FLEX LNG Ltd (FLNG) 2023 Q1 法說會逐字稿

(technical difficulty)

（技術難度）

Both according to schedule and budget.

兩者都根據時間表和預算。

During Q2, we will do another two dockings, so in total, three dry dockings for Q2, and this result in revenues for this quarter being guided at $85 million to $90 million. Once we have completed the dry docking program in June, our quarterly revenues will pick up in Q3 and Q4 with quarterly revenues of around $90 million to $100 million for these two quarters. So we are also reaffirming our revenue guidance of $370 million for the year, which should translate into an expected adjusted EBITDA of around $290 million to $295 million.

在第二季度，我們將進行另外兩次進塢，因此第二季度總共進行三次進塢，這導致本季度的收入指導為 8500 萬至 9000 萬美元。一旦我們在 6 月份完成乾船塢計劃，我們的季度收入將在第三季度和第四季度回升，這兩個季度的季度收入約為 9000 萬至 1 億美元。因此，我們還重申了今年 3.7 億美元的收入指導，這應轉化為預計調整後 EBITDA 約為 2.9 億至 2.95 億美元。

So with who has a strong financial position and minimum 57 years of contractual backlog. Our Board has decided to once again pay out our quarterly ordinary dividend of $0.75 per share. During the last 12 months, we have thus paid out $3.75 per share in dividends, and this has given our investors an attractive yield of around 11%.

因此，誰擁有強大的財務狀況和至少 57 年的合同積壓。我們的董事會決定再次支付每股 0.75 美元的季度普通股息。因此，在過去 12 個月中，我們支付了每股 3.75 美元的股息，這為我們的投資者帶來了 11% 左右的有吸引力的收益率。

So that's the highlight. Let's continue. So as I mentioned, we are reaffirming our revenue guidance of $370 million for the full year 2023. As you can see here in the graph, Q1 revenues this year was significantly stronger than last year as we had limited our spot exposure to one ship on variable higher time charter and actually spot market was pretty firm during Q1.

這就是亮點。我們繼續吧。正如我所提到的，我們重申 2023 年全年 3.7 億美元的收入指導。正如您在圖表中看到的，今年第一季度的收入明​​顯強於去年，因為我們限制了對一艘船舶的現貨敞口。期租價格波動較大，實際上現貨市場在第一季度相當堅挺。

For Q2, as I mentioned, we have three ships which will be doing dry docking during this quarter, and Q2 is also usually the softer spot market and this will affect the one ship we have on variable TC. Once we have done with June and getting into Q3 and Q4, all these (inaudible) ships will be in operations. And usually, we will see the seasonal uptick in charter rates during Q3 and Q4, which is also evident from the forward prices, and thus revenues will grow to closer to $100 million for those quarters.

對於第二季度，正如我提到的，我們有三艘船將在本季度進行幹塢，而第二季度通常也是現貨市場疲軟，這將影響我們在可變 TC 上擁有的一艘船。一旦我們六月結束並進入第三季度和第四季度，所有這些（聽不清）船隻都將投入運營。通常，我們會看到第三季度和第四季度包機費率出現季節性上漲，這從遠期價格中也可以看出，因此這些季度的收入將增長到接近 1 億美元。

So as I mentioned, dry docking, we have been doing our first dry docking, the two first ships, Flex Enterprise and endeavor was delivered early 2018, and I will now do for the 5-year special survey. Flex Enterprise carried out this in March, while a sister ships, Flex Endeavor carried out a 5-year special docking in April, both in Singapore.

正如我提到的，幹船塢，我們一直在進行我們的第一次幹船塢，兩艘第一艘船，Flex Enterprise 和 Estimation 於 2018 年初交付，我現在將進行為期 5 年的特別調查。 Flex Enterprise 號於 3 月進行了此次對接，而其姊妹船 Flex Endeavor 號則於 4 月進行了為期 5 年的特別對接，均在新加坡進行。

In our last presentation, we guided that in total, these four dry dockings would take out 80 to 90 days of operations of 20 to 22.5 days. On average, we have managed to do this within 18 days. So we are slightly below time, and we asked also on the low side of the budget. CapEx in total for each ship, $4.5 million versus guided $4.5 billion to $5 million. So in Q2, as I mentioned, Ranger and Rainbow will also be docked and these are to be completed within June and the ships will then be in operation for the full Q3 and Q4.

在我們上一次的演示中，我們指出，這四個乾船塢總共需要 80 到 90 天的操作時間，即 20 到 22.5 天的操作時間。平均而言，我們在 18 天內完成了這一任務。所以我們的時間稍微晚了一點，而且我們要求的預算也偏低。每艘船的資本支出總額為 450 萬美元，而指導值為 45 億至 500 萬美元。因此，正如我提到的，在第二季度，遊俠號和彩虹號也將進行對接，這些將在六月內完成，然後這些船將在整個第三季度和第四季度投入運行。

So as I mentioned, high contract coverage, 57 years of minimum contractual backlog. This slide is the same as we had in our Q4 presentation. During last year, we did extend the contractual backlog on several ships, as you can see here, with rainbow being an extended 10 years endeavor vigilant amber, enterprise and ranger. All these ships were extended for longer durations. And the first fully open ships we have today is FlexRanger in early parts of 2027 and Flex Constellation middle 2027 if the charter is electing to extend her for the 3 years, which they have an option to do.

正如我提到的，合同覆蓋率高，合同積壓最少 57 年。這張幻燈片與我們在第四季度演示中的幻燈片相同。去年，我們確實延長了幾艘船的合同積壓，正如您在這裡所看到的，彩虹號是延長了 10 年的努力警惕琥珀號、企業號和遊俠號。所有這些船隻的使用壽命都延長了。我們今天擁有的第一艘完全開放的船舶是 2027 年初的 FlexRanger 和 2027 年中期的 Flex Constellation，如果租船公司選擇將其延長 3 年，他們可以選擇這樣做。

So I think in terms of these durations, we have a good coverage now. In near term, when export growth is to be expected to be muted, and then we have open ships from 2027 once a lot of new LNG is coming on stream and where we are also competing against new buildings at very high prices, as I will come back to in the market section of the presentation.

所以我認為就這些持續時間而言，我們現在有很好的覆蓋範圍。短期內，預計出口增長將放緩，一旦大量新液化天然氣投產，我們將從 2027 年開始開船，並且我們還將以非常高的價格與新造船競爭，正如我將要討論的那樣回到演示的市場部分。

And once again, our dividend decision factors. As you can see here, for this quarter, we are paying out the $0.75 of ordinary dividend per share. We have paid out 2 special dividends the last year, $0.50 for Q2, $0.25 for Q4. So in total, the last 12 months, we have paid out $3.75 of dividend, which gives a yield of 11%, 12% depending on where the share price is. So we think this should give our investors an attractive yield. All the parameters here are green. We have good earnings. Market outlook is good. We have this big contractual coverage. Liquidity at $475 million is super strong, and then we don't really have any debt maturities before 2028 at the earliest.

再次是我們的股息決定因素。正如您在此處所看到的，本季度我們將支付每股 0.75 美元的普通股息。去年我們支付了兩次特別股息，第二季度 0.50 美元，第四季度 0.25 美元。因此，過去 12 個月我們總共支付了 3.75 美元的股息，收益率為 11%、12%，具體取決於股價。因此，我們認為這應該會給我們的投資者帶來有吸引力的收益。這裡的所有參數都是綠色的。我們有很好的收入。市場前景良好。我們有這麼大的合同範圍。 4.75 億美元的流動性非常強勁，而且最早在 2028 年之前我們實際上沒有任何債務到期。

Other considerations right now, I think most people are a bit focused on the aggressive Fed ramping up interest rate on the short-term side, where we do have a very inverted yield curve, and Knut will discuss a bit what kind of opportunities this has given us in the swap market.

目前其他考慮因素，我認為大多數人都有點關注美聯儲在短期方面激進地加息，我們確實有一個非常倒掛的收益率曲線，克努特將討論一下這有什麼樣的機會給我們在掉期市場上。

So with that, Knut, I hand it over to you, too. Thank you.

