Frontline Plc (FRO) 2020 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Frontline 2020 Q1 Limited Earnings Call. (Operator Instructions) I must advise you the conference is being recorded today, Wednesday, the 20th of May 2020. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Robert Macleod. Thank you, and please go ahead, sir.

女士們、先生們，感謝大家的支持，歡迎參加 Frontline 2020 年第一季有限收益電話會議。（操作員說明）我必須告知您，會議將於今天（2020 年 5 月 20 日星期三）進行錄製。我現在想把會議交給今天的發言人羅伯特·麥克勞德。謝謝您，請繼續，先生。

Thank you very much. Good morning, and good afternoon, everyone. First of all, apologies for the delay in starting the call, which was due to some technical difficulties. So first, to kick off the call, I would like to express gratitude towards our shore staff and our crewmembers for their extraordinary efforts and dedication. They are clearly critical factors to our strong results.

非常感謝。大家早安，下午好。首先，對於由於一些技術困難而延遲開始通話表示歉意。首先，在通話開始前，我要對我們的岸上工作人員和船員的非凡努力和奉獻精神表示感謝。它們顯然是我們強勁業績的關鍵因素。

Frontline's performance in the first quarter of 2020 was the strongest since 2008, and we have made solid bookings for the second quarter. The year has been extraordinary, quite a rollercoaster ride, but tanker earnings have been very strong amidst an unprecedented world situation. Let's kick off and move to Slide 3, please, and quickly look at the highlights from Q1.

Frontline 在 2020 年第一季的表現是自 2008 年以來最強勁的，我們已經為第二季做好了充足的預訂。今年是不平凡的一年，就像坐雲霄飛車一樣，但在前所未有的世界情勢下，油輪收入卻非常強勁。讓我們開始並轉到幻燈片 3，快速瀏覽第一季的亮點。

Net income of $165.3 million or $0.84 per share, certainly a solid quarter. Adjusted for noncash items, the net income was $179.3 million. The $7.1 million profit related to the 5 profit share Suezmaxes are not included in these figures. Frontline declares a $0.70 dividend. The last dividend paid was $0.40 for Q4 of 2019.

淨利潤為 1.653 億美元，即每股 0.84 美元，無疑是一個穩健的季度。調整非現金項目後，淨利為 1.793 億美元。這些數字中不包括與 5 艘蘇伊士型油輪相關的 710 萬美元利潤。Frontline 宣布派發 0.70 美元股息。2019 年第四季最後一次支付的股利為 0.40 美元。

The VLCCs made around $75,000 in Q1, and we have booked 75% at $92,500 for Q2. Suezmax has made $57,800 in Q1 and we have booked just over 60% of Q2, just shy of $72,000. LR2s made just over $30,000 in Q1 and are just over 50% done of Q2 at around $50,000.

VLCC 在第一季的營收約為 75,000 美元，我們已經以 92,500 美元的價格預訂了第二季的 75%。蘇伊士型油輪在第一季的利潤為 57,800 美元，我們已經預訂了第二季的 60% 以上，略低於 72,000 美元。LR2 第一季的營收略高於 3 萬美元，第二季的營收略高於 50%，約 5 萬美元。

On the finance side, we closed the $544 million ICBC facility for the 10 Suezmaxes. Then before discussing the tanker market, I would like to hand the call over to Inger. Please take us through the financials.

在財務方面，我們完成了 ICBC 為 10 艘蘇伊士型油輪提供的 5.44 億美元融資。那麼在討論油輪市場之前，我想把電話交給英格。請帶我們了解一下財務狀況。

Thanks, Robert, and good morning, and good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Let's then turn to Slide 4, and then we can look at the income statement. We achieved total operating revenues, net of voyage expenses, of $289 million and EBITDA adjusted for certain noncash items of $234 million in the first quarter. Frontline reported net income of $165.3 million, equivalent to $0.84 per share, and a net income adjusted for certain noncash items of $179.3 million, equivalent to $0.91 per share in the first quarter.

謝謝羅伯特，早安，下午好，女士們先生們。然後我們翻到投影片4，然後我們可以看損益表。第一季度，扣除航次費用後，我們的總營業收入為 2.89 億美元，針對某些非現金項目調整後的 EBITDA 為 2.34 億美元。Frontline 第一季淨利潤為 1.653 億美元，相當於每股 0.84 美元，針對某些非現金項目調整後的淨利潤為 1.793 億美元，相當於每股 0.91 美元。

The net income in the first quarter excludes the $7.1 million of net cash received and accrued profit share in relation to the 5 charter-in and charter-out agreements with Trafigura that have been treated as a reduction of the acquisition cost of the vessels instead. The noncash items this quarter was net $14 million in total and consisted of a $5.4 million unrealized loss on marketable securities, a $15.8 million loss on derivatives, a $1.2 million gain related to our equity method investments, a $1.8 million gain on settlement of claim and a $4.2 million gain on termination of the lease of Front Hakata.

