Navios Maritime Partners LP

Thank you for joining Astronavius Maritime Partners' first quarter 2026 earnings conference call. With us today from the company are Chairwoman and CEO, Ms. Angeliki Frangou, Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Stratos De Cipris, Chief Financial Officer, Ms. Zairi Tzironi, and Chief Trading Officer, Mr. Vincent von der Wallach. As a reminder, this conference call is being webcast. To access the webcast, please go to the investor section of Navios Partners website, www.navios-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 Navier'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 another's partner's management and are subject to risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking state. Such risks are more fully discussed in other's partner's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The information set forth herein should be understood in light of such risks. Navier's Partners does not assume any obligation to update this information contained in this conference call. The agenda for today's call is as follows. First, Ms. Fango will offer opening remarks. Next, Mr. DeCipris will give an overview of Navier's Partners' segment data. Next, Mrs. Tironi will give an overview of Navier's Partners' financial results. Then, Mr. Vandevale will provide an industry overview. And lastly, we'll open the call to take questions. Now, I turn the call over to NAVRIS Partners Chairwoman and CEO, Ms. Angeliki Frangou. Angeliki?

Good morning, and thank you all for joining us on today's call. I am pleased with the results for the first quarter of 2026 in which we reported net income of $106.3 million and EBITDA of $212.7 million. Earnings per common unit were $3.64 for the quarter, and we announced a $0.06 distribution per unit for the quarter. Last quarter, we spoke about the emergence of a new world order, one which trade is used as an instrument of national policy. National security considerations central to decision-making, and governments are asserting greater control over strategic supply chains. The Iranian conflict underscores this shift. It also focuses global awareness on the critical importance of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital artery for the movement of essential commodities from LNG and crude oil to refined products and fertilizers. We expect this conflict to have lasting implications on trade, as countries and companies look to reduce their exposure to these choke points and diversify supply routes to safer areas. It is too early to assess the long-term impact, and we are monitoring developments closely. As you can see on slide three, our fleet has an average age of 9.1 years compared with an industry average of 13.7 years for our three segments. Our tanker fleet with an average age of 5.5 years is particularly useful relative to the broader tanker market. Overall, Navios fleet modernization program has created a fleet that is almost 35% younger than the industry average and more than 60% younger in comparison to the global tanker fleet. Please turn to slide four. Navius is a leading maritime transportation company owning, operating, and chartering a modern fleet of 173 vessels across three segments and 15 asset classes. Our fleet is split into thirds by value, with about one-third in each of the tanker, dry bulk, and container segments. The overall value of our fleet, including our new building program, is $9.7 billion. As to our fleet in the water, it has 4.6 billion in net vessel equity value. We continue to make headway in reducing our net LTV towards a target of 20-25%. At the quarter end, we had a net LTV of 28.3%. Our balance sheet is strong with $593 million available liquidity and credit ratings of BA3 by Moody's and a BB by Standard & Poor's. Please turn to slide five. Diversification is our strength. Coupled with the culture of risk management, NAVIOS can provide significant optionality. You can see this optionality in our actions over the past quarter, which I will discuss in a moment. We are continuously monitoring and assessing risk. We evaluate and structure transactions diligently. We also obtained robust insurance coverage, particularly important during a war environment. And we have implemented many tools to manage operational risks. Please turn to slide six. This slide lays out our actions since the beginning of the year, as we witnessed increasing values in the tanker