Thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Clean Capital Energy Carriers Corp. Fourth Quarter 2025 Financial Results Conference Call. We have with us Today, Mr. Jerry Kalogiratos, Chief Executive Officer; Mr. Brian Gallagher, Executive Vice President, Investor Relations; and Mr. Nikos Tripodakis, Chief Commercial Officer. [Operator Instructions] I must advise you that this conference is being recorded today, Thursday, March 5, 2026. Statements in today's conference call that are not historical facts including our expectations regarding the seller acquisition transactions their expected effects on this cash generation, equity returns and future debt levels, our ability to pursue growth opportunities, our expectations or objectives regarding future distribution amounts, or share buyback amounts dividend coverage, future earnings, future leverage, capital allocation as well as our expectations regarding market fundamentals and the employment of our vessels, including delivery dates, redelivery dates and charter rates may be forward-looking statements as such as defined in Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 as amended. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could close the stated or forecasted results to be materially different from those anticipated. Unless required by law, we expressly disclaim any obligation to update or revise any of these forward-looking statements whether because of future events, new information, a change in our views or expectations to conform to actual results or otherwise. We make no prediction or statement about the performance of our common shares. I would now like to hand the call over to our speaker today, Mr. Brian Gallagher. Please go ahead.

Thank you, operator. Good morning or afternoon to wherever you are, and thank you for listening to the Capital Clean Energy Carrier's Q4 2025 Earnings Call. As a reminder, we'll be referring to the supporting slides available on our website as we go through today's presentation. Let's start with the highlights on Slide 4. An exceptionally busy quarter has continued with subsequent events into the current quarter, but it's pleasing to report the companies continue to make progress on multiple fronts. The key highlights from Q4 was our contracting of 3 latest technology LNG carriers. This opportunistic transaction illustrated our capability to act with conviction and speed and capturing what we believe will be valuable and timely additions to our fleet. More details from Jerry on that later on. Elsewhere, early on in the quarter -- current quarter, we welcome the Active into our fleet, the world's first 22,000 cubic meter liquid CO2 multi-gas carrier, but we also said goodbye to another container vessel as we pressed on with our focus on gas transportation. In terms of our governance and ongoing focus on sustainability, the company was pleased to gain accreditation from CDP in our first submission to that particular platform. Finally, the LNG shipping spot market had a robust if short-lived upturned during Q4 with freight rates touching $100,000 per day. This is an encouraging feature for the future development and potential earnings power from the sector, and there are some key underlying trends, which will require consideration and they'll be covered later on in the presentation. We are acutely aware of the current and fast-moving dynamic in the Middle East, impacting LNG and gas shipping sectors, which are Head of Commercial, Nikos Tripodakis, will provide some thoughts on later on. And naturally, management will be available to take questions after the formal presentation. Moving back to Q4 and our reporting net income from continued operations for the quarter came in at $28.4 million from which we fulfilled our commitment to a fixed distribution of USD 0.15 dividend per share to our shareholders, retaining the company record of distributing a cash dividend for every single quarter since our listing in March 2007. With that, I'll hand it over to our Chief Executive, Jerry Kalogiratos to run through, firstly, the financial highlights.

Thank you, Brian, and good morning or afternoon to everyone listening in today. It has almost become routine to report further container sales, and the fourth quarter of 25% is no different. As Brian pointed out, we have now classified Buenaventura Express under discontinued operations due to its sale, which nevertheless had a full quarter before being delivered to its new owners in January. The sale of the Buenaventura represents the 14th container carrier sale in 24 months, consistent with the company's strategy to pivot to gas transportation. The classification of the Buenaventura Express under discontinued operations affected our results compared, for example, to the previous quarter. This leaves the company with just 1 container vessel. It continues to generate positive cash flows for the company as it is on the long-term charter with a blue-chip partner to 2033 and options to extend to 2039. We have made significant progress in our pivot, but we have always remained focused on ensuring value creation for our shareholders. We will only look to sell the last container asset. If it is accretive this strategy has served us well with the 14 other vessels, and we will continue on the same path. The dividend payout remains a core component of the company's value proposition to shareholders. The $0.15 dividend was paid on February 12 to shareholders of record on February 3. This was the 75th consecutive quarter that the company has paid a cash dividend. Moving now to the balance sheet on Slide 7. We closed the year with a solid cash position of $296 million, including restricted cash and the net leverage ratio just short of 49%. As mentioned earlier, we also finalized the sale of 13,700 TEU container vessel in early '26, continuing our disciplined capital recycling strategy. Finally, just a…