第一季的淨利潤不包括與托克簽訂的 5 份租入和租出協議相關的 710 萬美元淨現金收入和應計利潤份額，這些協議已被視為船舶購置成本的減少。本季非現金項目淨額總計 1,400 萬美元，包括有價證券未實現損失 540 萬美元、衍生性商品損失 1,580 萬美元、權益法投資相關收益 120 萬美元、索賠和解收益 180 萬美元、Front Hakata 租約終止後獲得420 萬美元收益。

The first quarter shows an increase compared to the fourth quarter of 2019 of $17 million against adjusted EBITDA and an increase of $72 million against adjusted net income. And the increase in net income in the first quarter of $72 million, is mainly explained by the increase in result on time charter basis due to the higher reported TCE rates in the first quarter compared to the previous quarter.

與 2019 年第四季相比，第一季調整後 EBITDA 增加了 1,700 萬美元，調整後淨利潤增加了 7,200 萬美元。第一季淨利潤增加 7,200 萬美元，主要是由於第一季報告的 TCE 費率高於上一季度，從而導致定期租船業績增加。

Then let us take a look at the balance sheet on Slide 5. Changes to the balance sheet as of the end of March 2020 compared to December 31, 2019, mainly relate to an increase in cash and cash equivalents of $54 million, which is the net effect of CapEx payments, repayment of debt, drawdown loan debts, cash flow from operation and dividend payments. Then we had an increase in newbuilding of $21 million, explained by installments paid in the quarter. We had an increase in vessels of $278 million related to the 5 vessels on [TCL] to Trafigura, which were recorded on the balance sheet when closing of the acquisition took place on March 16 this year.

然後我們看一下幻燈片5的資產負債表。增加了5400萬美元。然後，我們的新造船增加了 2100 萬美元，可以透過本季分期付款來解釋。我們增加了 2.78 億美元的船舶數量，與 [TCL] 向托克 (Trafigura) 提供的 5 艘船舶有關，這些船舶在今年 3 月 16 日收購結束時記錄在資產負債表上。

Also, we had an increase in short and long-term debt of $484 million due to drawdown on the $544 million facility with ICBCL, offset by repayments this quarter. We had a decrease in short- and long-term debt -- sorry, short- and long-term obligations on the finance leases were $298 million, primarily due to the 5 Trafigura vessels move to owned vessels at closing, March 16, 2020.

此外，由於提取了 ICBCL 的 5.44 億美元貸款，我們的短期和長期債務增加了 4.84 億美元，但被本季的還款所抵消。我們的短期和長期債務有所減少 - 抱歉，融資租賃的短期和長期債務為 2.98 億美元，主要是由於 5 艘托克船舶在 2020 年 3 月 16 日交割時移至自有船舶。

And then we had an increase in equity of $94 million, mainly due to the net income for the quarter, offset by cash dividend. As of March 31, 2020, Frontline has $392 million in cash and cash equivalents, including the undrawn amounts under our unsecured loan facility, marketable securities and minimum cash requirements. Our remaining newbuilding CapEx requirement at the end of March amounted to $282 million and related to 1 Suezmax tanker, which we took delivery of on May 19 and 1 VLCC expected to be delivered in June 2020, and then 4 LR2 tankers expected to be delivered in January, March and October 2021 and January 2022, respectively.

然後我們的股本增加了 9,400 萬美元，主要是由於該季度的淨利潤，被現金股息所抵銷。截至 2020 年 3 月 31 日，Frontline 擁有 3.92 億美元的現金和現金等價物，包括我們的無擔保貸款安排、有價證券和最低現金要求下的未提取金額。截至3 月底，我們剩餘的新造船資本支出需求達2.82 億美元，涉及1 艘蘇伊士型油輪，我們於5 月19 日交付，1 艘VLCC 預計將於2020 年6 月交付，然後4 艘LR2 油輪預計將於2020 年6 月交付。

We estimate approximately $239 million in debt capacity for these newbuildings, where we drew down $42 million under the term loan facility with Crédit Suisse entered into November 2019, in May, to finance the delivery of the Suezmax tanker Front Cruiser. The short-term part or long-term debt includes approximately $310 million debt maturities of the $500 million facility, which matures in December 2020 and approximately $40 million debt maturity over $60.6 million facility, which matures in March 2021.