所以，克努特，我也把它交給你了。謝謝。

Thank you, Oystein. And as already mentioned, revenues for the quarter came in at $92.5 million. That gives us a time charter earnings average for the fleet of -- close to 80,200. OpEx, another strong quarter where we maintained OpEx control. where we have OpEx per day of 13,400.

謝謝你，奧伊斯坦。正如已經提到的，該季度的收入為 9250 萬美元。由此得出，船隊的期租平均收益接近 80,200 艘。運營支出是我們保持運營支出控制的另一個強勁季度。我們每天的運營支出為 13,400。

If we look more into the details. On the revenues, we have $5.5 million lower than last quarter. And that is driven by lower seasonal earnings on the variable hire contract and the off-hire days related to dry docking of the Flex Enterprise. Then we have some more noncash item on the income statement. The net loss on derivatives is $2.8 million. As you can see in the notes on the side, it's $7.8 million in unrealized mark-to-market loss from the derivatives. And then we have realized gains of $5 million from the swap portfolio, which is sort of our carry cost.

如果我們更深入地研究細節。就收入而言，我們比上季度減少了 550 萬美元。這是由於可變租賃合同的季節性收入下降以及與 Flex Enterprise 幹船塢相關的停租日所致。然後我們在損益表上還有一些非現金項目。衍生品淨虧損為 280 萬美元。正如您在旁邊的註釋中看到的那樣，衍生品未實現的按市值計算的損失為 780 萬美元。然後我們從掉期投資組合中實現了 500 萬美元的收益，這是我們的持有成本。

With the completion of the balance sheet optimization program, we have exit cost of our debt. It's $8.8 million of write-off of debt issuance costs and then a termination fee of $1.4 million. That gives us a net income for the quarter of $16.5 million or earnings per share of $0.31. Adjusted for the noncash items, we have adjusted net income of $35.2 million and then resulting in adjusted earnings per share of $0.66 per share.

隨著資產負債表優化計劃的完成，我們有了債務的退出成本。其中包括 880 萬美元的債務發行成本沖銷，以及 140 萬美元的終止費。這使得我們該季度的淨利潤為 1650 萬美元，或每股收益為 0.31 美元。針對非現金項目進行調整後，我們調整了淨利潤 3520 萬美元，調整後每股收益為 0.66 美元。

So let's have a look at the details on the adjustments that we have made to arrive at the adjusted net income. If we look at the quarter-on-quarter differences on the net income, operating income is $6 million lower driven by the off-hire in connection with the dry docking of Flex Enterprise and the seasonal lower revenues under the variable higher contract for the Flex Artemis.

因此，讓我們看一下我們為得出調整後淨利潤所做的調整的詳細信息。如果我們看一下淨收入的季度環比差異，就會發現營業收入減少了 600 萬美元，原因是 Flex Enterprise 幹船塢停租以及 Flex 可變較高合同下的季節性收入下降阿爾忒彌斯。

Quarter-on-quarter, adaptation cost is $8.5 million, which is basically driven by the completion of the refinancing under the balance sheet optimization program. And then derivatives where we had the mark-to-market loss were here on a quarter-on-quarter basis, $7.7 million.

環比來看，適應成本為850萬美元，這主要是由資產負債表優化計劃下的再融資完成推動的。然後，按市值計價的衍生品按季度計算的損失為 770 萬美元。

With the smaller order effects, we arrive at a net income of $16.5 million. And when we then reconcile to adjusted net income, we add back the noncash items, which are the debt issuance cost write-off in total, together with the termination fee of $10.2 million. And then we have the unrealized market loss on the derivatives of $7.9 million, and then a smaller FX effect on our NOK portfolio. So in total, we adjust them back and arrive at an adjusted net income of $35.2 million.

由於訂單效應較小，我們的淨利潤為 1650 萬美元。然後，當我們與調整後的淨利潤進行調節時，我們會加回非現金項目，即債務發行成本沖銷總額，以及 1020 萬美元的終止費。然後，衍生品的未實現市場損失為 790 萬美元，外匯對我們的挪威克朗投資組合的影響也較小。因此，我們總共對它們進行了調整，得出調整後的淨利潤為 3520 萬美元。

The balance sheet remains robust and clean with an all-time high cash position of $475 million, and we have an equity of $871 million. That gives us an equity ratio of 31%. If we look at the cash movements for the quarter, we increased the cash balance by $143 million, which is mainly driven by the completion of the balance sheet optimization program, where we have a net proceed of $196 million. And then net of the dividends paid last quarter of $54 million, we end up with an all-time high of $475 million.

資產負債表保持穩健、乾淨，現金頭寸達到歷史最高水平 4.75 億美元，股本為 8.71 億美元。這使我們的股權比例為 31%。如果我們看一下本季度的現金變動，我們的現金餘額增加了 1.43 億美元，這主要是由於資產負債表優化計劃的完成所致，我們的淨收益為 1.96 億美元。扣除上季度支付的 5400 萬美元股息後，我們最終獲得了 4.75 億美元的歷史新高。

During the quarter, we have been active with our hedging portfolio. We have utilized the market when the interest rates have been high, to lock in the market value on some of our shops. Here, we have -- for those who recall, we had a 2.5 years, $181 million swap at -- where we are paying fixed 0.9%. When the market rate was high at here at 4.8%, we locked in that market value by doing a so-called mirror swap, where we will receive 4.8% fixed and pay the 0.9% to the bank. And that locks in $15 million of market value, which will be distributed back to us over the remaining period of that swap.

本季度，我們一直積極開展對沖投資組合。我們利用利率高的時候的市場，來鎖定我們一些店舖的市場價值。在這裡，我們——對於那些還記得的人來說，我們有一個為期 2.5 年、價值 1.81 億美元的掉期——我們支付固定的 0.9%。當市場利率達到 4.8% 的高位時，我們通過所謂的鏡像掉期鎖定了該市場價值，我們將收到 4.8% 的固定利率，並向銀行支付 0.9% 的利率。這鎖定了 1500 萬美元的市場價值，這些價值將在互換的剩餘時間內分配給我們。

We have also increased our hedging portfolio when the short-term interest rates dropped. In total, we increased with $260 million. And then we also added $50 million of 10-year spot. That gives us a total shop portfolio of $820 million, and as you see at very attractive rates.

當短期利率下降時，我們還增加了對沖投資組合。我們總共增加了 2.6 億美元。然後我們還增加了 5000 萬美元的 10 年期現貨。這使我們的商店投資總額達到 8.2 億美元，而且正如您所見，價格非常有吸引力。

And in combination with the fixed rate elements of our leases of in total here, $205 million, we have a net hedge ratio of 62% and then remaining there around 60% to 65% for the coming quarters. So this is net of the $400 million RCF capacity we have. So by increasing the RCF capacity, we have also effectively increased our hedge ratio.

加上我們租賃總額為 2.05 億美元的固定利率要素，我們的淨對沖比率為 62%，並在未來幾個季度保持在 60% 至 65% 左右。因此，這還不包括我們擁有的 4 億美元 RCF 產能。所以通過增加RCF容量，我們也有效地提高了我們的對沖比率。

So if we look at our financings, we completed the refinancing exercise last quarter with in total 6 vessels. That gives us now a debt funding portfolio where about 50% are long-term leases. And then $441 million of amortized term loans. And then we have the RCF of $400 million, which is bullet for the full tenure of the loans.

因此，如果我們看看我們的融資情況，我們上季度完成了總共 6 艘船的再融資活動。這給了我們現在的債務融資組合，其中約 50% 是長期租賃。然後是 4.41 億美元的攤銷定期貸款。然後我們有 4 億美元的 RCF，這是整個貸款期限的子彈。

And by that, we have pushed out the debt maturity profile. So as already mentioned by ASTM. First maturity is in 2028. And if we utilize an extension option at no cost for two of our leases. The latest one are then to be refinanced in 2035.

至此，我們已經推出了債務到期期限。正如 ASTM 已經提到的。第一個到期日是 2028 年。如果我們對兩個租約免費使用延期選項。最新的一項將於 2035 年進行再融資。

So with that, I hand it back to Oystein.

