Okeanis Eco Tankers Corp. (ECO) Q3 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Operator: Welcome to OET's Third Quarter 26 Financial Results Presentation. Aristidis Alafouzos, CEO and Iraklis Sbarounis, CFO of Okeanis EcoTankers will take you through the presentation. They will be pleased to address any questions raised at the end of the call. Matters that are forward looking in nature will be discussed and actual results may differ from the expectations reflected in such forward looking statements. Please read through the relevant disclaimer on slide 2. I would like to advise you that this session is being recorded. Aristidis will begin the presentation now.

Aristidis Alafouzos: Good afternoon. And thank you for taking the time to join our call. For our Q3 26 earnings. I am going to start on slide 4 instead of--at least as usual. Because it is a slide we wanted to prepare for a long time. But that. I did not expect to show it this quickly. On our last call, I had said that I hope by the end of the year, we would have returned over $1 billion to our shareholders since our inception. With the dividend we announced yesterday, we did it by Q3. When we listed in 2018, the investor community was hesitant about another Greek shipping company. Together with our initial investor. Investors who showed trust in us, 3 of whom are still on our board today, have established a track record to be proud of. I would like to think investors now see OET as a consistent and reliable steward of their capital and driven to outperform its competition. We listed in 2018 with a market cap of $225 million. Since then, we have paid out more than 4.4x that in dividends. More than half a bit of that more than half of that billion has come this year alone. Q3 was the strongest quarter in our history, and it is the third record quarter in a row. Adjusted EPS was $7.67 for the quarter. And $15.98 for the 9 months. The board declared a dividend of $7 per share. It is our 18th consecutive distribution and 91% of our reported net income. To put that in context, that 1 dividend is about $10.773 billion which is more than the whole company was worth when we listed. 2026 has not been an easy year to operate tankers. Our crews and our technical manager, Kyklades, have kept the ships working through all of it with many challenges. And I wanted to thank them before we get into the numbers. Part of OET's ability to outperform is the quality of our technical manager. Whether in the Atlantic, the Black Sea, or in The Middle East, our crews have serviced our trades with professionalism and dedication that is to be admired. Iraklis, will take you through the financials, and then I will come back for the commercial and market update. Iraklis, over to you.

Iraklis Sbarounis: Thank you, Aristidis. Pleased to go through our third quarter earnings, a quarter that sets another record in our history. We achieved fleet wide time charter equivalent of about $209,000 per vessel per day. that is $269,000 per day on our spot, and 260,000 on operating VSAC days and a 167,000 on our Suezmax operating days, all green spot. We report time charter-equivalent revenue of $338 million adjusted EBITDA of 320 million adjusted net profit of $299 million and adjusted EPS of $7.67 Our Board declared an 18th consecutive quarterly dividend of $7 per share. This represents more than 91% of our reported and adjusted net income. Including this 1, over the last 4 quarters, we distributed $15.80 per share. Backward booking, that is close to 20% yield against our current share price. On top of the share price appreciation over the same periods. On Slide 6, we show the detail of our income statement for the quarter and 9 month period. TCE revenue through September stood at almost $740 million EBITDA was over $680 million net income was almost $620 million or $16 per share. Moving on to Slide 7 and our balance sheet. At quarter end, we had $233 million of cash. Our restricted cash figure as of September 30 includes an amount of approximately $67 million We have deposited on short term under certain of our loan facilities, which have the feature that reduce the interest paid providing a better return than what we could achieve placing those funds. Under our time deposit rates for that amount at that time. We may roll forwards as cash characterized as restricted or a different amount on a short term basis. Depending on our cash flow needs and applicable rates. Our balance sheet debt was $704 million reflecting the drawdown for the acquisition of the Nissos Vous early July. Our book leverage stands at 35%,, while our market adjusted net LTV basis market estimates on our assets and end of quarter cash balance is now below 20%. Slide 8 looking at their fleets. With the addition of the Nissos Vous in early July, we have a fully delivered fleet of 8 VLCCs and 10 Suezmaxes with an average age of 5.8 years. From a CapEx perspective, the Milos successfully underwent its 10-year survey at the end of the third quarter beginning of the fourth quarter. Slide 9, moving on to our capital structure. With the delivery of the Vous, the Nissos Vous, our full financing and refinancing cycle has been effective since the beginning of the quarter. The benefits are clearly visible every quarter with improvement of our interest expense figures. On the basis of Keros, we have agreed with our finance here that effective December of this year and through the maturity of the loan in 2030, The loan will bear a margin of 115 basis points. Continued improvement in our capital structure, with our weighted average interest cost pro forma for that adjustment having been reduced to 146 basis points oversold. On Slide 10, we show this exercise only for the Nissos Piperi and Nissos Serifopoula. Last quarter. I was expecting to run the exercise again in a few months, having the Nissos Vous, Nissos Vous with at least a couple of quarters under their trading belt. But the numbers are simply extraordinary, so I was tempted to update slide this quarter. The Nissos Piperi and the Nissos Serifopoula were delivered to us in January. The--in May. The Nissos Vous produced in July. So with, on average, call it a little over half a year of operations between the 4 vessels, the value creation now exceeds $5 billion The asset value increase pillar, the third 1 on the graph, is very straightforward. We bought these vessels at between $97 million and $99 million each. These are now valued at over $170 million Unrealized, but with a direct impact on our NAV and subsequently on our stock. Price. it is an 80% uplift on an enterprise value basis and close to 150% uplift against the equity put on the vessels. Well, more interesting in my view is the second pillar. Within an average half a year, they have each generated between $20 million and $60 million of free cash flow. Or $160 million on aggregate. The nominal equity that was put in these vessels was a little over $10 million Remember, we put $45 million of bank debt on H1. On that basis, over 3 quarters the equity has already been returned back. Once you add the NAV benefit, that is the first pillar on the graph, due to the arbitrage of raising accretive stock to fund these transactions, Almost the entire equity put into these vessels, and this is realized value, has been paid down. Timing was obviously more than option, but we have set up a platform in a way that gives us the ability to precisely take advantage of such opportunities and generate such results. I will now turn it back to Aristidis for the commercial market.

