Luuk van Beek: Okay. That’s clear. That’s all for now. Thank you.
Operator: Kristof Samoy would like to ask a question. So, you can now unmute and ask your question, please.
Kristof Samoy: Okay. Yes, I was still on mute. Good afternoon. First question on the MEPC meeting last March. Did anything happen there that you evaluated the likelihoods or the magnitude for a global greenhouse gas levy? Has it changed there? Has your view changed? This is the first question. Then on Namibia, could you inform us on the final investment decisions on the bunker facility and the production infrastructure plans you have there? And then as a follow-up, the Port of Antwerp has also announced an investment in Namibia, the Port of Namibia. Will you be co-investing with them in Namibia? And then finally, could you shed some light on potential long-term contracts for your dry bulk new builds program that you are taking on? Thank you.
Alexander Saverys: Yes, thanks, Kristof. So, on MEPC as always, with the IMO, it goes very, very slowly. We regard the outcome of the last MEPC meeting as positive, but not dramatically changing anything in the very short term. It’s more about the deadlines that are being put forward. There’s at least a plan to come to a conclusion, to come to this famous carbon levy, and then also decide on what they’re going to do with the money. We, as you know, are very vocal about the fact that we want things to go faster. We think shipping should be regulated on a global level. All these regional initiatives like in Europe are making our business a bit more complicated, even though we are happy with what has happened in Europe so far. So, MEPC, positive, but not really a gamechanger yet.
So, let’s watch the next meetings that are coming. On Namibia and the bunkering facility, so just to recap what our plans are in Namibia, we have taken an FID and actually have nearly finished the construction on our first production and refueling plant, which is about €30 million investment, of which we have €10 million invested, and then the rest is our partner, and we get some support from the federal government of Germany. The next phase would be the ammonia bunkering facility. We are in the midst of the feeds, and we are going to take FID towards the end of this year. That’s probably a topic we want to touch upon in next calls. So, FID definitely has not been taken yet. We’re still in the feed phase. Looking at your question on the Port of Antwerp and what they have announced, so let us be clear.
What the Port of Antwerp has announced, it’s a phased approach to develop a new port to the north of Walvis Bay. So, we are already active in the port. What they will do first is do a study. Once the study is finished, they will then decide whether they take the investments to the next level. And then of course, we will have discussions with them. I mean, logically, they are our neighbors and partners here in Antwerp. We will discuss whether it would make sense for our bunkering facility and/or different projects to co-invest in certain parts of the new ports that they will build. And then on the coverage on the bulker vessels, everything is spot right now. We see a lot of interest from our end users and customers to charter our ships, but we have not concluded anything yet.
Kristof Samoy: Okay. That’s all for me. Thank you.
Operator: If anyone else would still like to ask a question, please raise your hands. Kristof, did you have another question, because you raised your hand again?
Kristof Samoy: Yes. If nobody else is raising questions, then I might squeeze in a few more, if I may. Just in terms of future vessel disposals of older vessels, can we expect a certain segment to be more likely to witness disposals? For instance, would there be a reason to assume that disposal would be rather in VLCC than Suezmaxes? And secondly, could you shed some light on the CII metrics of your VLCC fleet and Suezmax fleet, please?
Alexander Saverys: Okay. So, on the disposals, we have been very clear that if we see good prices for older tonnage, we will probably look at selling them and then recycling the cash and invest in more modern ships. What we just did with the three VLCCs, what we call our end types that we recently disposed of, that is clearly recycling of money. I mean, this is something we can reinvest in further new buildings. Is there a specific asset class where we will focus on? No, but you just take the age profile of the current Euronav CMB.TECH fleet, the obvious candidates are more in the Euronav tanker division than in other divisions. But whether it’s going to be a VLCC or a Suezmax, will depend on the price, the buyer, and the opportunity that presents itself.
On CII, Kristof, I would suggest that you ask me this question on an email that I can refer to my technical people on the profile of our fleet. I’m sure we have that data, but I don’t have it at hand right now. So, apologies, I can’t give you an answer in this call.
Kristof Samoy: Okay, thank you. And then maybe another question if I may. I mean, we read a lot from different sources that oil majors are loosening age constraints for vessels, they charter. Can you confirm this from practice and from your chartering desk?
Alexander Saverys: Well, I cannot speak for specific all majors, but in general, I would say you are right. That is correct. This is typical of strong markets. When markets are very high, our customers loosen their self-imposed regulations on age because they just don’t want the prices to go too high for modern vessels.
Kristof Samoy: Okay. Thank you. That’s all for me.
Operator: Quirijn Mulder, you can now unmute and ask your question, please. Quirijn, you’re still on mute.
Quirijn Mulder: Can you hear me?
Alexander Saverys: Yes, we can hear you perfect.
Quirijn Mulder: Okay. Sorry about that. I wanted to start by asking about the FSOs. How do those feed in your overall portfolio approach? They’re still contracted for a few years, but given their nature, do you build the mass non-core?
Alexander Saverys: It’s a very good question. Well, first and foremost, these are assets that we’ve had in our portfolio for a very, very long time, and we are very satisfied with the quality of the assets and the contract coverage. Going forward, we don’t know what will happen to these assets. We have not made up our mind, but we are definitely not against these assets per se. We will just see what happens when the contracts comes to expiry and what we can find as a new business. So, to answer your question simply, it is not that we are gung-ho at selling them per se or holding onto them per se. We will just look at the opportunities that present themselves. It’s true, of course, the assets are slightly older, but as you know, they have been totally reconverted. So, reconversion can happen and then extend the life of these assets.
Quirijn Mulder: That’s helpful. Thank you. I also wanted to ask about the CSOVs. You mentioned they are still open, and I was wondering what kind of term contracts are available, I mean, in the current market conditions?
Alexander Saverys: That’s a very good question. There’s two types of contracts that you can find for CSOVs, either very short term contracts during the construction phase of offshore wind parks. So, say three months, six months, maybe nine months, or much longer-term contracts, five, even to 10 years, for either very large construction works that last much longer, or for the maintenance of the parks. We are looking at both. Our inclination so far is that the long-term contracts are very low margin. It’s usually with big majors that do these tenders. So, our preference would be right now to more go for some shorter-term contracts, unless we see a very good rate that gives us a good return.
Quirijn Mulder: Thank you. That’s very helpful. That’s all from me.
Operator: Luuk, you may unmute, please.
Luuk van Beek: Yes. two follow-ups. On your disclosure, would it be possible to give a breakdown in the future of the revenues and EBIT by second because there’s such different markets? And also to give a bit more disclosure about the order backlog that you talked about of $2 billion. So, in which segments, what’s the duration and so on.
Alexander Saverys: Look, I suggest – I’ll give you the answer that we give to other people that are asking this from the analyst community. Reach out to Joris Daman and my brother, Ludovic, and they will be able to answer that question.
Luuk van Beek: Okay. Thank you.
Alexander Saverys: Okay. Unless anybody else has a question, Quirijn, you still have a question or? No? Okay. Then I would like to thank you for taking the time and joining us in this earnings call. Thank you for your questions and looking forward to seeing you and speaking to you in the very short future. Thank you very much. Bye-bye.