就這樣，我把它交還給奧伊斯坦。

Thank you, Knut. Okay. Let's have a look at the market. LNG export change in the first 4 months of the year, the period January to end of April, we saw about 5% growth in the market. And for the first time in a long time, actually, the biggest driver was North America because of the outage on the Freeport export terminal in the U.S.

謝謝你，克努特。好的。我們來看看市場。今年前4個月液化天然氣出口變化，從1月到4月底，我們看到市場增長了約5%。實際上，很長一段時間以來第一次，最大的推動力是北美，因為美國自由港出口碼頭出現停電。

So the growth came from Qatar and Australia, the two big other players in the LNG export market and then actually Norway as well where we had the Hammerfest plant running now for the full quarter. Other countries contributed by about 2.5 million tonnes.

因此，增長來自卡塔爾和澳大利亞，這是液化天然氣出口市場的另外兩個主要參與者，實際上還有挪威，我們的哈默菲斯特工廠現在整個季度都在運行。其他國家貢獻了約250萬噸。

On the import side, we do see the same trend we saw last year, where Europe is really gobbling up spot cargoes in order to replace the lost volumes from Russian pipeline gas. So -- and in Asia, it's been a bit slow start for China. Growth was flat during January and February. And then we did see that growth in the Chinese market started to fire up from March and onwards as they have been lessing the -- or basically scrapping the COVID policies they have had in place for some time now.

在進口方面，我們確實看到了去年看到的相同趨勢，歐洲實際上正在吞噬現貨貨物，以彌補俄羅斯管道天然氣損失的數量。因此，在亞洲，中國的起步有點緩慢。一月和二月增長持平。然後我們確實看到，中國市場的增長從 3 月份起開始加速，因為他們已經減少或基本上廢除了一段時間以來實施的新冠疫情政策。

If we look at the gas prices, it's been a very volatile ride last -- during the summer of COVID, European gas prices was as low as $1 per million BTU or translating into, let's call it, $6 per barrel of oil. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, really, we saw a big rally in global LNG prices where Europe bought up a lot of spot cargoes. And we saw a peak of European gas prices at about $100. So we had a rent from $1 to $100 on the gas prices, this equates to about $600 per million for a barrel of oil. But now we have had a big slump in gas prices.

如果我們看一下天然氣價格，就會發現去年的油價波動非常大——在新冠疫情爆發的夏季，歐洲天然氣價格低至每百萬 BTU 1 美元，或者換算成每桶石油 6 美元。事實上，在俄羅斯入侵烏克蘭之後，我們看到全球液化天然氣價格大幅上漲，歐洲購買了大量現貨貨物。我們看到歐洲天然氣價格達到 100 美元左右的峰值。因此，我們根據天然氣價格收取 1 至 100 美元的租金，這相當於每百萬桶石油約 600 美元。但現在汽油價格大幅下跌。

We have had a mild winter here in Europe, and we have also seen the high prices have really incentivized people to cut down consumption and prices have no balance down to around $10, $11 per million BTU. Well actually -- LNG becomes competitive towards oil. Basically, we are now being traded at, let's call it, $60 per barrel of oil equivalent, and that is also feeding up demand from Asia, where we have seen more interest now to buy LNG in the spot market, as prices have come down.

我們在歐洲度過了一個溫和的冬天，我們也看到高價格確實激勵了人們減少消費，並且價格沒有平衡地降至每百萬 BTU 10 至 11 美元左右。事實上，液化天然氣對石油來說已經具有競爭力。基本上，我們現在的交易價格是每桶石油當量 60 美元，這也刺激了亞洲的需求，隨著價格下跌，我們現在看到在現貨市場上購買液化天然氣的興趣越來越大。

Henry Hub is basically flatlined. It's also been quite volatile, but now the prices have really come down in America, which means that it's still with $10, $11 for the spot prices. It's immensely profitable to sell these cargoes into the global market from the U.S. market.

亨利港基本上是平坦的。它也相當不穩定，但現在美國的價格確實下降了，這意味著現貨價格仍然是 10 美元、11 美元。將這些貨物從美國市場銷往全球市場是非常有利可圖的。

So in terms of America, we do see here the growth in exports. We had in -- during COVID, of course, we had a lot of voluntary cancellations. We had some cancellation during the big [freeze] in February 2021. And now last summer, when you had the explosion at the Freeport terminal in U.S., we have had significant downtime on the plant. It's now bounced back.

因此，就美國而言，我們確實看到了出口的增長。當然，在新冠疫情期間，我們有很多人自願取消預訂。在 2021 年 2 月的大[凍結]期間，我們取消了一些工作。去年夏天，當美國自由港碼頭髮生爆炸時，我們的工廠出現了嚴重的停機時間。現在已經反彈了。

But in total, 128 cargoes assumed by S&P Global that has been canceled or 9.5 million tonnes, but now exports are ramping up again. And we do see and expect that U.S. will become the biggest export of LNG in 2023 with pretty healthy growth, 14% according to EIA for the year.

但標普全球總共取消了 128 批貨物，即 950 萬噸，但現在出口量再次增加。我們確實看到並預計美國將在 2023 年成為最大的液化天然氣出口國，並且增長相當健康，根據 EIA 的數據，今年將增長 14%。

The other big player in the LNG market is, of course, China. So China became the biggest importer in 2021, so passing Japan at about 80 million tonnes, equivalent of imports, which is basically the production of U.S. last year. So far, we -- this is something we follow closely to see how the reopening of China is affecting demand.

液化天然氣市場的另一個重要參與者當然是中國。因此，中國在2021年成為最大的進口國，從而超過日本，進口量約為8000萬噸，相當於美國去年的產量。到目前為止，我們密切關注中國的重新開放如何影響需求。

And I guess it's a big million dollar question for most investors these days. We saw flat growth in January and February, as I mentioned, but then we saw LNG demand picking up March and April, which have on average, 17% growth for those 2 months. So it's a bit too early to conclude, but there are some positive sentiments towards Chinese imports and especially when prices are at these kind of levels.

我想這對當今大多數投資者來說都是一個價值數百萬美元的大問題。正如我提到的，我們在 1 月和 2 月看到了平穩增長，但隨後我們看到 3 月和 4 月液化天然氣需求回升，這 2 個月平均增長了 17%。因此，現在下結論還為時過早，但人們對中國進口產品抱有一些積極的情緒，尤其是當價格處於這樣的水平時。

EIA and energy aspect expects Chinese LNG demand to grow 10%, 15% this year, which will then result in China going from about 64 million tonnes of imports last year to about 70 million tonnes, but this is still 10 million tonnes below the imports of 2021. So we do expect to see continued growth of the Chinese market and the Chinese buyers are signing up to a lot of [SPAs]. China has contracted LNG volumes of around 70 million tonnes, but they are big buyers of new volumes as well. So the story about Chinese LNG import growth is far from over.

EIA和能源方面預計，今年中國液化天然氣需求將增長10%、15%，這將導致中國進口量從去年的約6400萬噸增至約7000萬噸，但這仍比進口量低1000萬噸2021 年。因此，我們確實預計中國市場將持續增長，並且中國買家正在簽署大量 [SPA]。中國已簽訂約 7000 萬噸液化天然氣合同，但他們也是新產量的大買家。因此，中國液化天然氣進口增長的故事還遠未結束。

As I mentioned, European gas market has had a lot of focus with the situation in Ukraine and with the Russian pipeline gas flows tapering off. We have in Europe this year, been in Cadillac. It's been a very mild winter. And this, together with the high prices have resulted in a lot less gas demand in Europe which have then resulted in storage levels, keeping up at pretty good level.