Aristidis Alafouzos: Thank you, Iraklis. About the previous slide, by the end of the year of I assume that all the equity being entirely paid back on those 4 ships. So we are pretty happy with that. Now looking at slide 12, on the commercial performance in Q3, Our fleet TCE for the quarter $209,000 per day. Our spot VLCCs $270,000 per day. And our service maxes earned $166,000 per day. Including the time charter days, total VLCC earnings $260,000 per day. And fleet utilization was 98%. Q3 is normally the weakest quarter of the year. This 1 beat Q2, which was already a record. When we spoke in August, we had fixed 48% of our VLCC spot days at about $207,000. And 42% of our Suezmax days at $133,000. We finished at $269,000 and $166,000 a day. So everything we fixed after that call was done well above those levels. The market kept climbing through August and September, and we had the days open to catch it higher. In August of Q3, we converted some spot voyages on the VLCCs into a short time charge. That will last until February 2027. At a blended rate of $450,000 a day. This materially helped our Q3 numbers as the rate was far above the spot market. But then slightly underperformed in Q4 as rates rocketed higher. Today's spot rates are around $350,000 for VLCC, while the Suezmax is between $150,000 and $200,000 a day. Suezmax utilization was 97%, And as we announced Nissos Sifnos was hit by a drone in July, on July 30 while loading at CPC Terminal loading Kazakh crude. Most importantly, no 1 living on board was hurt. The incident damaged the cargo lines, cargo cranes, and electrical cabling. Repair took over a month, but the vessel had loss of higher insurance to cover the lost time. As well as the normal insurance to cover the damages. Moving to slide 13 and our guidance for Q4. I have looked at these numbers many times, and I still find them hard to believe. On the VLCCs, we have fixed 48% of our available spot days at $688,000 per day. Also have 509 time charter days at an average of $388,000 per day. That is 75% of our VLCC days for the court. On the Suezmaxes, 60% of our spot days at $410,000 per day. Across the fleet, that is 627 spot days, an average of $448,000 per day. 71% of our fleet for Q4 are covered at an average of $420,000 per day. That is roughly $480 million on the days already covered. With 29% of the quarters still open, our TCE revenue for the whole quarter of Q3 was $338 million. And Q3 was a record. Suezmaxes are at 99%. Utilization, while VLCC is guided at 93%, with 53 days off hire. 1 line on what that is, Nissos Sanafi suffered engine damage while laid in near South Africa. She limped slowly to Oman where we transship the cargo, and the vessel will begin repairs there. And be completed by the end of December. A word of caution on the open days. Rates have come off the peak. We saw it earlier in October. And I would not take the fixed spot numbers and multiply them across the rest of the quarter. I do expect the market to rebound as we go deeper into Q4, though. We have 458 days still to fix. And we will fix them in the market we find. That can work for us or against us as we have seen more than once this year. Over the past weeks, the markets have had a huge correction. But we are still earning historically high earnings after such a steep sellout. Last year, the market also sold off late in Q4 and roared back in January. The market is volatile, but the underlying inefficiencies remain. I believe the bottom has been found on crude tanker freight, with good cargo inquiry, we will see rates push back up. Moving on to slide 14. This is the slide that we use every quarter. And I like it more every time. This was a market that was available to every owner. Based on the peers who have reported, so far, our spot earnings in Q3 about 70% above the peer average on VLCCs, and 60% above on the Suezmax. Suezmaxes. Let that sink in again. 70% on the VLCCs, 60% on the Suezmaxes. On the Q4 days we have fixed so far, we are about 30% higher on the VLCCs and close to 50% on the Suezmaxes. If we look at the blended earnings, profile across Q3 and Q4, including both spot and time charter, the outperformance is even more pronounced. On peers that have reported so far, our VLCC rates were approximately 84% above the peer average in Q3. And around 61% on Q4 days fixed to date. On the Suezmaxes, we are approximately 68% above the peer average in Q3, around 49% above in Q4. Taken together across Q3 and Q4, our blended earnings are more than 1.5x the peer average in both asset classes. At these rate levels, the percentage matters less than the dollars. Since Q4 39, we have generated about $450 million of outperformance against the average of our peers. 