Lars Barstad: Yes. It’s — that’s like 5 questions in one — five answers, at least. Now, first of all, I think kind of the biggest — it’s actually not really an IMO change that’s going to happen. It’s the EU ETS. That’s the next in line for us, or for everyone in the industry. It’s basically the — that we need to start to pay carbon tax in Europe, trading in Europe or trading into Europe or trading out of Europe with the carbon emissions related to those voyages. That comes in — comes into effect next year. And I think it’s going to — maybe not so much for the bigger ships because it’s — they’re not that frequent inside the EU zone. But for Suezmax and Aframax and LR2s, it’s going to have an impact. And there, we do believe that having efficient vessels help a lot.
Also, I think kind of the discussion around alternative fuels is going to become more and more important. Right now, you wouldn’t really willingly could use kind of partially biofuel in your fuel mix basically because it costs more. But obviously, if you put it against the buying carbon credit, then it becomes kind of economically effective to do so. So I think that’s kind of the biggest headline on, say, the regulatory framework going forward. I think your question was around the premium we achieve on our vessels due to the — having the modern ships, was that correct?
Unidentified Analyst: Yes. In particular, I was curious if interest rates have an effect because on a shorter vessel, it’s less costly to hold a couple of hundred million worth of oil, but then also the insurance rates, how that would affect because you’re shorter time frame.
Lars Barstad: Okay. So, that’s more like the trading side of it. So, if kind of our charterers are being limited by the high interest rates, because they are the ones who own the cargo, and they’re the ones who basically have to then finance themselves from A to B. We haven’t really seen that having an impact kind of in the spot market, to be quite honest. I think it’s more a discussion for had we been in the carrier market, meaning that oil was going to be stored on ships, it would have a huge effect. The difference between having 0.5% interest per day and the 7% interest per day has a huge impact on the economics of storing oil. But I think in general, kind of the financing cost has affected the world in general willingness to keep inventory. And I think that is probably partly why we see inventory levels fairly low across the globe.
Unidentified Analyst: Okay. One final comment. What percentage of your business is European that would be affected by that regulatory side change?
Lars Barstad: It varies. So it’s — and it also varies a lot amongst between asset classes. But I think our kind of the headline number would be 10% to 15% of our voyage days would be affected by the EU ETS.
Unidentified Analyst: Thank you. And I congratulate you both for running the most efficient best tanker fleet in the world.
Lars Barstad: Thank you very much.
Inger Klemp: Thank you very much.
Operator: Thank you. Dear speakers, there are no further questions. And I would now like to hand the conference over to Lars Barstad for any closing remarks.
Lars Barstad: Thank you very much. And thank you so much for listening in. We are — the markets are a little bit kind of in the doldrums right now, but I’m hearing bottoming kind of from various sides of the marketplace. Over the next few weeks, we’re going to hopefully start to — into the winter season, and we’re looking forward to see what comes. Thank you.
Operator: That does conclude our conference for today. Thank you for participating. You may now all disconnect. Have a nice day.
Lars Barstad: Thank you.