正如我所提到的，歐洲天然氣市場非常關注烏克蘭局勢和俄羅斯管道天然氣流量的逐漸減少。今年我們在歐洲，開的是凱迪拉克。這是一個非常溫和的冬天。再加上高價格，導致歐洲的天然氣需求大幅減少，從而導致儲存水平保持在相當不錯的水平。

We have seen storage levels above historical range. The injection season now is a bit slow. So we are getting into the customary range for development of the gas storage level. So the big question this year is how strong will the import demand be from Asia, how fields will competition be in terms of prices will Europe then be able to get these inventories levels up to a satisfactory level before winter. And as I mentioned, again, the drivers there in the market is the competition between Asian and European Gas demand.

我們已經看到存儲水平高於歷史範圍。現在註射季節有點慢。因此，我們正在進入儲氣庫水平發展的常規範圍。因此，今年的大問題是來自亞洲的進口需求有多強勁，價格競爭如何，歐洲能否在冬季之前將這些庫存水平提高到令人滿意的水平。正如我再次提到的，市場的驅動因素是亞洲和歐洲天然氣需求之間的競爭。

Let's see spot rates or the freight market, we are not really that exposed to the freight -- spot freight market any longer. 12 or (inaudible) ships are on long-term charters with a fixed rate. We have one ship, which has been on a variable higher TC or which is on our variable higher TC (inaudible)

讓我們看看即期運費或貨運市場，我們不再真正接觸貨運——即期貨運市場。 12 艘或（聽不清）船舶採用固定費率長期租用。我們有一艘船，已處於可變較高 TC 狀態或處於我們的可變較高 TC 狀態（聽不清）

Q1, pretty good levels here. You can see on the light blue line on the left-hand side that the market during Q1 was pretty good, but has followed the seasonal normal usually rates come down to earth during the spin. Right now, we are basically on our average level for the last couple of years.

Q1，這裡的水平相當不錯。您可以在左側的淺藍色線上看到，第一季度的市場相當不錯，但遵循季節性正常，通常利率在旋轉期間會回落。目前，我們基本上處於過去幾年的平均水平。

And then this dotted line is where the future market is. So as I mentioned, when we have been guiding on revenues for Q3 and Q4, we do expect to do that reality will follow this path where rates are expected to be in the $200,000 plus at the end of the year.

那麼這條虛線就是未來市場所在的地方。正如我所提到的，當我們對第三季度和第四季度的收入進行指導時，我們確實預計現實將遵循這樣的路徑，預計年底費率將在 20 萬美元以上。

Another thing to note, we have mentioned this also in the past is the fact that a lot of the big players there, they have chartered-in ships on longer-term contracts. And there's really a few independent owners left in the spot market, which means that most of the fixtures, which there are a few of, but the ones being concluded is mostly of relets where people with -- or players, traders, portfolio players with the gap in the program or subletting our ships for shorter duration voyages, while independent owners are very limited involvement in the spot market these days.

另一件需要注意的事情是，我們過去也提到過這一點，因為那裡的許多大公司都以長期合同租用船舶。現貨市場上確實還剩下一些獨立所有者，這意味著大多數固定裝置（其中有一些，但正在達成的固定裝置大部分是轉租的，其中的人或球員、交易員、投資組合球員）計劃中的差距或將我們的船舶轉租用於較短的航程，而如今獨立船東對現貨市場的參與非常有限。

So another reason why we are a bit about the long-term outlook is new building prices, which have just keep on moving upwards. We are at around $260 million for new building prices for LNG carrier today, you are quite lucky if you managed to get still a ship for 2027. The window is now closing in on 2028 deliveries. So these ships that have this price tag for delivery of 2027, '28, those are the ones we are competing with.

因此，我們對長期前景有所關注的另一個原因是新建建築價格，其價格一直在上漲。目前，液化天然氣運輸船的新建價格約為 2.6 億美元，如果您能在 2027 年仍能買到一艘船，那您就非常幸運了。2028 年的交付窗口現已接近。因此，這些標有 2027 年、28 年交付價格標籤的船舶，就是我們正在競爭的船舶。

And in order to get a reasonable return on your capital when making such a big investment, you need higher rates. And that's where rates have gone. The 5-year time charter rate has stabilized at a very attractive level of around $135,000. But actually, to be fair, most people who are ordering ships at $260 million, they are not looking for 5-year time charters. They are looking for time charters of 10 years plus. So that's the one we are competing with, and that makes us upbeat about being able to extend our ships for longer duration at higher rates eventually when they come open, as we have demonstrated our ability to do also in the past.

為了在進行如此大的投資時獲得合理的資本回報，您需要更高的利率。這就是利率的去向。 5 年期定期租船費率已穩定在 135,000 美元左右的極具吸引力的水平。但實際上，公平地說，大多數以 2.6 億美元訂購船舶的人並不是尋求 5 年期租船合同。他們正在尋找 10 年以上的定期租船合同。這就是我們正在競爭的，這讓我們對最終在船舶開放時能夠以更高的速度延長船舶的使用壽命感到樂觀，正如我們過去也證明了我們有能力做到這一點。

So if we look at the order book, it's huge and it's been -- keep ongoing. We have seen some slower activity on ordering given the lack of available slots and given where prices have been going. But a positive sign is at least that there's not a lot of speculative orders. Most of the ships, about 90% of the ships under construction are committed to long-term contracts. And as I mentioned here, you can see that the order book for 2028 now is already filling up.

因此，如果我們看一下訂單簿，就會發現它很大，而且一直在持續下去。由於缺乏可用位置以及價格走勢，我們發現訂購活動有所放緩。但至少一個積極的跡像是，投機訂單不多。大多數船舶，大約90%的在建船舶都簽訂了長期合同。正如我在這裡提到的，您可以看到 2028 年的訂單現在已經填滿了。

So if we look at the product markets, the installed capacity of LNG exports at the end of March was about 465 million tonnes, I -- we are not utilizing the full capacity. We do expect total export for 2023 to be around 415 million to 420 million tonnes. So there are some downtime on installed capacity.

所以如果我們看一下產品市場，3月底液化天然氣出口裝機量約為4.65億噸，我——我們沒有充分利用產能。我們預計 2023 年出口總量約為 4.15 億至 4.2 億噸。因此，裝機容量會出現一些停機時間。

There is also a lot of capacity being constructed, especially in North America and then, of course, in Qatar, where they have a huge expansion. So if you look at the projects being under construction, and coming on stream near term, this volume goes up to $621 million.

還有大量產能正在建設中，特別是在北美，當然還有卡塔爾，他們在那裡進行了大規模擴張。因此，如果你看看正在建設和近期投產的項目，這個金額將高達 6.21 億美元。

And we do expect more projects still to be sanctioned. So we are looking here at the market of, let's call it, around 770 million tonnes in 2030. And this growth of liquefaction capacity together with the phaseout of older steam tonnage is what is attracting demand for modern ships like we have in our portfolio.

我們確實預計還會有更多項目獲得批准。因此，我們正在關注 2030 年約 7.7 億噸的市場。液化能力的增長以及老式蒸汽噸位的逐步淘汰正在吸引對我們投資組合中的現代船舶的需求。

So that's it. I think we can then conclude by going through the highlights just shortly mentioned revenues in line with our guidance, $92.5 million. We had average time charter equivalent earnings of about $80,000 also in line with our guidance. This resulted in adjusted net income of $35.2 million or $0.66 per share. We have completed the balance sheet optimization program.

就是這樣了。我認為我們可以通過回顧一下剛才提到的重點內容來得出結論，收入符合我們的指導，即 9250 萬美元。我們的平均定期租船等值收入約為 80,000 美元，也符合我們的指導。調整後淨利潤為 3520 萬美元，即每股 0.66 美元。我們已經完成了資產負債表優化計劃。

It's been a process now going on for about one half year, where we refinanced all the 13 ships and boosting our cash balance, as I mentioned, at $475 million of cash at hand, at quarter end or $9 per share. We have started our drydocking schedule. Everything is going well. Both two force ships have been completed according to schedule and budget, and we are now planning for the two last dry dockings for the year or expected to take place in June.