3 months ago, that number was $341 million. So we added about $117 million in 1 quarter alone. If our fleet had earned the peer average in Q3, our EPS would have been about $3 lower. To give that some scale, $450 million is twice the market cap we listed with. And that is the only difference between us and the average. It is split fairly evenly. About $247 million have come from the VLCCs and about $205 million from the Suezmaxes. That is close to $17,500 a day above the peer average on every VLCC and Suezmax spot day for 7 years. It is the same ships and the same people every court. A modern eco scrubber fitted fleet a chartering team that is prepared to take a view, and a technical manager that keeps the ships approved and available when the cargo is there. Other than the Anak. On Slide 15, the order book. I am not going to pretend it is small. The VLCC order book is over 32% of the fleet. And the Suezmax order book is around 30%, Which of which about 3 points are shuttle tankers that do not compete with us. Those are big numbers. And they are a real issue for the back end of the decade. But look at when the ships arrive. For the rest of 2026, it is 0.5% of the VLC and 1% of the Suezmax fleet. Next year, it is around 7% for both. The heavy years are 2028, 2029 at 9-11% a year. Now look at the top half of the page. Today, 22% of the VLCC fleet is over 20 years old. and 48% is over 15 years old. By 2028, those numbers are 29%, 56%. And by 2030, they are 41%, 61%. The Suezmax picture is also the same. Will be straight about 1 thing. In a market like this, nobody scraps a ship. The old ships are trading and earning, albeit inefficiently. But a 20 year old VLCC does not get approved for almost all the cargoes we like to carry. A lot of them are in sanctioned trades, and they likely never come back to our market. Right now, in my view, the inefficiency in the system is absorbing more capacity than the yards will deliver over the next years. So our view has not changed. The order book is a real consideration, to look into for 2028 and after. For the next month, the deliveries are manageable, The fleet keeps getting older. And we have an average age. In our fleet of under 6 years. But what we need to be careful of is a rapid return to an efficient market the heavy order book is delivering. This could change the balance abruptly. The inefficiencies caused by the war in Ukraine, Iran, plus the Red Sea diversions create significant ton miles, and ton days. Moving on to slide 16. is a new slide we have created, and it is ton days, not ton miles. Ton miles tell us how far the cargo travels, while ton-days tell us how long a ship is tied up carrying And that is what decides how many ships are free. The dark blue line is this year. You can see March, when Hormuz shut and the AG cargoes disappeared overnight. Can see the recovery in the summer. And you can see where we are now. At the highest point of the chart, well above last year and well above the range of the 6 years before that. Year to date, crude tanker days are up 6%, Suezmaxes are up 6%. VLCCs are down 2%. Which does not sound like much until you remember that for most of the spring and summer, the biggest VLCC loading area in the world was largely shut. Since September, the VLCC line is back where it was last year. And last year's fourth quarter was a strong market. The reason is that every barrel now takes longer to deliver. Cargos out of The Gulf are shuttled through the strait and transferred ship to ship. So 1 cargo can tie up 1, 2, or even 3 ships and cause them to wait. It is not only Hormuz. A good part of the Saudi crude loading in the Red Sea for Asia is going the long way around the Cape. Or was earlier this year. The Atlantic ran out of VLCCs early or in the quarter, forcing the market to look Suezmax and Aframaxes. This created further inefficiencies as it displaces the normal balances of the fleets. In the Black Sea, ships loading at CPC have been attacked, including 1 of ours, like I mentioned, and fewer owners are willing to go there. None of this shows up in an order book table. The ships exist, They are just taking longer to do the work per month than they did a year ago. The last slide was the cargo con. Side next to that. It shows global crude loadings week by week this year. And compared with December 2025 before any of this started. The dark blue bars are loadings inside the hormones. For the middle of March, they were down 10 to 12 million barrels a day, and they stayed there into the summer. The bars above the line are the barrels that replace them. Saudi crude out of the Red Sea, Fujairah, The US Gulf, South Africa, West Africa. The line is net. it is the At the worst point, the world was loading about 10 million barrels a day less than in December. Now look at the right hand side. Since August, the volumes from inside The Gulf have been coming back. And since the end of the September, the net line has been at or around December level. So the cargoes are back. But the fleet is carrying them is far less efficient than it was in December. For all the reasons on the previous slide, recovered volumes on a fleet that cannot move them the way they used to. This is what took rates to where they were in October and is why they are still where they are today. What happens next? If the strait reopens properly, the shuttles and transfers go away over time. The fleet becomes more efficient, and rates come down from these levels. We said in May that a reopening would be supported, but with the reset, and I still think that is right. Against that, inventories were run down for most of the year and have to be rebuilt. The long haul barrels do not disappear overnight. And the fleet is a year older. If it does not open properly, though, what you see on these 2 slides continues. My personal view is the status quo remains. The US continues to provide escort services to shuttle crude while blockading Iranian exports. I do not believe The US can abandon the Strait Of Hormuz and allow Iran to decide who transits. This would be a catastrophic defeat and strategically weaken The US. Nor do I expect the Iranians to accept that the Strait Of Hormuz passage is free for all. And we have not even touched on other issues like block funds, reparations, nuclear, and regional proxies. I will now hand it back to the moderator for the Q&A.

