding about $128 million cash after debt repayment. Long-term borrowings including the current portion, Net of Deferred Fees, increased by $267 million to $2.1 billion mainly as a result of the delivery of 12 new building vessels for which the respective delivery installments were paid with debt. Net debt to book capitalization slightly increased to 34.7%. Slide 15 highlights our debt profile. We continue to diversify our funding resources between bank debt and leasing structures. 28% of our debt has fixed interest rate at an average rate of 5.5%. We also have mitigated part of the increased interest rate cost by reducing the average margin for the floating rate debt for the -the-water fleet to 2%. I would like to note that the average margin for the floating rate debt for our new building program is 1.5%. Our maturity profile is staggered with no significant balloons due in any single year. In Q4, 2024, Navios Partners entered into two new credit facilities for up to $120 million to refinance the existing debt of 11 vessels. In addition, we completed a $16 million selling list back facility for one vessel. Finally, recently, Navios Partners agreed to enter into an export credit agency back facility for a total amount of up to $148.4 million in order to finance part of the acquisition cost of two new buildings, 7,902 EU container ships currently under construction. The facility matures 12 years after the delivery date of each vessel and bears interest at SOFRA plus 125 basis points per annum. The facility remains subject to completion of definitive documentation is expected to close the first quarter of 2025. I now pass the call to Ted Petrone to take you through the industry section. Ted?