Thank you, Jerry, and good morning or afternoon, everybody. Currently, of course, the war in the Middle East and how it will affect the energy model. And in our case, the shipping market is in everyone's mind. I will come back to this at the end of my presentation. Please allow me to start with the main highlights of Q4, which has been the unexpectedly strong spot market. As Slide 14 shows, spot rates rose strongly to exceed $100,000 a day in mid-December, the highest level of the past 2 years. An unexpected surge in LNG production from the U.S. pockets of East West arbitrars and logistical constraints led to an absorption of available tonnage and the significant increase in spot rates. This served as a stark reminder of the fragility of the LNG shipping supply-demand balance during winter months when modest changes in -- economics, production volumes or port and canal logistics can collectively have a disproportionate impact on freight markets. However, as we will see on Slide 15, all vessel types benefit in a similar way from a surge in spot rates. Turning to Slide 15. As we can see on the left-hand side, we see the 5-year quarterly average freight rates up to 2024. What is interesting is that the charter rates for steam vessels during that period captured around 50% of the rate of a 2-stroke modern vessel. But in 2025, that percentage dropped to 20%, even though the market has been consistently lower compared to the 5-year average. What is also worth noting is that even though 2-stroke charter rates rose by approximately $32,000 a day on average through Q4, steam rates only rose about 7,000 a day and continue to trade below OpEx levels. This clearly indicates that 2 stroke vessels, like the 1…

[Operator Instructions] Our first question is from Alexander Bidwell with Webber Research & Advisory.

I just wanted to see if you guys could give a little bit more color on, I guess, the potential implications of this shutdown of Middle Eastern supplies on the carrier market. We've seen -- I guess, as you mentioned, we've seen spot rates climb pretty drastically over the last couple of days. But what is the -- I guess, the longer-term implications of having a significant amount of supply taken off-line.

It's probably more than million-dollar question right now, but we'll try to answer it in the best way we can. As we mentioned, the supply for Middle East mainly supplies Asian markets. And unlike what happened in 2022 when Russian gas flows to Europe were cut and Europe into place tight gas with LNG from the U.S. There is no way to replace this Qatar volumes in Asia. So the only way that Asia could replace this, Olivan fuel switching would be to increase the price. That would lead to an increased open arbitrars to the east and the market already now is undersupplied for vessels if this situation were to continue, i.e., an open arbitrage with healthy gas prices to the East. What would mean for freight rates I mean, we already saw the spike in the front, if this were to continue, you could expect term rates to rise significantly. Now how much is something that remains to be seen.

All right. And then just kind of switching gears. So I believe 1 container vessel left in the fleet. Can you give us a sense of how you're looking at disposal options and just a general idea of what that time line might be?

Yes. So we have been always quite opportunistic in the way that we have approached the sale of our container vessels and especially these ones, the last 3 that -- these last [indiscernible], the 13,000 EU containers, we have already sold 2 were down to 1. They have a long-term charter and good cash flow visibility, good counterparty. There -- the financing also on this vessel is less flexible than others. So while it's not impossible to transfer or sell this asset, it's more difficult because it has tax equity in the structure. So I think we're going to be quite opportunistic if we see a similarly attractive deal, we will look at selling the vessel or we might simply stick with it until closer to the end of the charter. Again, we will be driven more by the opportunity and less by a specific time line to divest from this container. I mean we have sold already 14 out of the 15 we feel quite comfortable.

Our next question is from Jon Chappell with Evercore ISI.

The capital exposure to the conversation and what's happening today, it looks like the more meal becomes open later in '26, 1 newbuild delivers later this year. and 1 in early '27. So is it right to assume that this parabolic move in spot rates does not have any immediate term effect on you? And I guess the follow-on to that would be as some of these new builds become closer to the delivery date. And as mentioned, some of the time charter rates are moving up as well. Is it kind of a wait and see how this plays out? Or is there any increased inquiry and opportunity to maybe time charter some of the newbuilds even at shorter duration to take it then, I hate to say and take advantage, but to take advantage of the of the move in the charter rates.

Let me comment on the first part, and then maybe Nikos can pick up the second part with regard to the long-term curve. But -- the -- you are right to point out that in terms of redeliveries, the first vessel that we have is the more in Q3, but we do have some of our newbuilds coming early in much earlier in Q3 and while some of them we have already have employment in place, we have flexibility in swapping this with other later sisters. So there is the potential for us if we see the market interest to be able to offer earlier positions very late Q2 or early Q3. . I think it will very much depend on how long this lasts Nikos said, which -- and we don't have immense visibility here. Nikos, would you like maybe to say a few words as to how you see the long-term curve being affected right now?