Operator: Please press star 1 to raise your hand. Withdraw your question, press star 1 again. We ask that you pick up your handset when asking a question to allow for optimum sound quality. If you are muted locally, please remember to unmute your device. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. Your first question comes from the line of Even Kolsgaard from Pareto Sec. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Even Kolsgaard: Yeah. Hi, Aristidis. This Just referring to your comments on the market. I mean, it does seem like experts through Hormuz has been getting a little bit more efficient recently, and that is maybe causing, you know, this decline in rates. Do you have any additional color there? What are you actually seeing now in terms of the ship to ship transfer activity? And how do you expect that to develop over the coming month or so?

Aristidis Alafouzos: Thank you for the question and for being on the call. I think it is a really challenging area to track because it is become a trade that everyone turns off their identification systems. it is very difficult to understand what is actually moving through My personal view is that since the summer, exports have slowly gone up. As the shelling has become more effective. I think towards the end of the summer and the beginning, and beginning of September, put constraints on STS equipment and tugboats and fendering. So you were seeing some delays in that, which added 1 or 2 days to the voyage, which I think largely have stopped. But I do not think that the shuttling of, you know, entering, loading, and exiting has become any more efficient. So I would say my view is that volumes have probably increased. That maybe the shuttling has become slightly more efficient just due to the STS delays. But overall, nothing significant than increased efficiency.