space. we were disciplined initially taking advantage of a strengthening tanker market. We subsequently leveraged the significant VLCC appetite generated by the Iranian conflict. In early 2026, we observed affirming of VLCC values. We used this opportunity to sell to VLCCs with an average age of 16 years for $136.5 million. Our thinking at the time was that these prices were 102% above the 20-year average and 18% above the prior historical peak value. If there was any upside left, we thought that it was best for others. Subsequently, the Iranian conflict erupted. Sport VLCC rates were in a frenzy and there was a great appetite for VLCC tonnage. We were able to take advantage of these dynamics by engineering a transaction in which we purchased four new building VLCCs and chartered out each of them for five-year periods at almost $48,000 per day. This charter rate is about 24% above the 20-year average time charter rate. The VLCC themselves were purchased at values that were only 11% above 20-year averages. This effective arbitrage de-risked our VLCC fleet expansions as we captured $357 million in contracted revenue and reduced the average age of our VLCC fleet by almost 40% to 5.9 years. That's a pretty dense sentence, so let me simplify. We expanded our VLCC fleet by almost 60% with minimal risk in a volatile time. And we have options for four more VLCCs that may allow us to continue to expand our fleet further, which we will do if we can do it creatively. Turn now to slide 7, where we outline what actions we have taken in each of our segments. The net result is summarized on the right-hand part of the slide. Our backlog, or contracted revenue, is a record high of $4.1 billion. We increase our backlog by 16%. And for the remaining nine months of 2026, we already have excess contracted revenue over cash costs of $179 million. And we materially reduced our fleet average age, which now stands at 34% below the market. Please now turn to slide eight. A diversified fleet provides revenue visibility and market exposure. For the year, we have 53,713 available days, of which 80% are fixed and 20% are open or indexed. I would note that while we generally favor long-term charters, until recently, period charters made little sense in the dry bulk sector as the rates were weak for a prolonged period of time. Thus, about 40% of our dry bark fleet is open or indexed. Please turn to slide nine, recent development. This slide gives you a snapshot of key financial indicators. First quarter performance was strong. We generated $106.3 million of net income and $212.7 million of EBITDA from $357 million of revenue. Our debt package is designed to mitigate risk and give maximum flexibility. Our 28.3% net LTV is on the path to our target and 43% of our debt is at a fixed interest rate. In addition, Over half of our debt package has no LTV covenant, and we have almost $2 billion of assets that were debt-free. Please turn to slide 10, where we outline our return of capital program. For the first quarter, we returned about 1.7 million distributions to our unit holders. This represents a 20% increase from the prior level. In addition, here today, in 2026, we repurchased 240,502 units, or 0.8% of the flow before this purchase for $15.6 million. Overall, under our $100 million unit repurchase program, we have purchased 5.8% of the units outstanding, which, in a strange quirk of numbers, provides $5.8 value accretion per unit. We have approximately 16.4 million remaining purchase capacity under our original authorisation. Please turn to slide 11. Navios has been executing its strategy through a challenging environment. We are focused on building a platform of excellency. Over the past five years, We have grown contracted revenue by more than 20% to a record high of $4.1 billion. We have an EBITDA run rate of over $750 million and have expanded our fleet value, including our new building program, to $9.7 billion. Importantly, we have not sacrificed financial discipline in achieving these goals. In this process, we reduced our net loan-to-value by 37% to 28.3%. We recognize that there is more work ahead, but in an uncertain world, we believe that a proven platform combining a diversified fleet with a disciplined risk management culture positions us to continue delivering value through any market conditions. I now turn the presentation over to Mr. Stratos Desipris, Navios Partners Chief Operating Officer. Stratos?

