Thank you for joining us for Navios Maritime Partners' Fourth Quarter 2022 Earnings Conference Call. With us today from the company are Chairwoman and CEO; Ms. Angeliki Frangou; Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Efstratios Desypris; Chief Financial Officer; Ms. Eri Tsironi; and Vice Chairman, Mr. Ted Petrone. [Operator Instructions] 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 give an overview of Navios Partners' segment data. Next, Ms. Tsironi will give an overview of Navios Partners' financial results. Then Mr. Petrone 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.

Good morning to all of you joining us on today's call. I am pleased with our results for the year and fourth quarter of 2022. For the full year, we reported a revenue of $1.2 billion and net income of $579.2 million. For the fourth quarter, we reported revenue of $370.9 million and net income of $118.3 million. We are also pleased to report net income per common unit of $18.82 for the full year. Navios Partners is a leading publicly-listed shipping company, diversified in 15 asset classes in three sectors with an average vessel age of about 9.5 years. Navios Partners entered 2023 well positioned. Over the last couple of years, NMM acquired 3 fleets, one in each of container, tanker and drybulk segments. Today, we have 176 vessels split roughly equally into three sectors based on a charter-adjusted basis. In addition to achieving diversification, we have been actively managing our portfolio to maintain a [younger] more technologically advanced fleet as we believe the newer technologies are a competitive advantage when compared to the older vessels. Our business model allow us to take advantage of opportunities when a segment is experiencing difficulties such as when we acquired tankers in 2021. We can also acquire assets on market and on [Indiscernible] and the cost of acquired assets can be offset by attractive long-term creditworthy charters, such as [Indiscernible] good containers and tankers. As ever, our industry is [battered] by macro events and uncertainty terminate all forecasts. Recessions [Indiscernible] Central Banks tighten mobility. Trading patterns are changing because of the Ukrainian conflict such as collateral consequences of the campaign. So far, global trade has adapted to these conditions, mostly by increasing ton miles for wet and dry commodities. We remain vigilant. We are also focused on reducing the average rate in…

Thank you, Angeliki, and good morning, everyone. Slide 9 demonstrates the basic principles of our diversified platform in action. We aim to benefit from countercyclicality, which creates opportunity to redeploy cash from well-performing segments into assets in underperforming segments. We believe a diversified asset base and huge volatility on our financial statements. We consider this dynamic [Indiscernible] in our asset base. As of Q4 2022, miles of containerships, adjusted for mile growth charters, dropped by 40% and drybulk dropped by 8%, while tanker vessel volumes increased by 42%. In sum, the net sales of our fleet value is a decrease of approximately 7%. We contracted this analysis [binding] containerships on a charter-adjusted basis, because otherwise, it will not capture our chartering activities, which effectively hedge the asset prices. Multiple segments also allows us to optimize chartering. In segments with attractive returns, we can enter into period charters. In other segments, we can be patient. As you can see from the chart on the bottom, the container segment enjoying historically high charter rates. Accordingly, we fixed our containers on a long-term charter. And in fact, almost 90% of our available containership days are fixed for 2023. This reduced market and residual risk. We manage the credit risk of the long-term charters independently to ensure that we are not simply trading one risk for the other. In our tanker segment, current charter rates are surpassing the 20-year average levels. We fixed available tanker days to almost 70% of 2023. We expect our target fleet will generate strong returns. Lastly, in our dry bulk segment, our rates are below the historical averages. We have been patiently entering short-term charters, averaging some [Indiscernible]. As a result, about 20% of our available days are fixed for 2023. In Slide 10, you can see our fleet…

Thank you, Efstratios, and good morning, all. I will briefly review our unaudited financial results for the fourth quarter and 12 months ended December 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 2022, NMM recently expanded its fleet through acquisitions. Moving to the earnings highlights on Slide 12. Total revenue for the fourth quarter of 2022 increased by 38% to $370.9 million compared to $268.1 million for the same period in 2021. Time charter revenue for the period is understated by $18.1 million because of [GAAP] rules requiring the recognition of revenue on a straightline basis where some of our charters have been escalating rates. Available days increased by 27% to $14,409 compared to $11,363 for the same quarter last year. And our average time charter equivalent rate increased by 4% to $23,840 per day compared to $23,005 per day for the same period in 2021. In terms of sector performance, both tankers and containers enjoyed improved rates. Rates for our tankers doubled to $30,834 and container rates increased by 43% to $34,037. In contrast, our drybulk rates were 46% lower to $15,876. EBITDA for the fourth quarter of 2022 increased by 35% to $206.2 million compared to $152.4 million for the same period last year. Net income for Q4 2022 slightly improved compared to 2021, reaching $118.3 million and per unit were $3.84. Total revenue for the full year 2022 increased by 70% to $1.21 billion compared to $713.2 million for the same period in 2021. 2022 revenue is understated by $48.2 million because of the GAAP adjustment required for charters with the escalating rates. Our available days increased…

