Navigator Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:NVGS) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Omar Nokta: Okay. Thank you, Mads, for that. Very helpful color. And thanks guys for the time. I’ll turn it over.

Mads Peter Zacho: Appreciate it.

Randy Giveans: Thanks, Omar. Next caller, your line should be open. [Operator Instructions] Okay. While we wait for that one, we had a question come in around Azane. So, Oeyvind, I’ll turn this over to you for the Azane joint venture. It seems like there is a lack of ammonia infrastructure to use as a dual for the shipping community. How will Azane meet this need?

Oeyvind Lindeman: So, it’s very simple. In order to encourage the ship-owning industry to construct, be confident in constructing vessels that use ammonia’s fuel, the fuel needs to be available. Therefore Azane Fuel Solutions, which is one of the first infrastructure companies covering that particular challenge, is there to unlock that problem. So, since Azane [indiscernible] investment and so forth, et cetera, a few people have come confidently ordering vessels with ammonia fuel knowing that ammonia fuel will be available in their short sea trades. Also, oil majors, particularly one in Norway, have since then launched a tender for offshore vessels exactly using ammonia fuel. So, you can see the start is the forefront and pushing the button to start the change and it will happen slowly in the first instance and then grow exponentially. That is our belief and Azane is part of that transition.

Randy Giveans: Thank you, Oeyvind. Operator, any other questions with their hands raised? Now, I have one last question here on drydocking. Are we anticipating any delays in materials, equipment, which might delay the drydocking or make it longer? How confident are you in the schedule that you provide?

Mads Peter Zacho: I can kick us off here and say that we are well underway in terms of planning and executing on the drydockings that were planned for 2024 and we don’t expect per se that there will be any delays in these, and we also expect that they will stick to the schedule in terms of duration and also in terms of cost that we laid out. So yes, there is inflationary pressure in the world around us. It’s abating somewhat now, and we think we planned well for this. So, we don’t expect that there will be cost overruns or delays.

Randy Giveans: Sounds good. I know we have one other analyst looking to ask the question. Is your line available? All right. Well, you know where to find us, so we’ll take that offline. But thank you again for joining us for our 4Q ’23 earnings call. Feel free to e-mail investor relations at navigatorgas.com, if you have any follow-ups, and we look forward to speaking with you in May for our first quarter 2024 results. Have a great day.

Mads Peter Zacho: Thank you.

Gary Chapman: Thank you.