這個過程已經持續了大約半年，我們為所有 13 艘船進行了再融資，並增加了我們的現金餘額，正如我提到的，季度末手頭現金達到 4.75 億美元，即每股 9 美元。我們已經開始了乾船塢計劃。一切進行得都很順利。兩艘部隊艦艇均已按計劃和預算完成，我們現在正在計劃今年最後兩次幹船塢或預計在六月進行。

We are reaffirming our revenue guidance for the year, $370 million. Revenues next quarter will be a bit softer because of these dry dockings, but ships will be in operation, again, full capacity from Q3 where revenues are expected to pick up again. So with a good financial position and our big charter backlog. We are pleased to once again pay out $0.75 per share in dividends or $3.75 per share in the last 12 months, which I hope give our investors an attractive yield investing in Flex.

我們重申今年的收入指引為 3.7 億美元。由於這些幹船塢的存在，下季度的收入將有所下降，但船舶將再次投入運營，從第三季度開始滿負荷運營，預計收入將再次回升。因此，我們擁有良好的財務狀況和大量的包機積壓。我們很高興再次派發每股 0.75 美元的股息，即過去 12 個月每股 3.75 美元的股息，我希望這能為我們的投資者投資 Flex 帶來有吸引力的收益。

So with that, I think we take a short break before we come back with our Q&A session where, as I mentioned, you can win our Flex on the beach summer kit. Thank you.

因此，我想我們先休息一下，然後再回來進行問答環節，正如我提到的，您可以贏得我們的 Flex on 海灘夏季套裝。謝謝。

Okay, Knut. I think before we start with questions, maybe we can show the gift we have this time. This time, we have a summer team, as I mentioned, Flex on the beach, beach tower, together, of course, you need some protection with Flex on the Beach, Sunscreen or cap, of course. We have to include the isle of dividends T-shirt this time as well. And lastly, our sunglasses. So let's see who will win this nice summer package -- and I think we have a lot of questions today.

好吧，克努特。我想在我們開始提問之前，也許我們可以展示一下我們這次擁有的天賦。這次，我們有一個夏季團隊，正如我提到的，Flex on the beach，海灘塔，一起，當然，你需要一些保護，比如Flex on the Beach，防曬霜或帽子。這次我們還必須包括紅利島 T 卹。最後是我們的太陽鏡。那麼讓我們看看誰將贏得這個精彩的夏季套餐——我想我們今天有很多問題。

Yes. Thanks a lot for the questions coming in. There's a lot of questions, and we'll try to take them in order and sequence. But maybe we can start off a question forwarded from the investor Janne Harrington. She was on CNBC and put up a couple of questions, and they've been forwarded. Okay. So -- and that starts off with how does the low natural gas prices in the U.S. impact Flex LNG?

是的。非常感謝您提出的問題。問題很多，我們會盡力按順序回答它們。但也許我們可以從投資者 Janne Harrington 轉發的問題開始。她在 CNBC 節目中提出了幾個問題，這些問題已被轉發。好的。那麼，首先是美國的低天然氣價格對 Flex LNG 有何影響？

It's a complex question. That's a more answer than just one. It's short term and long term. Of course, in the long term, if prices for natural gas stays very low in U.S., of course, this will (inaudible) new drilling activity, which is, of course, crucial in order to hold production up. This has not been a problem so far. We set new records all the time on U.S. gas production. And one of the reason is that wells are becoming more gaseous as you are drilling. But you need to have a sustainable return on equity on our capital in this project.

這是一個複雜的問題。這不僅僅是一個答案。這是短期和長期的。當然，從長遠來看，如果美國天然氣價格保持在非常低的水平，這當然會（聽不清）新的鑽探活動，這對於保持產量至關重要。到目前為止這還不是問題。我們一直在創造美國天然氣產量的新記錄。原因之一是，在鑽井過程中，油井中的氣體變得越來越多。但您需要在這個項目中獲得可持續的股本回報。

So we don't really like that prices are this low. Of course, short term, is that means that exporting cargoes out of U.S. is very profitable because the price difference between U.S. gas prices and international gas prices are bigger, which means that those people exporting cargoes are making more money on LNG, and this is also the case actually on LPG.

所以我們真的不喜歡價格這麼低。當然，短期來看，這意味著從美國出口貨物是非常有利可圖的，因為美國天然氣價格與國際天然氣價格之間的價差更大，這意味著那些出口貨物的人在液化天然氣上賺了更多錢，這是液化石油氣的實際情況也是如此。

So it's a bit like the story about Goldilocks. You don't want it to be too hot. You don't want it to be too cold, so you need to find some kind of sweet spot. I think luckily, of course, most -- a lot of the wells, you're not really drilling for gas, some -- the wells you're also drilling for oil and the gas is just associated gas. So you also have to see it in connection with oil prices, which have been pretty firm.

這有點像金發姑娘的故事。你不想讓它太熱。你不想讓它太冷，所以你需要找到某種最佳點。我認為幸運的是，當然，大多數——很多井，你並不是真正在鑽探天然氣，有些——你也在鑽探石油，而天然氣只是伴生氣。因此，你還必須將其與油價聯繫起來，油價一直相當堅挺。

So as long as oil price is pretty firm, you will be drilling for oil and usually then you will find associated gas. But where you are looking for dry gas, you need probably to have higher prices in the U.S. than what you have had today. But keep in mind, gas prices in U.S. has also been quite volatile where there have been periods of time where people have been taking in also on selling gas domestically in the U.S.

因此，只要油價相當堅挺，您就會鑽探石油，通常會發現伴生天然氣。但是，當您尋找乾燥天然氣時，您在美國可能需要比現在更高的價格。但請記住，美國的天然氣價格也相當波動，有一段時間人們也開始在美國國內銷售天然氣。

And then it's a question on shipping, and shipping has historically been a volatile sector or there are different segments into it. But mentions that historically, investors have been burned on shipping companies. What's the difference with Flex? Does the charter agreements make it different than other shipping companies?

然後是航運問題，航運歷史上一直是一個不穩定的行業，或者有不同的細分市場。但他提到，從歷史上看，投資者一直對航運公司感到惱火。與Flex有什麼區別？包機協議是否使其與其他航運公司有所不同？

Of course, shipping has always been volatile. So it's a derivative of the global GDP and usually trade historically, at least, have been growing quicker than GDP. But this was also a problem on the downside when GDP growth slows less shipping activity.

當然，運輸一直不穩定。因此，它是全球 GDP 的衍生品，並且至少從歷史上看，貿易的增長速度通常快於 GDP 的增長。但當 GDP 增長放緩、航運活動減少時，這也是一個負面問題。

I think what makes Flex difference from most commodity shipping segments, is, of course, the fact that we have taken out a lot of this commercial risk by fixing our ships on long-term charters where we have very high level of earnings visibility. And this, you can also see earnings and revenues.

我認為，偉創力與大多數大宗商品運輸領域的不同之處在於，我們通過長期租船租賃船舶，消除了很多商業風險，我們的盈利能見度非常高。而且，您還可以看到收益和收入。

So if you look at the revenue graph we're showing for the guidance for this year, there's various small changes in the revenues from one quarter to the next because of the stability. We have two long-term charters. And also actually, revenues are quite stable over the years, not only the quarters. So I think we are different in that regard because we have a bit different commercial strategy than most commodity shipping companies.

因此，如果您查看我們為今年的指導而顯示的收入圖表，就會發現由於穩定性，從一個季度到下一個季度的收入都會出現各種小變化。我們有兩個長期章程。事實上，多年來的收入相當穩定，而不僅僅是季度。所以我認為我們在這方面有所不同，因為我們的商業策略與大多數商品運輸公司有所不同。

And that brings us into the dividend and how secure it is with the U.S. treasury yielding 5% is flex an alternative for people looking for higher yield?

這讓我們想到了股息，以及美國國債收益率 5% 的安全性如何，對於尋求更高收益率的人們來說，這是一個靈活的選擇嗎？

Yes. [Sailors] have had a bad time since global financial crisis because, actually, they have had pretty bad the last 40 years or so because interest rate been going down and the yield you are getting on your savings become less and less -- more or less every year. Now the last year or so, it's been picking up, but real interest rate has been still been pretty low because of the high level of inflation.