Thank you, Eri. Please turn to Slide 20 for the review of the tanker industry. After rising sharply in Q3, tanker rates continue to strengthen through mid-November before softening slightly on the back of the cooling Chinese economy or mild winter in the Northern Hemisphere in the absence of U.S. Gulf crude exports. Since the end of January, rates for both crude and product tankers have risen significantly on the basis of China re-opening and longer ton miles for all Russian crude and products. Despite economic uncertainties in Ukraine crisis, the IEA projects a 2% increase in world oil demand for 2023 to 101.9 million barrels per day, exceeding 2019 pre-pandemic levels. China, in particular, accounted 45% of global oil demand growth in 2023, rising 0.9 million barrels per day or 6% over '22. Turning to Slide 21. Tanker rates across the board have risen due to improving supply and demand fundamentals combined with the invasion of the Ukraine, which has shifted Russian crude and products exports to longer routes out to India and China. Additionally, European refineries are replacing Russian crude and products with supply from the U.S., Brazil and the Middle East, further increasing ton miles and trade inefficiencies. Incremental support for rates come into effect as new EU sanctions and price caps began on crude December 5 and on product trades, February 5th. Product tankers should also be aided by discounted Russian crude exported to the Far East returning to the Atlantic as clean product. This could add upward pressure on already strong rates. 2023 crude and product ton mile growth is expected to increase by 6.4% and 11.2% respectively. Turning to Slide 22. Vessel net fleet growth is projected at 2.1% for 2023 and negative fleet growth of minus 1.5% for 2024. This decline can be…

Thank you, Ted. This concludes our formal presentation. We open the call to questions.

[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from Omar Nokta from Jefferies.

I wanted to ask about -- clearly, a lot is going on and you have a very dynamic approach to the fleet and the overall portfolio. I wanted to ask about the vessel sales you announced today. You've sold 11 ships, bringing in $214 million. How much of that are you expecting to net after paying down the debt associated with those ships? And then how are you thinking about the use of that free cash that remains?

This is a good question. I mean, on the $213 million, if I am correct, it's $123 million net of debt. I mean, basically as you know, we rationalize our fleet by selling all the less efficient vessels and keeping and acquiring technologically advanced vessel which also have a better carbon footprint. So this is a strategy. We have seen us working long on that and has provided a fleet today of about an average age of 9.5 years, materially lower age than the industry. It is 4 years older on containers and tankers and about 2 years on drybulk.

And you mentioned, Angeliki early on in the presentation about the target leverage range. Can you just go over that again because I see the LTVs that's 49%. And I think a year ago, you had been -- you were aiming for somewhere maybe in the mid-30s. Could you just go over what you were saying earlier about what you'd like the net equity ratio to be?

Our net equity ratio LTV is about -- net LTV is about 45%. You should realize that in our LTV we do not include the payments we have already done on newbuildings. So there is a natural deleveraging that is happening as vessels come into the water. So you have approximately $300 million of capital repayment per year and a deleveraging naturally because the vessels are coming into the water. So with that and the cash generation we see, this is what we are targeting on a range of 20%, 25% because there is a cash generation from the vessel. So big picture, we entered 2023 well. We have done in the last 2 years, 3 major acquisitions; one in containers, one in tankers, well positioned and we have seen the rewards and one in drybulk which basically we believe that 2023 is the reversal of the Chinese policy on zero COVID that can produce quite a significant cash flows.

So target net LTV is 20% to 25%. And just double checking, confirming, Efstratios, I think you had mentioned the LR2 contracts. So that comes it up now, all 6 of those newbuildings have been fully contracted for -- was it 5 years on average?

Yes, exactly, but the last 2 LR2s have been concluded in Q4. So all 6 of them today are contracted for 5 years at an average rate of around $26,500.

And then maybe just one final one, just on sort of the sales and the overall transactions you've done here. It's really been centered within drybulk and within tankers. And clearly, it seems containers has been much more about just harvesting the backlog effectively. How are you thinking about that fleet as it stands today, given we've seen the market correct, there are some ships that do come up open for renewal? How are you thinking about the fleet that you have today in containers and whether you become more active in either divesting or acquiring ships?

I mean, if you see on the container segment, I mean, basically, we have seen that around high-teens, '20s and we have seen the chartering of our vessels. We have minimal base. I mean, we have a $2,134 open -- breakeven per open day. And if you see on Page 8, basically container base are less than $1,500. So it's a minimal. And we see that the rates there are still in a level of about high-teens 20 approximately there. So this is where we are on the containers. Our position on the container segment is, I've already -- as you remember, in 2021, we had older vessels. And basically, we made these decisions early on, charter the fleet, and we are able to renew our fleet. So we already have the backlog of the vessels we need to renew. This is part of our $1.5 billion newbuilding. And this is basically in positions we already have taken. So we are harvesting the existing and this is the decision we had. And we already have ordered the ones we wanted to do.

It appears we have no further questions at this time. I would now like to turn the program back over to Angeliki for any additional or closing remarks.

Thank you. This completes our presentation. Thank you very much.

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. This concludes today's conference. You may now disconnect.