Thank you for joining us for Navios Maritime Partners First Quarter 2022 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 the Navios Partners' website at www.navios-mlp.com. You can 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'll turn the call over to Navios Partners Chairwoman and CEO, Ms. Angeliki Frangou. Angeliki?

Thank you, Daniela and good morning to all of you joining us on today's call. I am pleased with the results for the first quarter of 2022. During the first quarter, Navios Partners recorded revenue of $236.6 million, EBITDA of $126.1 million, and net income of $85.7 million or $2.78 per common unit. Sadly, Ukraine has been by ravaged by the war in its third month with significant cost of human lives. The war is also having an impact on global seaborne commodity trade. Ukraine and Russia are significant exporters of grain and other mineral commodities. Russia also exported oil, gas, and coal. Sanctions in the war have resulted in the displacement of those exports by other commodities being transported over longer businesses, thereby adding to ton miles. The situation is fluid and we have no crystal ball to understand how this will evolve. In the meantime, governments and companies are quick to act to satisfy their short term needs as they consider long-term policies. Please turn to Slide 3. In 2021, we reimagined the public shipping company. Today, NMM is one of the leading U.S. publicly listed shipping companies with an asset base diversified across 16 vessel types in three segments servicing more than ten end markets. About a one-third of our fleet operators meets dry bulk, containership, and tanker segments, and we believe that this structure offers a stronger, more resilient entity to our stakeholders with a continuous opportunity for accumulated growth. As previously announced, this quarter we are going to acquire four Aframax/LR2 tankers on the back of charter commitments from an investment grade counterparty. Through this transaction, we have a new segment with reduced risk and excellent long-term prospects. Slide 4 presents some recent segment data. NMM fleet of 150 vessels has an average age of…

Thank you, Angeliki and good morning all. Navios Partners is differentiated by its industry leading scale and by diversified sector exposure and an opportunity for continuous ability to grow. Slide 9 details our strong operating free cash flow potential for the remaining nine months of 2022. We have contracted 55.4% of our about 35,500 available days, our deliveries rate of $28,697 per day. Our contracted revenue exceeds total cash expenses by almost $70 million, and we still have 15,829 days with market exposure that will provide additional operating cash. The majority of our market exposure comes from our dry bulk vessels where approximately 76% of our available days are open for contractable index linked charters. In Slide 10, you can see our fleet profile. We are engaged in a renewal process which is a constant balancing effort. We would like to be proactive and capture cyclical opportunities while allocating capital. As you can see at the bottom of the slide, we have 24 vessels that are over 15 years of age, while at the same time we have 22 newbuilding vessels to be delivered from the third quarter of 2022 through the first quarter of 2025. Moving to Slide 11, we continue to secure low time employment for our fleet. As Angeliki mentioned, we recently entered into a new tanker segment, the Aframax/LR2. We chartered out two of these vessels commencing in 2024 for five years at $25,576 net per day. This will generate approximately $93 million of contracted revenue. As per our chartering activity, we chartered out the newbuilding VLCC delivering in July 2022 on a bare boat basis for a period of approximately two years at a floating rate based on index with a floor of $22,572 and a ceiling of $29,700 net per day. Adding operating expenses of approximately $10,000 per day, the vessel will have a floor of $32,572 and a ceiling of $39,700 net per day on a time charter equivalent basis. We chartered out one 4250 TEU containership for approximately 5.2 years at an average net rate of $40,743 per day, generating approximately 76 million of contracted revenue. Following these recent features, our contracted revenue amounts to $2.8 billion. 79% of our contracted revenue comes from our containerships with charters extending through 2030 with a diverse group of quality counterparties. Around 40% of this contracted revenue will be earned through the end of 2023. I'll now pass the call to Eri Tsironi, Navios Partners' CFO, who will take you through the financial highlights. Eri?

Thank you, Stratos, and good morning all. I will briefly review our unaudited financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2022. The financial information is included in the press release and is summarized in the slide presentation available on the Company's website. I would like to highlight that 2022 results are not comparable to 2021, as in 2021 NMM gradually merged with Navios Containers, with Navios Partners increasing its available days by 164% to 11,228 compared to 4,252 for the same quarter last year. Moving to the earnings highlights in Slide 12. Total revenue for the first quarter of 2022 increased by $171.5 million or 263% to $236.6 million compared to $65.1 million for the same period in 2021. The increase in revenue was a result of the expansion of our available days and the increase in time charter equivalent rate. The fleet TCE rate increased by 37.4% to $20,386 per day compared to $14,836 per day for the same period in 2021. The average TCE achieved by sector was; dry bulk $19,848, containers $27,214 per day, and tankers $15,345 per day. For the three months period ended March 31, 2021, EBITDA was affected by $124.9 million of one-off non-cash items. EBITDA for Q1 2022 increased by approximately $92.4 million to $126.1 million compared to $33.7 million adjusted EBITDA for the same period in 2021. The increase in EBITDA was primarily due to an increase in revenue, partially mitigated by 50.2 million increase in vessel operating expenses, a $14.6 million increase in time charter and voyage expenses, and $9 million increase in general and administrative expenses, and $4.9 million increase in direct vessel expenses excluding amortization of deferred drydock's special survey costs and other capitalized items, and $0.9 increase in other expense net. The increase in expenses is…