Thank you, Eri. Please turn to slide 17. On February 1, the US announced additional 10% tariffs on all existing duties for all products imported from China. On February 4, Beijing announced additional tariffs of 10 to 15% on US goods including coal, LNG, crude oil, agricultural machinery, and large odors. At this time, the announced tariffs are not expected to have a significant effect on global trade as the combined US-China tariffs equal approximately 90 million metric tons equal to only about .7% of global seaborne trade. On February 1, the US announced 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico for all products imported from each country except for energy and energy resources coming out of Canada. The tariffs on Canada and Mexico were postponed one month after discussions between the leaders of each country. The situation is fluid and bears monitoring as there is a potential for further escalation should the expected negotiations not be successful. Please turn to slide 18 for a review of current trade disruptions. The Red Sea entrance leading to the Suez Canal, a strategic maritime transit point, continues to operate at restricted transit levels. In fact, the first week of February this year registered the lowest transits, 173 vessels, since November of 2023. Red Sea disruptions have caused a rerouting of ships via the Cape of Good Hope, increasing cost and distances. In 2024, total ton or TEU mile increases per segment were estimated to be approximately 18% for containers, .5% for crew tankers, 8% for product tankers, and 5% for dry bulk. Should the situation remain unchanged in 2025, total ton or TEU miles for all sectors are projected to experience only slight variations. Panama Canal transits are essentially back to normal numerically with slight restrictions on certain vessels' drafts. Please turn to slide 20 for a review of the tanker industry. World GDP is expected to grow by .3% in 2025 based on the IMF's January forecast. The IEA projects a 1 million barrel per ton increase in global oil demand in 2025. Chinese crude imports slowed in 2024, averaging about 11.1 million barrels per day, down 2% or about 0.2 million barrels per day compared to 2023. After a seasonally slow Q3, Q4 played out in a similar softer fashion on the back of the above mentioned slowing Chinese crude oil demand and OPEC plus the unwindings of the 2.2 million barrels per day voluntary export cuts from December 1 until April 1 of 2025. The BDTI averaged 9.56 for Q4, basically unchanged from Q3, while the BCTI averaged 5.71, some 18% below Q3. However, in all cases, rates remained in line with long-term averages. Recent changes to U.S. policies regarding tariffs and sanctions are dealt with in slide 17 and 21. Overall, these changes, along with normal seasonality and low global oil inventories, should support crude freight rates going forward. Please turn to slide 21. January 10, 2025, the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control, OFAC, issued new sanctions targeting Russian oil revenue, with the U.S. adding 186 ships mostly trading Russian oil to its sanctions list. OFAC's action more than doubled the sanctioned vessels. As per the chart on slide 21, the total crude fleet now sanctioned is 9%. Both China and India have said they will not allow OFAC-sanctioned vessels to discharge, leading the market to charter vessels from the regular fleet. BLCC spot rates for the Middle East Gulf to China as of February 11 are about 40% higher than January 9, that is, the day before OFAC sanctions were announced. Additionally, on February 4, 2025, the U.S. reinstated the quote maximum pressure unquote campaign against Iran. It instructs U.S. agencies to rigorously enforce existing economic sanctions and introduce new targeting Iran's oil exports, with the goal of reducing them to zero from its 1.4 million miles a day exports registered this past January. Turn to slide 22. As previously mentioned, both crude and product rates remain at healthy levels due to solid supply and demand fundamentals and shifting trading patterns. Crude ton miles are expected to grow 1% in 2025. Product ton miles, however, are expected to decline .5% in 2025. This percentage increase incorporates continued Red Sea restrictions in 2025. Turn to slide 23. The VLCC fleet contracted .2% in 2024 and is expected to be similarly negative in 2025. The decline can be partially attributed to owners' previous hesitance to order expensive long-lived assets in light of engine technology concerns due to CO2 restrictions imposed on the fleet. The current order book is .6% of the fleet or 87 vessels after a record ordering spree in 2024. Vessels over 20 years of age are about .8% of the total fleet, 181 vessels, which is over two times the order book. Turn to slide 24. Product tanker net fleet growth was .7% for 2024 and is expected to be .3% in 2025. The current product tanker order book is .3% of the fleet and compares favorably to the .1% of the fleet, which is 20 years of age or older. In concluding the tanker sector review, tanker rates across the board continue to healthy levels. The combination of moderate growth in global oil demand, OFAC sanctions, new longer trading routes for both crude and product tankers, and the IMO 2023 regulations should provide for healthy tanker earnings going forward. Please turn to slide 26 for a view of the dry bulk industry. Expectations for a seasonally strong Q4 started well with the BDI standing at 2084 and October 1st. However, slowing Atlantic exports along with unwinding congestion contributed to the index ending the quarter at 997, some 52% below its start. All three asset classes reached their lowest levels in December. Capes led the way in Q4 down approximately 68% with Pana Maxis and Supers down both about 33%. The yearly average BDI ended 2024 at 1,755, up 27% year on year, but approximately 21% below its 20-year average. Dry bulk trade is expected to grow at .6% in 2025, enhanced by about .9% increase in ton miles. Most of this growth is anticipated to come from additional Atlantic exports of iron and bauxite, the vast majority destined for China and Southeast Asia. With net fleet growth projected to outpace trade growth in 2025, supply and demand fundamentals have weakened. However, the growing bauxite trade to relatively low order bulk as compared to overage vessels and tightening DHG emissions regulations remain positive factors. Please turn to slide 27. Current order book stands at .5% of the fleet. Net fleet growth is expected to be 3% in 2025. As owners remove tonnage, that will be uneconomic due to IMO 2023-2022 rules. Vessels over 20 years of age are about .7% of the total fleet, which is slightly higher than the order book. Concluding our dry bulk sector review, slowing growth in demand for natural resources should be balanced by restrictions in transiting the Red Sea, longer haul trades of bauxite at iron ore from West Africa to Southeast Asia and a low pace of new building deliveries should support freight rates going forward as the freight futures market currently indicate. Please turn to slide 29 for a view of the container industry. The Shanghai Container Freight Index, SCFI, is currently at 1897, which matches the opening index of 2024 and approximately 49% down from its peak of 37-34 in July 5th of 2024, which was the highest level outside the pandemic era. In contrast to the previously mentioned box rates, container ship rates remained firm on the back of continued rerouting of vessels away from the Red Sea and around the Cape of Good Hope, causing TEU miles to increase by about 18% this year. Firm time charter rates should remain the duration of the Red Sea disruption. However, continued record new building ordering and record fleet growth should eventually modify these gains and reverse course when the Middle East conflict finally settles and liner companies are certain of safe passage in the Red Sea. Although trade is expected to grow by .8% in 2025, net fleet growth of .1% in 2024 followed by .9% in 2025 should eventually pressure rates downward. Turn to slide 30. The current order book stands at .8% against .9% of the fleet 20 years of age or older. About 80% of the order book is for 10,000 TEU vessels or larger. In concluding the container sector review, should Suez Canal transits return to previously normal levels, supply and demand fundamentals will be challenging when combined with geopolitical uncertainties and continuing elevated order book. However, a world GDP growth of .3% for 2025 and ongoing strength in this economy provide a positive counterpoint for a challenging 25. This concludes my presentation. I would now like to turn the call over to Angeliki for final comments. Angeliki?