Even Kolsgaard: Okay. And just on 1 then on the 5 VLCCs you have on these short term fees. Mid--it would Through mid Q1 27 is what you are saying. That is the $450,000 a day approximate rate we should use them, and then you have 1 vessel still under 1 year time charter. Right? Yeah.

Aristidis Alafouzos: We have that is real. We fixed the Coke at $90,000 a day, which is sad. It hurts us. And then we have $450,000 blended average that goes until mid end of February on the other VLCCs, like I mentioned earlier.

Even Kolsgaard: Right now, with what is going on in the FFA market, is the time charter market completely drying up? And secondly, what do you see in terms of transactions that was in related part of the deal to see transaction we had yesterday. Is that representative of where the market would be at the moment, do you think?

Aristidis Alafouzos: I will answer the FFA question first for sure, the FFA. The time charter business that was available a month ago. And the rates that were being discussed are avail. You know, are no longer there and the charge obviously be keen to fix quite a bit lower. I would say that, you know, at the peak of the strong market, Suezmax for 12 months was $200,000 a day. And today, we are around a 150 to a $140,000 to $150,000 a day. So it. it is still a fantastic rate. Even though it is a lot lower than where it was. What I find quite interesting, though, is that the FFA market is actually pricing lower earnings than where charters are willing to price time charters. So that it shows some confidence in the time charter. In the in the traders and oil views on the market that they are willing to pay higher than where they could potentially hedge on FFAs today. And in terms of the related. In terms of the VLCC sale that was done, you know, it is it is hard to it is really hard to price a ship today. I mean, you saw that ships that were worth you know, a 16, 17-year-old VLCC that was worth $80 million in June. Was worth. Is worth $150 million, was worth $150 million a couple weeks ago. So there is been a huge appreciation in values. But the new--the newbuilding is a it is the resale is a hard 1 to price. So I cannot really give any more comment on that. Yeah.

Even Kolsgaard: Thank you very much.

Operator: Thank you. Your next question comes from Liam Burke with B Riley Securities. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Aristidis Alafouzos: Hi, Liam. How are you?

Liam Burke: Liam Burke with B Riley Securities. Aristidis, there was talk that the VLCC rates were so high that shippers are starting to split cargoes on the Suezmaxes and then even down to the Aframaxes. I know the Aframaxes do not matter to you, but the split cargoes on Suezmaxes cannibalize your VLCC business, or is it a net neutral to you?

Aristidis Alafouzos: Liam. Thank you for your question. Oh, no. I mean, we have both VLCCs and Suezmaxes. So whenever we see cargoes, because 1 acid class is too expensive, pushing up or breaking down to another, we find it as a positive. Because it is it is it is it helps increase the rates on the other 1. And it creates more inefficiencies. What happened specifically in October was that there were. I think the West basically ran out of VLCCs. So they were looking at Suezmaxes and then Aframaxes. You know, it is it is extremely inefficient in dollars per barrel to move Aframax cargoes from The US Gulf to the East. But that is something we saw when the VLs and the sewers ran out. But it is something that is happened in West Africa that-- sorry. You know, I think you asked me a question about this in the past as well. For many for a couple years now, whenever the Suezmaxes have been quite strong. And because of the Ukraine war, Suezmaxes have until this year, performed better than VLCCs. We were able to compete with Suezmax cargoes on our VLCCs and find ways to triangulate by ballasting our VLCCs from Asia, loading West Africa, coming up to Europe, and then fixing US Gulf for Brazil East. So, you know, I think these types of inefficiencies give opportunities to savvy chartering teams, and we hope they continue.

Liam Burke: Great. Thank you. Iraklis, you do have a higher debt load now on the delivery of vessels. Clearly, the capital allocation priority is for dividend payout. Is there any need to allocate more towards debt reduction? Or are you just happy to amortize it the way it is you have it laid out?

Iraklis Sbarounis: I am. No. I think we continue the course. No change in our capital allocation strategy. We are we are comfortable with our leverage. We continue to amortize as is. I think the 4 Suezmax acquisitions and the debt that we put into them was a good indication of where we feel comfortable at. No plans to accelerate debt repayment either. We are happy with where we are.