我們估計這些新船的債務能力約為 2.39 億美元，其中我們根據 2019 年 5 月與瑞士信貸簽訂的定期貸款安排提取了 4,200 萬美元，為蘇伊士型油輪 Front Cruiser 的交付提供資金。短期部分或長期債務包括5 億美元融資中約3.1 億美元的債務到期日（將於2020 年12 月到期）和6,060 萬美元融資中約4,000 萬美元的債務到期日（將於2021 年3 月到期）。

We are in the process of refinancing the $500 million facility and we have signed a terminal facility with Nordea in May this year in an amount of $50 million to refinance the $14 million maturing in March 2021. In March 2020, as Robert mentioned, we did sign a sale-and-leaseback agreement with ICBCL for $544 million. And then in April 2020, we repaid $60 million of our $275 million senior unsecured facility agreement with an affiliate of Hemen, and up to $215 million remains available under this facility following this repayment.

我們正在為這筆 5 億美元的融資進行再融資，並於今年 5 月與 Nordea 簽署了一項金額為 5,000 萬美元的終端融資，為 2021 年 3 月到期的 1,400 萬美元進行再融資。正如羅伯特所提到的，2020 年 3 月，我們確實與 ICBCL 簽署了價值 5.44 億美元的售後回租協議。然後在 2020 年 4 月，我們償還了與 Hemen 的一家附屬公司簽訂的 2.75 億美元高級無擔保融資協議中的 6000 萬美元，在本次還款後，該融資下仍有最多 2.15 億美元可用。

In May, finally, we signed a senior secured term loan facility with Crédit Agricole in an amount of up to $62.5 million to part-finance the VLCC that we have under construction at Hyundai.

最後，我們在 5 月與法國農業信貸銀行簽署了一項金額高達 6,250 萬美元的高級擔保定期貸款協議，為我們在現代建造的 VLCC 提供部分資金。

Let's then take a closer look at cash breakeven rates and OpEx on Slide 6. We estimate average cash cost breakeven rate for 2020 of approximately $22,000 per day for VLCC, $18,600 per day for Suezmax tankers and $15,000 per day for the LR2 tankers, and the fleet average is estimated to be about $18,600 per day. These rates are the all-in daily rates that our vessels must earn to cover the budgeted operating costs and dry dock, the estimated interest expenses, time charter and bareboat hire, installments on loans and G&A expenses.

然後，讓我們仔細看看幻燈片6 上的現金損益平衡率和營運支出。美元，機隊平均費用估計約為每天 18,600 美元。這些費率是我們的船舶必須賺取的全部每日費率，用於支付預算營運成本和乾船塢、估計利息費用、期租和光船租金、貸款分期付款以及一般行政費用。

In the graph on the right-hand side of this slide, we have shown incremental cash flow after debt service per year and per share assuming $10,000 per day, $20,000, $30,000 or $40,000 per day in achieved rates in excess of our cash break even rates, irrespectively. These numbers include the vessels on time charter-out, and we are looking at a period of 365 days from April 1, 2020.

在這張投影片右側的圖表中，我們顯示了每年和每股還本付息後的增量現金流，假設每天10,000美元、20,000美元、30,000美元或40,000美元，實現的利率超過我們的現金收支平衡率，不論。這些數字包括定期租船的船舶，我們所關注的期限是自 2020 年 4 月 1 日起的 365 天。

As an example, with a fleet average cash cost breakeven rate of $18,600 per day and assuming $30,000 on top, the average fleet TCE rate would be $48,600 per day. And Frontline, would in this in this scenario, generate a cash flow per share after debt service of $3.55.

例如，車隊平均現金成本損益平衡率為每天 18,600 美元，假設最高成本為 30,000 美元，則平均車隊 TCE 率為每天 48,600 美元。在這種情況下，Frontline 在償債後每股產生 3.55 美元的現金流。

With this, I'll leave the word to Robert again.

說到這裡，我將再次向羅伯特轉告。

Perfect. Thank you very much, Inger. Let's move to Slide 7, please. The first quarter was certainly a volatile one. As the COVID-19 pandemic swept across the globe, traditional drivers like ton miles and refinery runs were disregarded as a new powerful dynamic emerged. As crude oil imports to China began to decrease, the market turned sharply upwards as expected production cuts did not materialize and instead, Saudi Arabia, Russia and the UAE increased output.