是的。自全球金融危機以來，[水手們]的日子很不好過，因為事實上，他們在過去 40 年左右的時間裡過得很糟糕，因為利率一直在下降，你的儲蓄收益變得越來越少——更多或更多每年都少。去年左右，利率一直在回升，但由於通脹水平較高，實際利率仍然很低。

Yes, 5% is the short-term interest rate today. I don't -- but markets don't really think that yields will stay at this elevated level short term, while 1-year treasury yields is 4.8% today. 3-year is 4%. And then if you go all the way to 10 years, you are back to 3.5%. So I think if you are investing for income investing, what you're getting in a safe asset today.

是的，5% 就是今天的短期利率。我不這麼認為，但市場並不真正認為收益率短期內會保持在如此高的水平，而目前 1 年期國債收益率為 4.8%。 3年期是4%。然後，如果一直持續到 10 年，就會回到 3.5%。所以我認為，如果你是為了收益投資而投資，那麼你今天所獲得的就是安全資產。

Let's see, we have a debt ceiling coming up (inaudible), but it's a fairly safe investment tenure government bonds in the U.S. That gives you 3.5%. We are giving a much better return. As I mentioned, about 11% yield here the last 12 months based on the dividend. Of course, this dividend is also safe in the fact that we have no ships open this year. The earliest possible ship is next year where we have this 95% coverage if you assume options will not be exercised.

讓我們看看，我們的債務上限即將到來（聽不清），但這是美國相當安全的投資期限政府債券，利率為 3.5%。我們正在給予更好的回報。正如我提到的，根據股息計算，過去 12 個月的收益率約為 11%。當然，這個紅利也是安全的，因為我們今年沒有船舶開放。最早可能的船舶是明年，如果您認為不會行使選擇權，我們的覆蓋率將達到 95%。

We think it's more probable than not. And actually then the first open ship is 2027. So that gives us a very visible cash flow of income, which, as we have also said in the presentation, these earnings belong to the shareholder, and we are motivated to pay that out as dividend and that should give you a much better yield than what you are getting on government bonds these days.

我們認為這更有可能。實際上，第一艘開放船是 2027 年。因此，這給了我們非常明顯的收入現金流，正如我們在演示中所說，這些收入屬於股東，我們有動力將其作為股息支付這應該會給你帶來比現在購買政府債券更高的收益。

So then let's turn to the questions on the market. What's your outlook for your LNG transport out of U.S. for 2023, 2024?

那麼接下來我們來看看市場上的問題。您對 2023 年和 2024 年美國液化天然氣運輸的前景如何？

I think last quarter, our Q4 report, we had a graph on our projected supply situation for 2023. We are assuming 16 million tonnes of growth growing global exports going from 400 million to 416 million. And this might be a bit low when we see the EIA numbers. But half of that is U.S. So kind of the free port coming back on stream is most of this effect. And then the remaining growth is from rest of the world.

我認為上個季度，我們的第四季度報告，我們繪製了 2023 年預計供應情況的圖表。我們假設全球出口量增長 1600 萬噸，從 4 億噸增長到 4.16 億噸。當我們看到 EIA 數據時，這個數字可能有點低。但其中一半來自美國，因此自由港的恢復是這種影響的主要部分。剩下的增長來自世界其他地區。

2024 will be a year where we will have very muted export growth. But then from '25 and onwards, there will be more exports. So that's why we feel it's been a good strategy for us to fix our ship in this window where global growth in exports will be low before this all takes off again from '25, '26, '27 onwards when our ships are coming up.

2024 年我們的出口增長將非常緩慢。但從25年起，將會有更多的出口。因此，我們認為，在全球出口增長較低的時期修復我們的船舶是一個很好的策略，然後從 25 年、26 年、27 年開始，當我們的船舶即將到來時，這一切都會再次起飛。

And we then look at the import regions. Last year and this year, there's been a lot of imports to Europe. Is Europe and EU an important market for Flex?

然後我們看看進口地區。去年和今年，歐洲有大量進口。歐洲和歐盟是偉創力的重要市場嗎？

Yes. It's not really we who decide where the cargoes will be flowing. We charter auto ships on time charter. So the charter will then have the opportunity to trade the ship worldwide, including Europe, and they actually instruct us where the ship will be going. So we don't really have an impact on that. They are deciding where they find the best price for the cargoes.

是的。真正決定貨物流向何處的並不是我們。我們以定期租船方式租用汽車船。因此，租船人將有機會在包括歐洲在內的全球範圍內交易該船，並且他們實際上會指示我們該船將前往何處。所以我們對此並沒有真正的影響。他們正在決定在哪裡找到最優惠的貨物價格。

But of course, with all the Russian gas coming through pipelines, which has been shut down, this means that Europe has a large deficit of gas. And basically, what they have been doing now for the last year or so is to replace some of that Russian pipeline gas with LNG.

但當然，由於所有俄羅斯天然氣都通過已關閉的管道輸送，這意味著歐洲存在大量天然氣短缺。基本上，他們在過去一年左右的時間裡一直在做的就是用液化天然氣取代部分俄羅斯管道天然氣。

Of course, there are not enough LNG to fill the whole gap, and that's why Europe needs to be a bit patient here until new LNG is coming on stream. And until that, you will have a pretty tight market where we have seen prices at a level which has been demand destructing. Right now, prices come down to more fairly normal levels, but expectations is for higher prices when we're coming into the peak winter seasons.

當然，沒有足夠的液化天然氣來填補整個缺口，這就是為什麼歐洲需要有點耐心，直到新的液化天然氣投產。在那之前，市場將非常緊張，我們看到價格處於破壞需求的水平。目前，價格已降至較為正常的水平，但當我們進入冬季旺季時，預計價格會更高。

And now with LNG pricing, being more moderated. Have you seen Asia return to the import?

現在液化天然氣的定價更加溫和。你看到亞洲回歸進口了嗎？

Yes. We've shown it in a couple of graphs here that we see some more growth from Asia. We do see this also in the routing of our ships. We see more ships going to Asia than have been the case recently. And of course, suddenly then when LNG in (inaudible), let's call it, 20%, 25% discount to oil and coal prices are pretty elevated as well. That is stimulating demand.

是的。我們在這裡的幾張圖表中顯示，我們看到亞洲出現了更多的增長。我們在船舶航線中也確實看到了這一點。我們看到前往亞洲的船隻比最近有所增加。當然，突然之間，當液化天然氣出現時（聽不清），我們可以稱之為，石油和煤炭價格的 20%、25% 折扣也相當高。這就是刺激需求。

And I think it's stimulating demand at a good time also because inflation has been high in Europe because of the high gas prices with the energy prices coming down now that will put less pressure on the inflation. And of course, with China reflecting their economy having actually cheaper energy prices will probably help in the recovery of the Chinese economy as well.

我認為這在一個很好的時機刺激了需求，因為歐洲的通貨膨脹一直很高，因為天然氣價格很高，而現在能源價格下降，這將減輕通貨膨脹的壓力。當然，隨著中國經濟的反映，能源價格實際上更便宜，也可能有助於中國經濟的複蘇。

Then we have a question from Mike (inaudible) which goes more on the fleet and the steam tankers. It's a topic you've covered over the years. But it's been mentioned that this will be uncompetitive and scrapped and that has not materialized [yet].

然後邁克（聽不清）提出了一個問題，更多關於船隊和蒸汽油輪。這是您多年來一直討論的主題。但有人提到，這將缺乏競爭力並被廢棄，而且尚未實現。

There's been some swapping, but it's been very low. And of course, the reason for that is that the shipping market has been tight. There has been to solve -- in Paris, it's been a total lack of ships available in the market.

雖然有一些交換，但交換的比例非常低。當然，原因是航運市場一直吃緊。有一個問題需要解決——在巴黎，市場上完全缺乏可用的船舶。

So when we have such high rates, people are trading the ships longer because still even our steamship which has a lot of disadvantages compared to modern ships. They can still make a decent return. And I think as long as that is the case, the people have been trading them. And also keep in mind, a lot of new regulation came in force from 2023 and onwards.