Liam Burke: Great. Thank you very much.

Operator: Your next question comes from Even Kolsgaard with Clarkson Securities AS. Line is open. Please go ahead.

Even Kolsgaard: Thank you. So back to the today's spot market. As you said, you think that there are no efficient efficiency gains in the trade today. But obviously seen a quite big correction in spot rates for VLCCs. But you also said that you think that rates are likely to rebound soon. So could you give us your thoughts on the recent correction and why you think rates could go up again.

Aristidis Alafouzos: Sure. Well, look, I mean, I think it is it is normal whenever there is a huge run up in rates. That, the end user finds ways of avoiding to pay you know, $150-plus delivered oil. And rates had gotten so expensive that in it was the first time that freight was a meaningful percentage of the cargo value. So I think the highest done from US Gulf was $80 million, $85 million, $90 million. And if the cargo was $200 million and oil was at $100, you know, that is almost 50% of the cargo value. that is never happened before. So I think the oil the buyers of oil obviously had to buy whatever they needed to buy. In order to keep, the refineries working. And then what we are seeing now is everyone taking a chance to find ways of either using inventory or being creative and stepping away from the market and letting it unwind a bit. And another way to keep the market quiet is that if, you know, if you have ships in position, you use your own vessels as well. So you the charters have their own time charter fleets, and they can use relets to keep the market quieter instead of fixing out on third party vessels. So I think they have been quite good at taking a lot of steam out of the market. But there is volatility in this market, and we have not seen any like, systemic change which shows that the inefficiencies and the tightness in the market have gone or deteriorated. So, yeah, definitely think that we are close to the bottom. it is getting a lot busier on Aframax's newest call. The Suezmaxes seem to have stabilized out of West Africa. The VLCCs are busier these couple. Past couple days but rates are still coming off. I mean, front. Chevron on the frontline relit, speaks 310, From Fajair East, which was probably around 33. Yesterday. But I think this is the floor we are getting to. And we will see more cargo inquiry over the next couple of weeks. And rates stabilize and push up from there.

Even Kolsgaard: Great. Thanks. And then looking a bit longer at in time. So I think the there is a lot of different assumptions when it comes to 2027. So you obviously have the FFA market, and you said that time charter market could price it even higher. So And then, obviously, now how the extra market we see which seems to be pricing it even lower. So as you go into 2027, obviously, it is a time before you will take the redelivery of your time charter ships. But in 2027, you will basically be fully spot exposed how do you think of it? Sorry. You are currently 45, 7, and I have to just wait for 2027 to arrive and then I am just. Of course, it is basically how do you think about 2027? And do you want to potentially take more coverage for 2027 going forward?

Aristidis Alafouzos: Look. Overall, I think long term charters, it is quite challenging to pinpoint the right time to outperform the spot market. And the people who charter our ships for long periods are oil traders and oil companies who also have a view on the market. So I think you know, having a pretty competitive breakeven and very good spot operation, so we can outperform the spot market. In almost all cases, we will outperform the long term TC market. So if, you know, if we if we see an opportunity where there is a big disparity in our view with the market's view and we think we absolutely are convinced that we should put a lot of ships on long term TCE. We have 0 issue doing that, and then the Charter and team can take vacation for 3, 4, 5 years. But we have not seen that yet. But there is no fear for us to look at time charter if we think there are opportunities there. it is just that you know, we have learned and the market's learned the hard way this. For the past few years that any TC has been a mistake. For all companies, not just not just us.

Even Kolsgaard: Thank you.

Operator: Your next question comes from Climent Molins with Value Investor's Edge. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Climent Molins: Hi. Good afternoon, team. Thank you for taking my questions. I wanted to start with a modeling question. You mentioned the Nissos Sifnos not being covered by insurance. Were the proceeds booked in Q3 as other income? And secondly, should we expect incremental proceeds in Q4?

Aristidis Alafouzos: Yes. I will take this 1, Iraklis, do you want to.

Iraklis Sbarounis: On the Sifnos, we have recognized the loss of higher revenue. Well, under our TC, we have recognized loss of hiring Yes. In Q3.

