Thank you for joining us for Navios Maritime Partners Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2021 Earnings Conference Call. With us today from the company are Chairwoman and CEO, Ms. Angeliki Frangou; Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Stratos Desypris; Chief Financial Officer, Ms. Eri Tsironi; and Executive Vice President of Business Development, Mr. George Achniotis. As a reminder, this conference call is being webcast. To access the webcast, please go to the Investors section of Navios Partners website at 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 Navios Partners. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts. Such forward-looking statements are based upon the current beliefs and expectations of Navios 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 Navios Partners filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The information set forth herein should be understood in light of such risks. Navios 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. Frangou will offer opening remarks. Next, Mr. Desypris will provide a Navios Partners operational and fleet update overview. Next, Ms. Tsironi will give an overview of Navios Partners financial results. Then Mr. Achniotis will provide an industry overview. And lastly, we'll open the call to take questions. Now I turn the call over to Navios Partners Chairwoman and CEO; Ms. Angeliki Frangou. Angeliki?

Thank you, Daniella, and good morning to all of you joining us on today's call. I am pleased with our outstanding results for the fourth quarter and full year of 2021. During Q4, Navios Partners recorded revenue of $268.1 million, adjusted EBITDA of $156.6 million, adjusted net income of $121.8 million. And for the full year of 2021, Navios Partners recorded revenue of $713.2 million, adjusted EBITDA of $426.5 million and adjusted net income of $364.1 million. Please turn to Slide 3. In 2021, we reimagined what a public shipping company could be like and took actions to make this a reality. Today, Navios Partners is not only one of the leading U.S. publicly listed companies based on the number of vessels, but is also diversified across 15 vessel types in 3 segments, servicing more than 10 end markets. About 1/3 of our fleet operates in each dry bulk, container ship and tanker segments. We will discuss why we believe that this new structure offers a stronger, more resilient entity. Slide 4 presents some recent segment data. Navios Partners fleet of 146 vessels has an average age of 9.6 years and a loan-to-value of 32.5%. We have built $2.7 million in contracted revenue, of which $2.2 billion is from the container sector. Of approximately 47,000 available days, almost half are exposed to market rates. This provided upside through recovering charter rates in the dry bulk and tanker market, which we expect in the near term. Slide 5 summarizes the basic principles behind the strength of our diversified platform. Number one, a diversified platform allow us to optimize our chartering strategy. Fundamentally, this means that we can consider long-term charters in segments that offer attractive returns, while allowing vessels in underperforming segments to be chartered for short term or at index…

Thank you, Angeliki, and good morning all. Navios Partners is differentiated by significant leading scale and diversified sector exposure. Slide 10 details our strong operating free cash flow potential. Currently, we have contracted 53.2%, or about 47,000 available days, at an average rate of $20,957 net per day. For 2022, our contracted revenue exceeds total cash expenses by almost $50 million, and we still have about 22,000 days with market exposure that can provide additional operating cash. The majority of our market exposure comes from our dry bulk vessels where we will have fixed approximately 24% of our available days. On Slide 11, you can see our fleet profile. 2021 was a transformational year for Navios Partners. Our fleet increased by 170% by entering into new segments and expanding our presence in the segments we were already operating. More specifically, we increased our dry bulk fleet capacity by 36% and our containerships by 370%. Additionally, we entered into the Tanker segment by acquiring a 45-vessel tanker fleet. We have also been very active in renewing our fleet and reducing its average age. Since 2020, we have reduced the average age of our dry bulk fleet by 18% and our containerships by 31%. The renewal process required some balancing efforts. We'd like to be proactive and capture cyclical opportunities, while allocating capital. As you can see at the bottom of the slide, we have 21 vessels that are over 15 years of age, while, at the same time, we have 18 newbuilding vessels to be delivered from the third quarter of 2022 through 2024. Turning to Slide 12. You can see some recent updates. We continue to secure long-term employment for our containerships, and we have fixed 11 vessels, creating approximately $670 million in contracted revenue. More specifically, we have contracted…