Thank you, Ted. This completes our formal presentation and we open the call to questions.

Thank you. And at this time, if you would like to ask a question, please press the star and one on your telephone keypad. You may remove yourself from the queue at any time by pressing star two. Once again, that is star and one to ask a question. And we will take our first question from Omar Nocta with Jefferies. Please go ahead.

Thank you. Hey, guys. Good afternoon. Thanks for the detailed update as usual. Always very much in depth. One of the, you know, Angeliki, in your opening comments, you mentioned all the uncertainty in the market these days. And obviously that's always been the case, but it just seems like it's just brewing clearly, you know, with tariffs, sanctions, you know, conflicts in the Middle East and Russia. It's all leading to a lot of unknowns. How has that sort of affected your business? Has this caused you to change anything in terms of how you're operating or in terms of capital deployment or shareholder rewards? Any color you can give on that front?

I think that's

a very good question, Omar. Good morning. The big thing is you saw us only the results for 2024. Looking at 2025, I mean, as a company, we did the whole strategy and you see that you don't have the economic factors, but you have a lot of geopolitical events that how they will be

resolved will have such a very important, it can be very important drivers for our business from, you know, Ukraine, the Ukraine conflict, Middle

East with the Red Sea and Iran. And additionally, then you have the tariffs.

I can give you take, for example, the last days of the Biden administration, you had sanctions on the dark fleet. That meant 9% of the tanker fleet was basically removed as much inefficient as it was. And then you can have an event where Red Sea opens, which we haven't seen it yet. These kinds of events can really substantially change the market on one sector or the other. So the big benefit of Navi is your the S5 fleet, I mean, a big pillar of stability, are 3.6 billion of contracted revenue. We have time to think and are break even per day of $425 with two thirds of our days contracted. And a lot of our open days, which are dry bulk, being indexed with an ability to really see the market and be able to capture, you know, the upside. So basically, you need to watch. If you can tell me how these events will unfold or how tariffs will be applied, it can have quite significant differences on the market perspective of either tankers, dry bulk or containers. I mean, you said had nine minutes going through the different sectors. I can tell you there's infinite possibilities.

Yes, yes, definitely. That's a great point. And obviously a benefit of diversification where you're not just stuck, you know, bracing for one outcome. I guess, you know, maybe just in terms of, you know, in container shipping and, you know, in 2024 was amazing in terms of freight rates and chartering activity. Obviously, we come into 2025, the market's still relatively tight given the diversions from the Red Sea. What is the, how would you characterize, you know, your customer base at the moment in terms of chartering habits? Is there still an elevated level of interest to secure vessel capacity or has that waned given all this uncertainty?

No, if you take that from the majors, from the

liner companies, you see that there is an appetite for tonnage. There is an appetite for duration and we have seen it all over. I mean, there was basically anything we have seen on Red Sea is not, it has not changed this view. We have not seen the Suez Canal opening because there is still a lot of uncertainty. You're talking about security of the crew, I mean cargo and vessel. So I don't think that you'll see quickly, unless you see a stable environment, you'll not see a change on this.

Okay,

well

great. Sorry, go ahead, continue.

I was just saying that it will still continue to go around the case. Basically, you still have that.

Yeah, that makes sense. Well, great. Thanks, Angeliki. Really appreciate the comments. I'll turn it over.

Thank you. And it appears that we have no further questions at this time. I will now turn the program back to Angeliki for any additional or closing remarks.

Thank you. This completes our quarterly results. Thank you.

Thank you. This does conclude today's presentation. Thank you for your participation. You may disconnect at any time.