At the same time, the segment has 21% of existing vessels over the year — 20 years of age. Therefore, we are quite comfortable with the supply side of things in our core segment, and that’s a good thing. So, I’m happy to take questions on all the above topics. But first, I’ll hand it over to Randy for him to go over a few exciting developments on Navigator. Randy?
Randy Giveans: Thank you, Oeyvind. So, yes, following up on several announcements we made in recent months, we want to provide some additional details on these developments regarding a few of those announcements. So, turning to Slide 19. We are pleased to announce our return of capital for the fourth quarter, in line with our recently announced return of capital policy and the table below. We’re returning 25% of net income or $4.5 million to shareholders this quarter. The Board declared a cash dividend of $0.05 per share, that will be payable on April 25 to all shareholders of record as of April 4, and that will be a quarterly dividend payment totaling $3.7 million. Additionally, with our shares trading well below our NAV of at least $24 a share, we’ll use the variable portion of this policy to repurchase shares.
As a reminder, between December ’22 and May of 2023, we repurchased 3.8 million shares at an average price of $13.12 per share for a total of $50 million. And subsequently, the Board authorized a new $25 million repurchase program, of which we’ve used $4.1 million thus far. Now looking ahead, we expect to purchase at least $800,000 of NVGS common shares between now and the quarter-end, such that the dividend and the share purchases together equals 25% of net income. Return of capital to shareholders will remain a core focus for us. On the next slide, following up on our previous announcement regarding the expansion of our Ethylene Export Terminal, the project is, frankly, progressing nicely. Engineering is now fully complete. All the long-lead items have been ordered, and many of the key components have started to become delivered.
If you want to come down in Houston and see for yourself, just let me know. Construction is expected to occur throughout 2024 and be completed during the fourth quarter. The total capital contributions required from us for this expansion project are expected to be less than $130 million. To-date, we’ve made five progress payments, totaling $43 million, and the remaining CapEx is expected to be paid from cash on hand until those new financing agreements are completed likely later this year. As you can see on the bottom-left chart, despite some softness in December and January due to tight commodity spreads and limited vessel availability, throughput is now back to nameplate capacity with March looking to be another strong month. Discussions are ongoing with current and new customers for the multiyear offtake contracts, and we expect the vast majority of the additional capacity to be contracted during the construction phase throughout the coming months.
Finishing on Slide 21, in shipping, consistently making money is obviously important. And so is spending this money wisely. As such, we just wanted to highlight our five key pillars for capital deployment: we remain focused on reducing debt, primarily through quarterly debt amortization; we remain committed to paying out consistent cash dividends; and also we continue to repurchase shares, especially at these steeply discounted levels; we’ve recently renewed the fleet by selling our oldest vessels, replacing them with modern second-hand vessels; and we’ll continue to grow our energy infrastructure business, most recently highlighted by the Ethylene Export Terminal expansion and our investment in Azane Fuel Solutions for ammonia bunkering. Going forward, management will remain diligent in being good stewards of the capital.
With that, I’ll now turn it back over to Mads for his closing remarks.
Mads Peter Zacho: Good. Thanks a lot, Randy. And on this page, we’ll just take a quick look back at 2023. And as you can see here, we finished the year with strong earnings improvements over previous years and with progress on pretty much all parameters. Entering into an exciting 2024, Navigator is heading in the right direction and is well positioned for the future. Our leading market position, strong customer relationships, an experienced and engaged team and our efficient fleet of handysize gas carriers leaves us with a really strong foundation for growth. The balance sheet is in its best shape ever, and it gives us the flexibility now to grow our business and return capital to shareholders at the same time. The best is yet to come. And with that, I’ll just hand it back to you, Randy.
A – Randy Giveans: Thanks so much, Mads. Operator, we’ll now open the lines for some Q&A. [Operator Instructions] First question, your line should be open.
Omar Nokta: Thanks, Randy. Hi, guys. This is Omar Nokta from Jefferies. Am I coming through okay?
Randy Giveans: Howdy, Omar? Loud and clear.
Omar Nokta: All right. Thank you, Randy. Yes. Well, thanks for the update, and good morning, good afternoon. Just a couple of questions for me. I wanted to get a sense of how the market thus far for your ships has progressed, say, the first couple of months. You mentioned, obviously, I think, Mads, in your — one of the early slides that showed utilization being kind of maybe closer to 90% so far in 1Q, which is still obviously strong, slightly down, and you mentioned rates being firm. I just wanted to get a sense the — in terms of, say, the volatility that we saw in the larger VLGCs, we saw a good amount of volatility with rates starting the year on very strongly, then they fell off a cliff and then they’ve started to rebound again. And I just wanted to get a sense from you, has that same type of dynamic translated into the handy segment?