Hello, Angeliki, and good morning all. Please turn to slide 12, which details our operating free cash flow potential for the remaining nine months of 2026. We fixed 73% of available days at a net average rate of $27,859 per day. Contracted revenue exceeds estimated total cash operating costs by 179.2 million, and we have 10,838 remaining open or index-linked days offering meaningful upside. Moving to slide 13, our contracted revenue backlog provides strong earnings visibility in an uncertain market. Taking advantage of the current strong rate environment, we grew contracted revenue by 16%, adding approximately 549 million of which 483.5 million from eight tankers, 65.2 million from two container ship vessels. Total contracted revenue reached a record high of 4.1 billion, 1.7 billion for tankers, 2.1 billion for container ships, and 0.3 billion for dry bulk. Tractors are extending through 2037 with a diverse group of quality counterparties. Slide 14 summarizes the fleet developments for 2026 year to date. During the period, we agreed to acquire four new building VLCCs for $482 million, with delivery expected in the second half of 2028. The vessels have been chartered out for about five years at a net rate of $47,763 per day. As previously announced, we also agreed to acquire two scrubber-fitted Japanese new building cave-sized vessels for $134.3 million. These vessels are chartered out for five years at a rate linked to the BCI index, with an average flow rate of $25,000 per day, an average fixed premium of about $3,000 per day over the index, and 50% profit sharing above the flow rate. This structure provides downside protection, stable returns, and upside participation. The vessels are expected to be delivered in the second half of 2028 and Q1 of 2029. We also sold five vessels for about 190 million, two VLCCs with an average age of 16 years for 136.5 million, two dry bulk vessels for 22.8 million, and one container ship for 30 million. Additionally, we took delivery of five new building vessels, three Afro-Mexican vessels, one MR2 vessel, and one 7,900 TU container ship. All vessels delivered are chapped out for an average duration of about five years at a weighted average net daily rate of $29,065. We continue to actively renew our fleet to maintain a young profile. We have 26 new building vessels delivering to our fleet through 2029 and representing $2.1 billion of investment. Based on our financing, both agreed and in process, we have about $329 million of equity remaining to be paid. We have mitigated the residual value risk of our new billing program with long-term credit-worthy charters expected to generate about 1.5 billion in contracted revenue over a five-year average charter duration. I now pass the call to Eri Tsironi, our CFO, who will take you through the financial highlights. Eri?

Thank you, Stratos, and good morning, all. I will briefly review and allot the financial results for the first quarter of 26. The financial information is included in the press release and summarized in a slide presentation available on the company's website. Moving to the earnings highlights on slide 15, total revenue for the first quarter of 26 increased by 17% to $357 million compared to $304 million for the same period in 25 due to higher fleet combined time charter equivalent rate despite lower available days. Our combined TCE rate for the first quarter of 26 increased by 21% to 25,679 per day, while our available days decreased by 3% to 13,104 days compared to Q1-25. In terms of sector performance, our TCE rate per day was higher in all three sectors as follows. 39% increase to 17,632 for our bulkers, 23% increase to 32,209 for our tankers, and 4% increase to 31,696 for our containers. EBITDA, net income, and earnings per common unit for the first quarter of 26 were adjusted as explained in the slide footnote. Adjusted EBITDA for Q126 increased by €51 million to €204 million compared to Q125. The increase was primarily driven by a €53 million increase in revenues, partly mitigated by a €2 million increase in general and administrative expenses mainly due to the higher EURUSD exchange rate prevailing during Q126 compared to Q125. Adjusted net income for Q126 increased by $15 million to $98 million. Adjusted earnings and earnings per common unit for the first quarter of 26 were $3.35 and $3.64, respectively. Turning to slide 16, I will briefly discuss some key balance sheet data. As of March 31st, 26, cash and cash equivalents, including restricted cash and time deposits in excess of three months, were 421 million. In addition, we have 172 million available under three facilities. During the quarter, we paid $21 million under a new building program, net of debt, and we concluded the sale of one vessel for $29 million, adding about $22 million cash after debt repayment. Long-term borrowings, including the current portion and the senior unsecured bond net of deferred fees, increased by $12 million to $2.2 billion following the delivery of two new buildings during the quarter. Net debt to capitalization improved to 31.2%. Slide 17 highlights our debt structure. At quarter end, we have 55 debt-free vessels, including 17 vessels securing our unutilized revolving credit facilities. We have a diversified financing base consisting of leasing structures in Japan and China, more than 15 active banking relationships, and more recently, a $300 million senior and secured bond trading in the Oslo Bourse. In addition, 43% of our debt is fixed at an average interest rate of 6.2%, while 51% carries no loan-to-value covenant. We have also partially mitigated high interest rate costs by lowering the average margin on our floating rate debt and bedboard liabilities for the in-the-water fleet to 1.8%. I would like to note that the average margin for the committed floating rate debt of our new building program is 1.5%. Our maturity profile is staggered with no significant balloon skew in any single year until 2030 when the bond matures. I now pass the call to Vincent van der Wallen, NavVis Partners' Chief Trading Officer, to take you through the industry section. Vincent?