Climent Molins: We did not catch your second question. Thank you. And Whether it was in Q4. Okay. And then And then your slideshow in crude tanker ton-days being up nicely year over year was like, quite interesting. But I wanted to get some more insight on how Sinokor has been employing its assets recently and whether that has had an impact. They have played a large role in the shuttling business around the Strait, you all know that. But the vessels they have outside, have they been traveling at speeds similar to the rest of the fleet? Or are they, let's say, to an extent, holding back a bit?

Aristidis Alafouzos: Look. I think in terms of what Sinokor does, inside the Hormuz, you know, there are people who track their ships. They can give you a better answer than I can. So I am not going to comment on that. But outside of the Hormuz where people keep their AIS on and you can track ships. it is evident that Sinacor plays a very effective role as a buffer and supports the market. And when the market is strong, you see that their speed and utilization increases. And when the market is weak, the speed they travel at reduces as well as their utilization. And this is another you know, it is obviously positive in any downfall when the market comes off as it is now. Because they reduce, you know, they reduce availability of their ships, and they choose not to fix, which I think the VLCC community has now accepted that they do this to the benefit of the other owners to a greater extent than they do to themselves. But looking medium term, you know, Sinacor has taken this massive bet building up a 150-ship VLCC fleet. With what seemed like extremely expensive assets and rates. At the beginning of last year. I would assume now these assets have been completely paid off. and the time charters are weighing the money. And that just makes Sinokor a very strong counterparty going forward. So I think in addition, as the new buildings deliver, we will continue to see Sinokor use their size to help push up the market where they can.

Climent Molins: This is exactly what I was looking for. Thank you. And final question from me. We have seen some efforts by the Trump administration to try to get some sanctioned vessels back into the regular trading fleet. Estimates regarding the number of vessels that may ultimately, let's say, come back have been all over the place. But what is your base case scenario on this front? I am guessing you expect the impact to be limited.

Aristidis Alafouzos: Yeah. that is a great question. Climent. So firstly, I mean, yeah, I have heard rumors, and I have read articles on, I think, Reuters that, you know, Vitol and Trafigura and Mercuria have been looking at, ways of finding more ships to shuttle more cargoes in the Hormuz. I think as. If you are an owner of VLCC or Suezmax, you should tell Trafigura that works against their interest, and they should not do that. But I think it is natural that in the pie of the VLCC fleet or the total tanker fleet, we have normal ships. And we have sanctioned ships. And then we have this part that is gray fleet, but not sanctioned. I think this part of the fleet, it is quite easy for these vessels to transfer back over to the normal fleet. I am sure The US and OFAC have some understanding with the traders or the buyers of these ships that once they go into normal hands, they will not be doing sanctioned business. And they and they potentially will not be you know, exposed to sanctioned trades that they had done earlier in their lives. But these ships are, you know, 20, 22 years old. Like, they do not have much life left in them. Maybe they have a couple Hormuz transits, but they are not gonna come back and compete in the normal market with us. So yeah, they do. Even 1 of these ships does replace normal ship that was shuttling inside the Hormuz. But you know, there are not that many of them, and they are extremely old and inefficient. In terms of the sanctioned fleet coming back, you know, I think it is it is hard to think of a reasonable way where they can. Like, I mean, if we assume that a large percentage of the sanctioned fleet had some relationship with Iran, directly. And then there were others who were just, you know, opportunistic owners. It seems very hard to believe that you would waive sanctions on an Iranian related vessel. And then that specific Iranian related vessel will transfer crude oil through The US escort under US protection and, you know, eating into Iran's story that the Hormuz is cloaked. So I think that unsanctioning of sanctioned tankers I do not see how it is reasonable or practical in my mind. But you know, politics are politics, and sometimes they surprise

Climent Molins: Makes sense. That was a comprehensive answer. I will turn it over. Thank you for taking my questions. Thank you.

Operator: There are no further questions at this time. I will now turn the call back to Iraklis Sbarounis, CFO, for closing remarks.

Iraklis Sbarounis: Yeah. Thanks, everyone, for joining. We look forward to touching base again regarding Q4 sometime in February, I expect. Thank you.

Operator: This concludes today's call. Thank you for attending. You may now disconnect.