Thank you, Stratos, and good morning, all. I will briefly review our unaudited financial results for the fourth quarter and the full year ended December 31, 2021. The financial information is included in the press release and is summarized in the slide presentation available on the company's website. Upon completion of the merger with Navios Maritime Containers L.P. on March 31, 2021, and obtaining control of Navios Maritime Acquisition Corporation on August 25, 2021, the results of operation of these companies are included in Navios Partners consolidated statement of operations. On October 15, 2021, Navios Partners completed its merger with Navios Acquisition. I would like also to highlight that 2021 results are not comparable to 2020. And in 2021, NMM acquired 2 companies and increased its available days by 83% to 31,884 compared to 17,430 for the previous year. Moving to the earnings highlights on Slide 14. Total revenue for the fourth quarter of 2021 was $268.1 million compared to $69.2 million for the same period last year due to the expansion of our fleet and the improved time charter equivalent rates for both containers and bulkers. The available days in Q4 2021 increased by 136.5% to 11,363 days compared to 4,805 for the same period in 2020. Our time charter equivalent rate increased by 64.1% to $23,005 per day compared $14,021 per day for the same period in 2020. The average Q4 2021 time charter equivalent achieved by sector was: bulkers, $29,548 per day; containers, $23,765 per day; and tankers, $15,426 per day. EBITDA and net income for Q4 2021 include a $3.3 million gain related to a sale of 1 vessel and a $7.6 million of transaction cost in relation to the NMA merger. Excluding these items, adjusted EBITDA increased by approximately $1.1 million to $156.6 million for…

Thank you, Eri. Please turn to Slide 20 for the review of the dry bulk industry. The IMF projects global GDP growth at 4.4% for 2022, led by a 5.9% expansion in China, India and developing Asia. 2022 dry bulk trade is projected to increase by 2%. Similar to last year, most of the increase is expected to happen in the second half of the year. Rates in all asset classes reached 10-year highs in 2021, reflecting strong demand for bulk commodities, aided by fleet inefficiencies due to the pandemic. The BDI peaked at 5,650 on October 7, the highest level since 2008. The market then retreated on the back of Chinese winter steel production limits and a surprising temporary ban on Indonesia and coal exports. The BDI continued to retreat at the start of 2022, falling back below 1,500 for the first time in 12 months. However, recent efforts by the Chinese government to stimulate the economy and the expectation of increased steel production, along with commencement of the South American grain export season, should provide the market up there. Turning to Slide 21. Post-pandemic stimulus measures in the advanced economies and increasing industrial protection have fueled demand for the 3 major bulk cargoes. Specifically, seaborne iron ore trade is expected to increase by in 1.2% in 2022, with second half '22 imports increasing 8.7% over the first half, as reduced pollution restrictions allow an increase in Chinese steel production. Gas prices have exceeded coal pricing since August 2021, and the trend is expected to continue. In spite of stated goals of carbon neutrality, the gas price surge has driven power plants to switch back to coal-fired power generation. Accordingly, seaborne coal imports are expected to grow by 2.4% in '22, with the same seasonal pattern as iron ore…

Thank you, George. This completes the formal presentation, and we'll open the call to questions.

We'll take our first question from Randy Giveans of Jefferies.

So you've been fairly active as both a buyer and a seller here in the container S&P market. How do you view your tanker and dry bulk fleets? And how do you balance buying new assets and selling some of those older ones?

Very good question, Randy. This is about -- this is also the first quarter that we did as a diversified company, and what you have seen is that we are basically creating value. We took advantage of the container sector, buying newbuilding vessels, acquiring, hedging, creating cash flows that we will take total -- the cash flows be -- bring 0 residual value risk and having young assets and also creating a 5- and 7-year cash flows of over $2.2 billion. If you look now on the dry bulk, we have a very nice fleet, and we are looking at the market that will recover. So we have 75% on market exposure. Q1 is seasonally low, but we see that the market can be strong on the remaining of the year. So we can see returns, if we have returns like last year, it can create very strong cash flows. And we have the luxury because of our contracted fleet in the container sector to really get the spot market because we have covered all our expenses, and we have a $50 million positive. And really, the tanker on other side is the big jewel that -- the kind of fleet we have. We have seen that during NMA times, this kind of fleet can generate, in good years, over $200 million of EBITDA. So that can be an additional swing. Of course, we can say that Omicron and the kind of event that happened pushed the tanker recovery. And therefore, we have seen that, now, we are in a situation where we can enjoy both segments and also the tanker is a jewel. So it's all about driving NAV, which will drive our stock price. That is the big issue.