Thank you, Iri. Please turn to slide 19. Straight-off Hormuz closure has created a major energy and shipping shock, affecting about 20% of the worldwide crude product and LNG flows. The disruption has tightened tanker availability and driven freight rates sharply higher. Rates for VLCCs hit all-time highs at 602,000 per day and remain elevated with a significant portion of the fleet trapped inside the Gulf. This shortfall has been partially mitigated by increased crude volumes from the USA, Brazil, Venezuela, heading to both Europe and Asia, adding more tonnages. Product anchor rates have been extremely strong with MR Atlantic round voyages averaging 75,000 per day and the Pacific round voyages averaging 36,000 since the beginning of the war. Higher fuel costs and security of supply concerns are driving the purchasing and transportation of commodities and finished goods. This has raised rates in the dry bulk sector for both Capes and Panamaxes and has continued to support container time charter rates. The conflicts in the Red Sea and Ukraine continue to add ton miles for most vessel types. With negotiations between the U.S. and Iran moving slowly and the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed, vessel utilization will continue to run at high levels, supporting elevated rates for the near-term. Medium-term trade adjustments depend how long all prices stay elevated. and whether demand for other commodities like coal, rice to substitute for LNG or decreased fertilizer availability affects crop supply later this year. Prolonged Hormuz closure could still trigger a global slowdown or a recessionary demand shock which could affect all shipping markets. Please turn to slide 20. Novia's direct exposure to the Middle East conflict is limited, and our charter and fleet mix position us to benefit from disruption rather than absorb it. In dry bulk, CAPE rates have risen from 28,000 per day before the war to 45,000 days recently, and as an increased coal demand to replace lost Gulf LNG cargoes to add to its seasonal strength. Our index-linked charts allow us to benefit from a higher sport market due to these higher coal volumes as well as the seasonally strong iron ore, bauxite and grain volumes. In tankers, VLCC rates peaked at 602,000 per day on March 16 and stood recently at 447,000 per day as tanker supply remains disrupted, with charters seeking to control tonnage to benefit from tighter market conditions and to be able to transport any cargoes that become available as all is released from strategic reserves or from increased production. Most of Navio's vessels are fixed on tank charters, providing continued revenue with four ships trading spots or in pools, or having profit sharing to capture market upsides. In addition, our VLCC new buildings will provide modern eco-ships to replace the older fleet. Container rates have remained elevated as Red Sea diversions continue and the re-direction of cargoes bound for the Gulf are adding to ton miles. Our entire container ship fleet is fixed on long-term charters providing for a stable contracted cash flow. Across all three sectors, Navios combines limited direct exposure to the conflict with meaningful upside to the tanker and dry bulk dislocation with preserving contracted cash flow stability. Please turn to slide 22 for the review of the dry bulk industry. The amount growth for dry bulk trade has been relatively stable over the last 25 years at about 4% average annual ton-mile growth. The current order book stands at about 30% of the total fleet and will remain low due to high new building prices, uncertainty about new fuel regulations and yacht availability and general market outlooks. The fleet is aging quickly with 39% of the vessels 15 years old and with all the ships far exceeding those on order, supplies should be constrained over the medium term. Please turn to slide 23. The main driver of dry bulk demand will be strong Atlantic Basin iron ore growth over the next several years, with new projects in Guinea, Brazil and the Hyperia. The largest new project is Simandou in Guinea, which started shipments at the end of last year and is expected to ramp up to 120 million by 2027. April's eight shipments jumped four times from two in March. Vale in Brazil has three new projects totaling 50 million tons expected to start exporting by the end of 26. Liberia will add 10 million tons of exports in 26. In total, these 180 million tons are all long-haul mouths trading, creating demand for an additional 249 capes. With the current order book of only 207 kBZU in 28, a further tightening of supply and demand is expected over the next few years, benefiting rates. Overall, the dry bulk market looks positive based on steady long-term demand growth and a constrained supply of vessels. Please turn to slide 25 for the review of the tanker industry. As to supply, we see a tanker order book of 23%. About 50% of the fleet is already 15 years old, rising quickly in the next few years. With all those vessels exceeding the order book and yards offering first deliveries in late 28 or early 29, supply is said to be tight for several years. Please turn to slide 26. The US Office of Foreign Asset Control, OFAC, the EU, and the UK continue to sanction Russian, and Iranian oil revenue and ships delivering their crude and products. The U.S. recently imposed secondary sanctions on certain Chinese refineries that have purchased Iranian crude and have seized two Iranian VLTCs laden with crude oil and disabled the third one was heading back to Iran to load. These types of sanctions have two main effects. Sanctioned oil volumes from these countries have more difficulty finding willing buyers, raising demand for compliant barrels and non-sanctioned vessels to carry that oil. With 855 mostly over-hatched tankers now sanctioned, the fleet has already seen a significant reduction of about 15% of total capacity. The tanker market also looks positive over the medium term based on a low order book compared with an aging and reduced fleet due to sanctions. Please turn to slide 28 for the review of the container industry. After the COVID pandemic, container ship orders were mainly for the biggest units with fleet expansion in large ships set to continue at high levels. Currently, 75% of the order book is for ships with 9,000 TEU capacity or greater, and only 21% of the order book is for 2,000 to 9,000 TEU capacity where novice is most active. Smaller segments of the fleet are well positioned to take advantage of shifting trading patterns. As shown on the right-hand graph, growth in non-mainland trades far exceeds the traditional mainland trades, to the U.S. and Europe due to tariffs and higher growth in developing countries. Trades involving the southern hemisphere, mostly served by smaller-sized vessels, are expected to see continued health growth as this trade shift continues. Overall, Navios fleet is well-positioned within the container market and continues to benefit from long-term employment with our high-quality charts. This concludes our presentation. I would now like to turn the call over to Angeliki Frango for her final comments. Angeliki?