因此，當我們有如此高的利率時，人們交易船舶的時間會更長，因為即使是我們的輪船與現代船舶相比也有很多缺點。他們仍然可以獲得可觀的回報。我認為只要是這種情況，人們就一直在交易它們。另請記住，許多新法規自 2023 年起生效。

So eventually, as this regulation is tightened in terms of the [CII] requirements, also the European carbon taxation, which is becoming increasingly more expensive to comply with. That will reduce the fleet of steamships going forward. So it's taken maybe a bit more time than some people expected, but this is mostly due to the very favorable freight economics, which then results in those ships leaving a bit longer than maybe some people anticipated.

因此，最終，隨著這項法規根據 [CII] 要求收緊，歐洲碳稅也變得更加嚴格，而遵守碳稅的成本也越來越高。這將減少未來的輪船船隊。因此，這可能比一些人預期的時間要多一些，但這主要是由於非常有利的貨運經濟，這導致這些船隻離開的時間比一些人預期的要長一些。

Then we have questions on the open vessels in 2027. So if we start off with what timing of securing a contract that. Is it more realistic that these charters will be signed in 12, 24 or 36 months?

然後我們對 2027 年開放船舶有疑問。因此，如果我們從獲得合同的時間開始。這些章程將在 12、24 或 36 個月內簽署是否更現實？

Yes. I think we evidenced it last year. When I went to our fleet list, we showed several of our ships. We extended quite a lot of ships last year. Most recently in November, we extended ships, which were not coming open before '26 for longer durations, all the way, possibly to 2033.

是的。我想我們去年就證明了這一點。當我查看我們的艦隊列表時，我們展示了幾艘船隻。去年我們擴建了相當多的船舶。最近一次是在 11 月，我們將 26 年之前不會開放的船舶延長了更長的持續時間，一直到可能到 2033 年。

So we do see people now looking for ships for '27, even people looking for ships for '28. There are tenders, there are discussions in the market. So I think we are well positioned to participate in those discussions. And as I mentioned here, we are competing against very expensive ships that need a high charter rate and probably a duration in order to defend that investment.

因此，我們確實看到人們現在正在尋找 27 年的船舶，甚至人們正在尋找 28 年的船舶。有招標，有市場討論。所以我認為我們有能力參與這些討論。正如我在這裡提到的，我們正在與非常昂貴的船舶競爭，這些船舶需要較高的租船費率和可能的期限才能捍衛這項投資。

So I think I wouldn't rule out that we will be able to also this year, add more backlog to the fleet, let's say, we have 13 ships in operation. So every year, we are losing 13 years of backlog. Hopefully, we will be able to add more than 13 years of backlog so that actually we are not eating off that backlog, but rather expanding our backlog that I would say would be the aim, and I don't rule out that happening within 12 months rather than the 24 or 36 months.

所以我認為我不排除今年我們能夠為船隊增加更多的積壓訂單，比方說，我們有 13 艘船在運營。因此，我們每年都會失去 13 年的積壓。希望我們能夠增加超過 13 年的積壓，這樣實際上我們就不會吃掉這些積壓，而是擴大我們的積壓，我想說這將是我們的目標，而且我不排除在 12 年內發生這種情況個月而不是 24 或 36 個月。

And a question from (inaudible). Considering the aging technology gap between 2027 newbuilding and the two stocks in the Flex fleet. Will the vessels achieve the same market rates as a new building?

還有（聽不清）的問題。考慮到 2027 年新造船與 Flex 船隊中的兩艘船之間的老化技術差距。這些船舶能否達到與新船相同的市場價格？

Yes, I think so because kind of the change in technology that has happened has, of course, happened abruptly. We had from steam to 4 stock medium-speed diesel electric ships and then eventually to the Direct Drive slow speed 2 stock ships. As you can see from the pictures here, we have both on the front page and on the docking slide, the ships are in time condition.

是的，我這麼認為，因為所發生的技術變革當然是突然發生的。我們擁有從蒸汽船到 4 艘中速柴油電動船的庫存，然後最終到 2 艘直驅慢速庫存船。正如您從這裡的圖片中看到的那樣，我們在首頁和停靠幻燈片上都顯示了船舶處於正常狀態。

When they come out of yard, they look brand-new. And the propulsion system is actually the same you have in the new builds. It's a slope speed to stock engine. There might be some more gadget on a new ship for delivery '27, '28.

當它們從院子裡出來時，它們看起來煥然一新。推進系統實際上與新版本中的相同。這是庫存發動機的斜率速度。一艘新船上可能會有更多的小玩意兒，將於 27 年、28 年交付。

Maybe they have air lubrication system. But so far, the effect of the air lubrication systems have been -- not everybody is as happy with it as the poster promised. Some ships might have a shaft generator, but that doesn't really affect much on the fuel consumption. It's really more effects on the OpEx cost or the maintenance costs. So there's not really any change in fuel cost in that sense.

也許他們有空氣潤滑系統。但到目前為止，空氣潤滑系統的效果並不是每個人都像海報上承諾的那樣滿意。有些船舶可能配備軸帶發電機，但這實際上對燃油消耗影響不大。這對運營成本或維護成本的影響確實更大。因此，從這個意義上說，燃料成本實際上並沒有任何變化。

So three of our ships have full relic systems. Four of them have partial relic systems. So I think these are comparable to the new modern ships that are being built now to $260 million. And also, actually, there is some benefit, the fact that most of our ships are sisterships. They have been trading on most important export terminals, and they already cleared.

所以我們的三艘船擁有完整的遺物系統。其中四個擁有部分遺物系統。所以我認為這些與現在正在建造的價值 2.6 億美元的新型現代船舶相當。而且，實際上，有一些好處，事實上我們的大多數船隻都是姐妹船。他們一直在最重要的出口碼頭進行交易，並且已經清關。

So every time you go to a new terminal, you need to do a ship [show] compatibility study. We have done a lot of them. So all our ships more or less are kind of already vetted and approved for most terminals around the world. So -- so maybe there might be a small discount given the fact they are not as brand new, but the technology is basically the same.

所以每次去一個新的碼頭，都需要做一次船舶[show]兼容性研究。我們已經做了很多。因此，我們所有的船舶或多或少都已經過世界各地大多數碼頭的審查和批准。因此，考慮到它們不是全新的，也許可能會有小折扣，但技術基本上是相同的。

And then we have -- moving on to the more on the balance sheet and the financing and Scott McFadden been looking at our long-term debt and total liabilities. It's been rising over the past quarters. He would like us to discuss our attitude towards the total debt levels. And if we have any plans to reduce that.

然後我們繼續關注資產負債表和融資方面的更多內容，斯科特·麥克法登一直在研究我們的長期債務和總負債。過去幾個季度一直在上升。他希望我們討論我們對總債務水平的態度。如果我們有任何計劃來減少這種情況。

Maybe you should answer that.

也許你應該回答這個問題。

Yes. So we completed this balance sheet optimization program, basically refinancing the full 13 vessel fleet. That has been -- the background for that was the transition for Flex, both on the backlog of contracts that's been building up and increasing over time. That gives us access to new capital or to new debt at better terms.

是的。所以我們完成了這個資產負債表優化計劃，基本上是為全部 13 艘船隊進行再融資。其背景是 Flex 的轉型，積壓的合同隨著時間的推移不斷積累和增加。這使我們能夠以更好的條件獲得新資本或新債務。

So we have increased our repayment profiles, reduced our credit margins, improved the maturity profile. So that's the argument for us for refinancing the full fleet. And then we have not really pushed for higher leverage, but we have released 400 -- nearly $400 million of cash, and that has been structured as a bullet RCF.

因此，我們增加了還款額度，降低了信用保證金，改善了到期期限。這就是我們為整個機隊進行再融資的理由。然後我們並沒有真正推動更高的槓桿率，但我們已經釋放了 400 美元——近 4 億美元的現金，並且已經被構建為子彈 RCF。

So if we have excess cash, we can reduce the RCF and thereby also implicit the debt level as long as we don't need the cash. But it gives us the flexibility to act and support the business going forward.