Thank you, Eri. Please turn to Slide 18 for the review of the dry bulk industry. Despite the disruption in trade caused by the war in Ukraine, the BDI achieved the highest Q1 average since 2010. This was driven mostly by the strength of the sectors. In fact, the Supramax sector posted the highest Q1 average since assessments began in 2017 on the back of strong minor bulk demand and an overflow of container cargoes. Dry bulk trade in 2022 is projected to increase by 0.6%. Similar to last year, most of the increase is expected to happen in the second half of the year with an additional boost in ton miles as Ukrainian grain exports are expected to be significantly reduced, Russian grain and coal exports get redirected away from Europe. New longer trade routes emerge on the back of stronger worldwide coal demand as the world seeks to cope with extraordinarily high natural gas prices. Turning to Slide 19. Demand for major and minor bulk cargoes remains in growth mode, despite China lockdowns and the invasion of Ukraine. Specifically, seaborne iron ore trade is expected to increase by 10.2% in the second half of '22 with normal seasonality project in Brazil and Australia increasing exports as China plans further infrastructure investments to maintain 2022 targeted GDP growth of 5.5%. High gas and oil prices and the Ukraine-Russian crisis should support increased coal imports. The gas price surge has driven power plants to switch back to coal-fired power generation helping 2022 ton miles expand at an expected rate of 4%. Seaborne coal export imports for the second half of '22 will follow the same seasonal pattern as iron ore, as coal demand is expected to grow by 7.8% in the second half of '22. On the grain side, the…

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

And we'll go first to Chris Robertson with Jefferies.

Good morning and thanks for taking my questions.

Good morning.

So the containership and dry bulk markets remain firm, tanker rates are on the rise and NMM has $2.8 billion in contracted revenue and yet at $0.05 the distribution was just 1.8% of quarterly EPU, with units trading well below NAV. How are you thinking about returning capital to unitholders at this point?

Thank you for the question. I think it is -- it is a great fundamental equation of what we are doing. I mean we have a diversified platform. What we are doing is basically we are allocating. We have seen that we have been very nimble, we actually invested in a new sector and the Aframax/LR2, we took the opportunity when other companies that are in this sector could not, adhere the targets, we're able because we diversified to allocate resources and very opportunistically and very conservative in a sector where it can give us a great results, Aframax/LR2. On the other hand, we had on a total return in what we provide to our shareholders, we are providing them a low LTV, as you know and we have the opportunity to have $1.3 billion on newbuildings, in essence we are able to basically replace our fleet. If you have seen, we have 22 newbuildings and we have about 24 vessels that are between 15 and 20. So, this is basically an ongoing process that allow us to allocate opportunistically in the correct sector because we're diversified. So we don't have to reserve containers and we have reallocated money and cash in tankers. And we are doing that constantly, we have been doing it across the board in the different segments providing total returns to our investors.

Just in terms of the new building program I guess is that, do you think that's come to completion at this point because a substantial amount of your fleet will be replaced in coming years as those deliver. So how are you thinking about I guess on ongoing basis are you going to be more in cash harvesting mode, now that the kind of it's firing on all three cylinders and that could potentially be used for more capital return to the unit holder or do you think there is more growth from here in terms of the fleet?

Actually you have to see between these things that you have to manage is, you have the new building program which we have to fund. There is low LTV, which is very, very important because we have seen that -- let's not forget we look at the horrific backdrop, we have a war in Ukraine, you have a rising interest rate, you have basically a zero public policy in China. Yes, the news in shipping are good. You have because of government and companies trying to fulfil their immediate needs, but there is uncertainty on the longer term. So, we need to be prudent because we are really in the crossroads of different events. So our priority is low level that will allow us to have the flexibility and to act on the different opportunities.

Got you. All right. Yeah. Thank you very much for the time.

Thank you.

We'll go next to Ulrik Mannhart with Fearnley Securities.

Good afternoon, Angeliki, Eri, Stratios, and also George, congratulations on another great quarter. I have a question, well you already touched upon -- touched upon it on Page 10 with balancing the aging vessels with newbuildings and how do you and your comment on the growth, just -- but my question is what do you see as a ideal or optimal fleet size is about 150 vessels, the number that we should expect going forward as well or do you look for growth?

I think this is a good question Ulrik. This is about creating -- value creating NAV and creating additional value for all our stakeholders. So, it is not about a particular number of vessels, but mostly about how you create the most of the value for our stakeholders. What we show on the deal that we recently did on entering the Aframax/LR2 was to show an opportunity where other companies may not have been may focused or may not have that -- is dominant to go in there, we were able to step in, entering a new sector in very flexible vessel and also a very opportunistic where we are actually with a five year contract generating over $30 million of EBITDA. We have a 10% yield and then you come on a residual value risk after five years taking into consideration also the scrap to about 30% residual value. So this is an attractive entry point where it gives us the opportunity to build on that and that is the kind of opportunities we see. So it's about creating value for our investors.

Okay, thank you. And also looking at operating cash flow. It looks like about $5 million trickled through from about $126 million of EBITDA for the quarter and I presume there are some working capital movements there. Can you provide some color or elaborate on those movements.

I think as we mentioned in the script, we have cleared the working capital required under the management agreement mainly relating to the tanker fleet, and we also had some advances for the annual ratings so that has mainly affected our cash position.

Okay. Thank you. And are any of those movements expected to be reversed over the next quarter or and I mean and what should we expect for movement for next quarters?

So, I think going forward the management fees will be in line with what we have in our management agreement. There are no backlog, if that is your question.

Okay, thank you. That answers my question. Thanks a lot.

And that concludes our Q&A session. I will now turn it back to Angeliki for any closing remarks.

Thank you. This concludes first quarter results. Thank you.

And this does conclude today's program. We appreciate your participation and you may now disconnect.