Yes. So as mentioned, this all depends on how long the situation will last. We will need to make something very clear now. There have been a lot of charters out there that were happy to play the spot market given the arbitrage pointing to Europe and a sensible oversupply of vessels in the Atlantic. But now what this situation has created and the longer it lasts, it will make companies that use this strategy more aware and more eager to take the position is that a prolonged arbitraries to the East has made this market very tight. So -- the longer the situation lasts, more and more companies will try to secure shipping even at higher rates, just to be able to lift those volumes. And we have already seen inquiries for terms for some of our new buildings, obviously, are not at the rates we mentioned for the spot market, but already at higher levels than what we saw let's say, 2 or 3 weeks ago. So it has certainly affected the market, but we need to see the situation last for a bit longer for dealers to be concluded in the 5, 7 years space.

Okay. And then maybe the terms are a little bit commercially sensitive, but I think it's super important in the context of trying to understand the new market for the LCO2, is there any way to kind of help frame out the charter rate that the active has for the 6 months and then maybe the extension? And then I guess the other thing I'd ask on the LCO2 is, I don't see the delivery schedule in the presentation or the press release anywhere. Just want to make sure that the delivery schedule is last presented was still the same for the remainder of this year and those ships going forward.

Yes, of course, Jon, yes, the table has not changed, deliveries have not changed. So as I said during my prepared remarks, we are expecting the next LCO2 hand the LPG carrier towards the end of April and the 45,000 cubic fuel [indiscernible] in early June. These are the next couple of deliveries and the delivery schedule for the rest remains as previously described. Now in terms of the Active, the Active really went directly into the trade as a semi-ref LPG ammonia carrier. It's -- and I think this is how we should be thinking about it until we see a more mature LCO2 market. So in terms of numbers, the -- if you want to think about TC after the ballast days and repositioning from the shipyard into the trade, that's probably for the first 6 months, you can assume close to $21,000 per day. The rate was $25,000, but as I said, the repositioning was in on the first 6 months. And then there is an option for the charter if it's exercised than the headline rate is $32,000 per day. So assuming that option is exercised, the blended average, including repositioning is around $25,000, $26,000 per day for the whole year.

Our next question is from Liam Burke with B. Riley Securities.

Jerry, I know the timing is not great in light of the shortage of LNG carriers, but what is the general tenor of discussions on the future deliveries of the non-LNG carriers for longer-term charters?

Yes, this market is a shorter term market. So typically, there, you will find a lot of liquidity anywhere between 6 to 12 months. And then -- there is some demand in the 2- to 3-year type of periods occasionally 5 years. but definitely shorter than the 7, 10, 12 years or more that you see in the LNG market. But I think you could safely say that the most liquid part, the most volume is on the 6 to 12 months TCs.

The liquid part, okay. if you look on the longer durations that they're kicked around, is there a sufficient return on those rates? Or do you prefer to keep them in on the shorter 6 months to the year.

With the kind of rate that we see nowadays. I mean, since the delivery of the first vessel market has tightened both for handysize LPG carriers as well as for MGCs, I think the returns are quite decent. And if we see the opportunity, we will try to lock them in for longer. Market today for 45,000 cubic dual-fuel vessel it's probably somewhere around the $40,000 per day mark, give or take, which is quite decent returns.

[Operator Instructions] Our next question is from Omar Nokta with Clean Securities.

Obviously, a lot of stuff I guess I just wanted to ask in terms of the developments in the Middle East, is there any of your vessels that are directly affected by this, specifically, say, the force majeure that was put in by Qatar Energy. I believe you might have 1 ship on contract with them. Does that at all affect the terms of the charter?

No. So far, we haven't been affected at all. all charters continue with their ongoing charter commitments, and we don't have any vessels in -- within the Gulf. So it's relatively smooth if you can describe it that way given the turmoil in the background.

Okay. And then just completely separate, just an accounting question. Just in terms of the remaining newbuild CapEx that's roughly that $2.4 billion. How much of that do you have secured in bank lines? And then how much are you intending to put in place?

So all the MDCs and LCO2s have been already financed -- and the -- we are in advanced discussions for the remaining LNG carriers as we typically do, you should expect that we will be financing the earlier deliveries and then wait out for later deliveries. I mean we're not going to finance everything this year, simply because we don't want to incur commitment fees. I expect next quarter, we will have a lot more news on the financing of the LNG carriers to be delivered this year and next. In terms of the breakdown, let me suit you an e-mail later on with the exact amounts.

There are no further questions at this time. I would like to turn the conference back over to Mr. Kalogiratos for closing remarks.

Thank you, operator, and thank you, everyone, for joining us today.

Thank you. This will conclude today's conference. You may disconnect at this time, and thank you for your participation.