Thank you, Vincent, and this completes our format presentation. We open the call to questions.

Thank you. If you'd like to ask a question, press star 1 on your keypad. To leave the queue at any time, press star 2. Once again, that is star 1 to ask a question. Our first question today comes from Omar Nocta with Clarkson Securities. Your line is now open.

Thanks, operator. Thank you. Hi, Angeliki and team. Thank you for the update. Always very thorough. Good update on the business and the markets. Just a couple questions for me. As you kind of think about things, you've had a fairly balanced fleet here across tankers, dry bulk, and containers. and also basically all three are firing, you could say, on all cylinders, obviously within a cloud of uncertainty. But the cash is starting to come in here a bit more aggressively now, especially as we kind of look forward to 2Q based off what we're seeing in dry bulk. How do you think about how this capital gets deployed as it starts to come in in bigger amounts? Obviously, you've continued this rejuvenation approach, as you've highlighted. But as we think about this cash as it comes in, How do you balance where that goes in terms of keeping it on the balance sheet or paying down debt? Do you double down and add more vessels from here? Do you step up returns to shareholders? How, I guess, do you evaluate these different options given just how strong the cash is starting to come in? Thank you.

Hello, Omar. I mean, actually, you know that we're a disciplined company. We have a target of reducing RLTV, which we are basically now very close to the 2025 that we said. We generate good cash flows and what we care about is We have a total return of policies of capital to our investors through dividends buyback, which obviously is a bold decision, but we are very committed on that. But very importantly is also redeployed cash and create an AP. I mean, you have been familiar with us, and you have seen when we start consolidating about over three years ago, what we have done, we doubled RNAV by building these good transactions, cash flows, backlog, that's a lot of effort. And at the same time we are increasing our share price. So this is the drivers of the market and basically this transaction that we we actually announced today is basically this kind of a strategy. It's basically two different transactions. We saw two VLCCs before the Iranian war started. Why? Because we saw good values. We had 16-year-old vessels, and we saw that the values of the vessels became double the 20-year average value. So, and about 18 percent above the historical peak. I'm not saying that the market could not have gone up. We don't know. But we left the rest. We prefer to sell those vessels, and because we left the upside to someone else. Then when the war started, we saw that there was a strong demand for VLCC, so we canvassed the area, and we spotted good shipyards with the engines we wanted, and we went and we did four new buildings with optional transactions, and that gave us the ability to really fix all the vessels at 11% of the historical 20-year average value on new buildings, while fixing them for five years at almost 25% of the rate, the historical rate. This is the kind of transaction that our platform is here. And we will do everything possible, you know, return capital while creating an AV that really drives the long-term transfer company. And we will use different strategies for different sectors. I mean, you saw the way we stepped in in 2026. When we stepped in on the dry sector, we were about 25% fixed because we didn't see the long-term rates that made sense. We captured part of the spot market today. So it is a mix of a strategy that the customer balance is the low leverage and our ability to really act on different ways where we see opportunities.