因此，如果我們有多餘的現金，只要我們不需要現金，我們就可以減少 RCF，從而隱含債務水平。但它使我們能夠靈活地採取行動並支持業務的發展。

Yes. So it means it's not amortizing for those who is not into refining industry and means really, we have like a big $400 million credit line available at basically 3 days notice. We pay only around 0.7% interest rate per annum in the commitment fee to keep it around. -- and it gives us a lot of financial flexibility. We don't utilize this at all time. We utilized at quarter end to show that we have this cash available, but it's a low cost of having. And also another factor here is that we have had the best financing market, I would say, since 2007. I was doing ship financing back then.

是的。因此，這意味著對於那些不參與煉油行業的人來說，它不會進行攤銷，實際上，我們有大約 4 億美元的大額信貸額度，基本上可以提前 3 天通知。我們只支付約 0.7% 的年利率來維持承諾費。 ——它給我們帶來了很大的財務靈活性。我們並不總是使用這個。我們在季度末利用這些現金來表明我們擁有可用現金，但擁有成本很低。這裡的另一個因素是，我想說，自 2007 年以來，我們擁有最好的融資市場。當時我正在做船舶融資。

Last time, we had something similar good financing market, I would say, was 2014, our CFO then, and I did about $2 billion of financing that year. I think actually 2022 has been a better financing market for us. So (inaudible) been doing then yes, basically $2 billion of financing.

上次我們有類似的良好融資市場，我想說，是在 2014 年，當時我們的首席財務官，那一年我進行了大約 20 億美元的融資。我認為實際上 2022 年對我們來說是一個更好的融資市場。所以（聽不清）一直在做，是的，基本上是 20 億美元的融資。

And then we have secured that financing for a very long period of time from 2028 to 2035. So that financed and locked in on very good terms, terms which I don't think is replicable today given where funding costs from banks have gone up since the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, Credit Suisse First Republic.

然後我們在 2028 年到 2035 年的很長一段時間內獲得了融資。因此，融資並鎖定在非常好的條件下，考慮到銀行的融資成本自那時以來一直在上升，我認為這些條件在今天是不可複制的。矽谷銀行瑞士信貸第一共和國倒閉。

So I think we are in very good shape. You should finance -- get financing when a ship and lock it in, and that's exactly what we've done.

所以我認為我們的狀態非常好。你應該融資——當一艘船開始融資並將其鎖定時，這正是我們所做的。

And on the graph we have on the -- or the slide we have on the balance sheet, you see there that the book values on our balance sheet is based on nearly all-time low vessel values when they were acquired. So if you look at the leverage levels on the book values, they are rather conservative compared to the market values and also considering the contract backlog that we have.

在我們的圖表上，或者在資產負債表上的幻燈片上，您可以看到我們資產負債表上的賬面價值是基於收購時幾乎歷史最低的船舶價值。因此，如果您查看賬面價值的槓桿水平，就會發現與市場價值相比，它們相當保守，並且考慮到我們的合同積壓。

Yes. And we are contracted ships when they were cheap, we tried to as good as we can lock them in on long-term charters when rates are high and then finance them when liquidity is plentiful and cheap. So I think we've done a pretty good job so far.

是的。當船舶價格便宜時，我們就簽約了船舶，當利率高時，我們盡力將它們鎖定為長期租船，然後在流動性充足且廉價時為它們提供融資。所以我認為到目前為止我們做得很好。

And that comes back to the recurring question about how to expand it. What's the plan for growth? How do you plan to spend the large pile of cash. Is it a reduction of debt, acquisitions, buyback, fleet growth?

這又回到了關於如何擴展它的反復出現的問題。增長計劃是什麼？這麼多現金你打算怎麼花？是減少債務、收購、回購、機隊增長嗎？

Yes. I think we -- of course, the biggest item here is dividends. We paid out $200 million of dividend in the last 12 months or the last 4 quarters. So that is, of course, the main source of spending money. We think new buildings are pricey these days. if we order, I'm not sure whether we get a '27 slot, maybe it would be '28. We have two ships coming up in '27, 2 ships early '28.

是的。我認為我們——當然，這裡最大的項目是股息。我們在過去 12 個月或過去 4 個季度支付了 2 億美元的股息。所以這當然是花錢的主要來源。我們認為現在新建築的價格昂貴。如果我們訂購，我不確定我們是否會獲得 '27 的插槽，也許會是 '28。我們有兩艘船將在 27 年建造，另外兩艘船將在 28 年初建造。

We do think it's been the business for us to fix those ships on longer-term contracts rather than building new ships and try to compete with those ships with our existing fit. So we try to be disciplined. And we structured the financing, as Knut mentioned, on our very flexible manner where the cost of having that debt is low. And then we will see.

我們確實認為，我們的業務是通過長期合同來修理這些船舶，而不是建造新船，並嘗試與我們現有的船舶進行競爭。所以我們努力遵守紀律。正如克努特提到的，我們以非常靈活的方式構建了融資，債務成本很低。然後我們就會看到。

This is a long LNG. It's a long-term business. So we just try to be disciplined when call it, new building prices are high. And then we have access to capital relatively where we can act on opportunities if we see opportunities -- if not, we will just keep on doing what we're doing, fixing ships and paying dividends. And I hope that is appreciated by most investors.

這是長液化天然氣。這是一項長期事業。因此，我們只是在調用時盡量遵守紀律，新建築的價格很高。然後，如果我們看到機會，我們就可以相對地獲得資本，我們可以根據機會採取行動——如果沒有，我們將繼續做我們正在做的事情，修復船舶並支付股息。我希望大多數投資者都能理解這一點。

I think we'll round off then as a contender for the (inaudible) wells. Do you ever get tired of winning?

我想我們最終會成為（聽不清）油井的競爭者。你是否厭倦了勝利？

Well.

出色地。

You don't have to answer. But I think we round it off and now it's a time to disclose.

你不必回答。但我認為我們已經結束了，現在是時候披露了。

Let's rather talk about the window because that's going to be -- (inaudible) who had a good question about technology on new buildings today versus the ships we have in our fleet. I think that's a good question. It's something we talked about in the past, but it's been a while since we touched on the topic. So congratulations to you, you will have the full summer kit.

讓我們來談談窗戶吧，因為（聽不清）誰對今天的新建築與我們艦隊中的船舶的技術提出了很好的問題。我認為這是一個好問題。這是我們過去討論過的事情，但我們已經有一段時間沒有觸及這個話題了。恭喜您，您將擁有完整的夏季裝備。

And then before we adjourn, I just think I want to say thank you to all our seafarers, to all the people in the docks who have done a fantastic job on Flex Endeavor and the Flex Enterprise dockings, which has been perfect in terms of budget and timing and the ships are back with our charters who are happy to trade them again.

然後在我們休會之前，我想對我們所有的海員、碼頭上的所有人員表示感謝，他們在 Flex Endeavor 和 Flex Enterprise 塢站上做了出色的工作，這在預算方面是完美的時機和船隻帶著我們的包機回來了，我們很樂意再次進行交易。

We have two more to go this year. Next year, we will only have two dry dockings. So with that, I also would like to thank all or I would like to extend to our Norwegian viewers that I hope you all have a happy constitution, they have tomorrow, May 17, is the biggest day in Norway, has a lot of celebration.

今年我們還有兩個要去。明年，我們將只有兩次幹船塢。因此，我還要感謝所有人，或者我想向我們的挪威觀眾表示，我希望你們都有一個快樂的憲法，他們明天，5 月 17 日，是挪威最重要的一天，有很多慶祝活動。

So with that, thank you, everybody, and we will be back in August with our second quarter presentation, we will also be in New York on June 20 and onwards for presentation. So for those who are interested, maybe you can join the Marine Money Conference, and we will do some presentation there as well.

所以，謝謝大家，我們將在 8 月份回來進行第二季度的演示，我們也將於 6 月 20 日及以後在紐約進行演示。因此，對於那些有興趣的人，也許您可以參加 Marine Money Conference，我們也會在那裡做一些演示。

Okay. Thank you.

好的。謝謝。