Got it. All right. That makes sense. And now I guess, the most important question, right? Your revenue backlog is massive. EBITDA is going to exceed, I don't know, $600 million, could be closer to $700 million, both this year and next. However, your current distribution is about 1% of that, right, $6 million on an annual basis. So when should we expect to see an increase to the distribution? And then secondly, as you mentioned, NAV accretion, right? Your NAV is north of $60, probably closer to $80. However, your shares are trading at $30. So why not repurchase units at these levels?

Listen, we are creating -- we are busy creating NAV. And unlike other companies, NAV, which is a product of the market, our NAV is the product of our activities, and you have seen us busy doing this from last year. And we have -- our stock price has been the best performing last year, not only at the stock price, but also if you take the total returns of peers. So this is an ongoing process, and it's important to take advantage of the different segments. What we did is take advantage the Container segment, where we build cash flows, we bought vessels at attractive rates and we sold that histories. So we are not shy on that. So it's about creating the growth of our cash flows. And with that, we see our stock price to follow. If we have sufficient working capital, as we have stated, and we have investment CapEx, this is not about growth for growth. It's not about number of vessels. It is about cash flow return. So if we cannot see attractive in this way, we -- of course, we will see in -- follow in -- we will follow with a different strategy of buying back. So we have a fleet of 145 vessels, more or less. You need a working capital of, let's say, $2 million per vessel. We have our investment CapEx, which you have already seen in a lot of slides. And also we are seeing that we create attractive cash flows and returns. You have seen it from our newbuilding. You have seen in how that translates to actual cash flows. So this is what we are doing.

We'll take our next question from Omar Nokta of Clarkson Securities.

Yes. I just wanted to ask about where you've been fairly active here recently. On the container side, first off, just want to double check. In your last quarterly report, if I recall, you mentioned having taken your newbuilding order book for the 5,300 TEUs to 6 ships, and those are fully chartered. I just want to confirm that, that order is now up to 10 ships as of today also fully contracted. Is that correct?

Yes, Omar. And I remember in the last call, I was thinking that, that will not be -- I was not thinking that it would be very possible to extend. But we managed to have -- we had options we managed to exercise, and we managed to totally hedge that position at even better rates and with zero residual -- with no residual value risk. So yes, we now have 10 fleet, which gives us the ability to replace also our fleet, which is a very important issue on, really, looking a fleet of vessel that have an average age. And if you have seen, we have naturally managed to reduce the average age versus the industry.

Right. Yes. I mean, definitely a unique opportunity to order these vessels against long-term charters that, as you say, basically remove the residual risk at the end of the contract. And just maybe, generally, in terms of where the market is today for further newbuildings and your appetite, could you maybe just give us some color? Because liners last year were quite active securing long-term charters against newbuildings for large and midsized ships. That seems to maybe have slowed recently, but there really is now a big focus on chartering what's available again in the market today, as you've highlighted here in your report today. Can you maybe give just some color on what you're seeing from this point on, on the newbuilding front? Are there still opportunities like the one that you've done here on the 5300s? Is there still an appetite for that? Are liners looking for that vessel class now in larger numbers? Or are they still kind of fixated on the bigger size? Or is it kind of maybe just quieted overall? Any color you can give on that front?