Thanks, Angeliki. Very good summation of the approach. And I guess you did touch on those new buildings, which I kind of wanted to ask a bit, you know, clearly very much an obvious way in terms of acquiring these new buildings and de-risking them with charters. And it looks like you're going to be able to pay down a good chunk of that investment in that initial charter. You know, it's interesting because it seems like you can just – this approach shortly after the war, and you were able to secure a contract fairly quickly. As we think about those options that you have, I think you mentioned there's two new building options. What's the likelihood that if you had that, if you placed them, that you'd be able to repeat this type of charter? Is it that liquid of a TC market to be able to do that in conjunction? Or would you be taking on some risk by ordering those vessels?

You know the NAVI or CMO. I mean we are not changing the way we act. So the issue is that we have two plus two options and we see interest on the vessels. We are reviewing opportunities and if we have something we will exercise. This is options that we can exercise if we like.

Okay. Thank you. And then maybe just one final, very, uh, hopefully just a simple accounting question. Uh, I think I have in my notes at year end, uh, the new building installments or the deposits on the balance sheet amounted to about 470 million. Do you have an updated figure for quarter end?

What do you mean? How much we have there already paid for the new buildings? Yeah. Uh, In the quarter, just 21 million, but the .

You want the cumulative. Maybe I will send the figure to you better.

OK. Thank you. All right.

I'll pass it back.

475, actually. 475?

475, the cumulative, and 21 during the quarter.

OK. Perfect. Thank you very much.

Thanks. Thank you. Our next question will come from Christopher Skay with Arctic Securities. Your line is now open.

Hey, guys. Thanks for a good presentation, as always. Hello, hello. And congrats on another good quarter. Angelique, I must say, you are one of few ship owners I talked to right after the beginning of the war who are actually delusional. tankers now and that paid off excellent so a good call um i just want to ask given how strong the market is uh i want to ask about charles tobacco strategy i mean those four differences were seems like a really good deal um but going forward should we expect continued emphasis on looking in similar type deals so Could we see sort of taking more value and retaining spot exposure, especially sort of how bright the dry bog outlook is currently also?

I will tell you that I never know where the opportunity will come. To be honest, you know, we have seen we have seen that today you can see opportunities on even the dry bars to do period charters. So the reason you see we are open is because we watch the market and we select the right time. On the tankers we saw a good opportunity for five-year deals at about, you know, percent, 20 percent above the historical rate, and we fixed because it did make sense with the exposure we had. On the dry bulk today, you see that there is a healthy, all of a sudden it's developing a market where it can be a two, three year period. I would say that this quarter we fixed quite significant about, you know, you saw a quite significant backlog of about $550 million, which is significant. You know, but there is always a strategy to add to our long-term charters if we see attractive deals. And, you know, I will say another thing. We are working very much at the Strait, and how that will shape the world, because this is the most important thing that we have to be mindful. you know, when and if, at the point where the state of Hormuz opens, there will be a new world order and we will have to, you know, define what we like to do at that point. I think this is something we are very mindful.

Yeah, sure, sure. And then on those four universities, which you add to them, Is this a resale with another owner or is it straight with the yard? And can you comment a bit on terms and option price levels and these things?