Listen, I will never say never because, as I learned last quarter, there can always be opportunities, and there is different needs on the liner. We have also seen that because they want vessels as -- in the water as possible, we have seen this part of the -- things we have seen with the liner is this historic sale that we did, I mean, the $220 million for the 16-year-old vessels that we'll be delivering in the second half. So basically, the liners want to secure vessels as soon as possible. That -- and the alliances will play in different segments. The other ones want to have ownership of the vessels, others want charters. So different models depending on the liners. And there is a strength. Of course, at one point, we have to say that the pandemic will ease and. At one point, we should have less of this kind of opportunities. But it seems that it's going very strong. Just think about the value that we sold, the 2 vessels with a market cap -- more than the market cap that we have last year in Q4 of -- in 2020 in the last quarter. So you see what kind of a powerful situation can be. But I think that the newbuildings will be less of an issue. Right now, I think there's more vessels in the water.

Okay. And maybe just a follow-up and maybe just kind of speaks to the reimagined public shipping company, at least in Navios' case with the diversification strategy. Speaking of the 8,200 TEU ships that you've sold, of $220 million, that cash starts to come in the second half. How should we think about where that capital will be redeployed? I know you touched on that in your opening comments, and I think in response to Randy's question. But as you think about that capital and maybe future sales on the older side, as you kind of replace with the new builds, the -- where do you think, right now, you want to put that capital? Does that roll into tankers and taking advantage of a depressed environment there? Is that where you see the opportunity at the moment to invest excess cash?

I think the issue is that the beauty of the diversification is that you can do it in every sector. This depends on the market opportunity. One thing I'll tell you is that take, for example, and I want to start again on the newbuildings on the Container segment. We are not there to take a speculative -- on where the market is, we will not take a speculative order on vessels because I think it's not prudent. I mean, you have seen the -- where the Container sector is, is in an all-time high. That will be an extremely risky business. Now the beauty is that we can always do dry bulk and tankers, and it's purely about the opportunity. It's about where you can either secure or have -- either have the upside where it can give you 4x the valuation or -- and the cash flows or the overall return. So this is what we like to do.

And we'll move next to Chris Wetherbee of Citigroup.

This is Eli Winski on for Chris. Maybe we can just go back to the sales on the containership side. So 10.3% of the containerships are over 20 years old. You guys just sold 2 of them, about 16 years old. Just curious if you guys have any more appetite for sales in containership and, then going off of that, if further sales there would help play into the strategy of fuel efficiency regulation.

Listen, these vessels are not exiting the new sector. What I will say is that Navios takes an opportunity on the segment, and we have a strong performance of the segment. We will either sell a vessel or we charter it at a rate that will give us a better return. It's a decision we make with taking consideration of cash flows and credit workings of the counterparty or, say, that's exactly what we are doing constantly. And we care about is to cover positions that are further in the future. That is how we work our portfolio. So I mean -- and of course, what we are doing, and this is -- you can see it on our newbuildings, what we are doing? We are getting younger generation, fuel efficient vessels. So for us, this is a win-win situation. If you are able to dispose of all the vessels, less green to younger vessels, this is a win-win situation. And you are trying that to do it at any point. And basically, it's an ongoing process. If you look on our presentations, we have 18 newbuildings, while the vessels are very close to the vessel that are 15 to 20 years. So this is an ongoing process that we will be doing.

That makes sense. And then I just need to ask about congestion. You guys talked about it at the top of the call, but just digging in. On the West Coast U.S., we've seen ships move downwards off the coast. Ships in transit from Asia over seems to be relatively steady. Do you think we could have reached an inflection downwards? Or is there something else that we're not thinking of right now on that side from Asia to the U.S.?

I think that unique -- I think that Omicron, I can get these experts that will give you all the flows of vessel. And I think when Wall Street Journal, you have shipping being in the frontline of worse general and congestion, it means it's to everyone's mind. And I'm sure there is a lot of information on that. I think the important issue that if we see in a macro level, and we have to think about, in January, we have an outbreak with Omicron that you have more sick people around the planet than from the period of the Spanish flu. So basically, that delayed the whole process. So we see that containers will continue to have a strong market and delayed the change into the consumption from services -- from products to services. That is definitely something that is playing right now, except, of course, of the geopolitical other issues that we see.

And this does conclude our question-and-answer session for today. I'd be happy to return the call to Angeliki for any concluding remarks.

Thank you. This completes our Q4 results. Thank you.

This does conclude our conference for today. You may disconnect your lines. And everyone, have a great day.