No, it's a hard work of creating the deal. So we have a good team that works a lot with aspects. The bad thing is that I'm an engineer, so I always end up to become too much of an engineer. So it's aspects. Our specifications are a machinery list. So you have ordered it straight from the yard?

It's a new order? It's nothing that's already in order?

Yes, yes.

Yes, okay. And the option price is at the same price?

Yes.

Okay, thanks. And final one for me, as you commented on, net LTV is dropping fast based on feet on the water. How should we think about the trajectory towards 25% when given you have some committed new wheel catwalks and upcoming deliveries? So what's your internal note on when that's going to happen? And if When that happens, is it buybacks we should expect?

No, I think we're working towards the end of the year. We're following the bond also. We are doing some prepayments. If you see, we have basically paid down all our revolvers. So actually, I think by the end of the year, we are in a good position to reach the targets.

Very good. Okay, that's it from me. Thanks a lot.

Thank you. Thank you. And our next question will come from Stephanie Moore with Jefferies. Your line is now open.

Hi, thank you, everybody. Appreciate the very thorough presentation here this morning. I guess I wanted to touch a little bit about, I guess, capital allocation in some respects. But you did sell, I think, five vessels year to date, and you're taking delivery of several new buildings. So I guess how active do you expect to be out of asset sales from here? And then, you know, which segments or age bands are most likely? And is the goal kind of, you know, age reduction, you know, deleveraging, recycling into higher return assets? I'd love to get your just general thoughts on the asset sales here and the optionality that it creates. Thank you.

Hi. Actually, we see – I mean, the older vessels we see as a natural replacement. So you saw that we sold – on the dry sector we sold vessels that were about 18 years old. I mean, it does make sense, absolute sense to sell those vessels. And also, I mean, the replacement is always on the older fleet, and depending on the opportunity, we step in on a new building. It was on the... And this is something that we'll continue to be doing. I mean, we like to, you know, reduce the average age of our fleet. We reduced it by a third, which is quite significant, of course, because we also bought the VATC. But this is a continuous strategy, if you see it over there. I mean, we solved... I would say on the last three years we sold over 50 vessels almost, and redeployed 1,000 younger vessels. Another example is the way we did with the VLCCs. You know, 16 years are very attractive to historical. We saw the good earning capacity of those vessels. But we thought that the values we had by historical standards, this was a very attractive point to share. You double the 20-year values of 16-year-old vessels. So it did make sense. So that's what we did. This is a strategy we will continue. I mean, depending what sector gives us the opportunity. And we deploy where we find the maximum value.

Thank you. No, that's really helpful. And then I did want to take maybe a higher level question here, but with the Hormuz disruption continuing and it does continue to tighten tanker availability and pushing rates higher, I'd love to get just your thoughts in terms of maybe some of the second order impacts here you're watching across your other segments. Anything that we should think about if this conflict does persist longer than maybe everyone expected at first you know if that changes anything else across again your other segments just given you are you know diversified outside of just tanker so again higher level there but um would love to get your thoughts thanks everybody

I think this is a good question. I'll tell you one thing. I mean, you have a deficit of oil. This deficit is half a billion barrels over the period when the state of Hormuz will open. But at this point, unless you end up on a recession, the reality is that you will have a move for replenishing the oil that has been used, and replenishing depleted reserves. The other thing, naturally you will go for one metric ton of gas is equivalent to two metric tons of coal. You will see that drivers continue. You will see more fertilizers and other commodities move on the dry. So you can see the macro level drivers. Absent to this creating a different situation where you constrain demand, and that is a big question. So, we are watching very carefully the market, and we are trying to assess you know, to act as prudently as possible. The one good thing about novvies is that you have this good, you know, this backlog. You have the security and this on your admins. So we can be very quick on acting in any way we see that makes sense.

Really helpful. Thank you, everybody. Thank you. Thank you. At this time, there are no further questions in queue. I will now turn the meeting back to Angeliki for closing comments.

Thank you. This completes Q1 results.

Thank you. This brings us to the end of today's meeting. We appreciate your time and participation. You may now disconnect.