完美的。非常感謝你，英格。請轉到投影片 7。第一季無疑是一個動盪的季度。隨著 COVID-19 大流行席捲全球，噸英里和煉油廠運行等傳統驅動因素被忽視，因為新的強大動力出現了。隨著中國原油進口開始減少，預期減產並未實現，沙烏地阿拉伯、俄羅斯和阿聯酋增產，市場大幅上漲。

In the freight market, we witnessed the busiest charting period I have seen in my career as charters were scrambling for tonnage. With a rapid decline in global oil consumption due to lock down across the globe, oil production was soon well in excess of demand. Under normal circumstances, a drop in demand might lead to lower freight rates. This time, it led to a surge for places to store. On ships was one solution. These were not normal circumstances, and the speed and the severity of the drop had an opposite impact on tanker rates as a record increase in oil and water saw freight rates firm significantly.

在貨運市場，我們見證了我職業生涯中最繁忙的圖表時期，因為租船公司都在爭奪噸位。由於全球封鎖導致全球石油消費迅速下降，石油產量很快就遠遠超出了需求。一般情況下，需求下降可能會導致運價下降。這一次，導致了儲存地點的激增。船上是一種解決方案。這些都不是正常情況，下降的速度和嚴重程度對油輪運價產生了相反的影響，因為石油和水的創紀錄增長導致運價顯著堅挺。

In the charts on the slide, we see how demand has retracted faster than production cuts, implying inventories being built at an unprecedented rate, both on land and water. These moves in the global oil trade have happened very quickly. Trade developments going forward is linked to how fast demand recovers and to what degree and how quickly production turns. This is obviously very hard to predict. I'll get back to this on the final slide, but let's first look at the global fleet capacity.

在投影片的圖表中，我們看到需求下降的速度快於減產速度，這意味著陸地和水上庫存都以前所未有的速度增加。全球石油貿易的這些變化發生得非常快。未來的貿易發展與需求恢復的速度以及生產恢復的程度和速度有關。這顯然是很難預測的。我將在最後一張幻燈片上回顧這一點，但讓我們先看看全球機隊容量。

Turn to Slide 8, please. The global fleet capacity growth is slowing. Global tanker fleet growth is a key driver of long-term earnings, and the order book is at a level not seen since '97. Various factors support our expectation that order books will remain low over the next 24 months.

請翻到幻燈片 8。全球機隊運力成長正在放緩。全球油輪船隊成長是長期獲利的關鍵驅動力，訂單量達到 97 年以來的最高水準。多種因素支持我們的預期，即未來 24 個月訂單量將維持在較低水準。

In addition to the historically low order book, it is worth noting that 24% of the VLCC fleet is above 15 years this year. Customers versus modern tonnage is only increasing, and that puts Frontline's fleet in a great position. We also expect vessel off-hire to continue to have a material impact on fleet capacity this year as a large number of vessels are due for periodic dry dock and quite a few of the vessels due have recently been granted short extensions, but this is temporary postponement only. The service must be carried out.

除了訂單量處於歷史低點外，值得注意的是，今年 24%​​ 的 VLCC 船隊船齡超過 15 年。客戶與現代噸位的關係只會不斷增加，這使得 Frontline 的船隊處於有利地位。我們也預計，今年船舶停租將繼續對船隊運力產生重大影響，因為大量船舶將定期進入乾船塢，而且相當多的船舶最近已獲得短期延期，但這只是暫時的只能延期。該服務必須進行。

All eyes are currently on inventory draws, but vessel supply could be a big surprise in the second half of 2020 and into '21. We watch it very closely.

目前所有人的目光都集中在庫存消耗上，但 2020 年下半年和 21 年的船舶供應可能會帶來巨大驚喜。我們非常密切地關注它。

Moving on to the present market and a bit of outlook. Oil demand has been described as destroyed in recent months. We think suppressed describes the situation more accurately as we believe the decrease in oil demand is temporary. The recent production cuts have been both immediate and real, absolutely no doubt, and has affected the freight levels negatively.

繼續討論目前的市場和一些展望。近幾個月來，石油需求被描述為遭到破壞。我們認為抑制更準確地描述了這種情況，因為我們認為石油需求的下降是暫時的。毫無疑問，最近的減產是直接且真實的，並對貨運水準產生了負面影響。

On the oil demand, there have been surprises in recent weeks. Chinese gasoline demand above 2019 figures and recent figures from India also shows a sharp recovery in gasoline sales. Not surprisingly, Asia leads the way on demand recovery, whilst the U.S. is likely to recover faster than Europe.

在石油需求方面，最近幾週出現了一些意外。中國汽油需求高於2019年數據以及印度最近的數據也顯示汽油銷售大幅復甦。毫不奇怪，亞洲在需求復甦方面處於領先地位，而美國的復甦速度可能快於歐洲。

Over to floating storage. We currently estimate around 200 million barrels floating and we might be close to the peak. We expect to see an unwind of floating storage during the balance of 2020. Aframaxes in Europe are likely to be the first ones to unload, some have already done so, whilst VLCCs are likely to be locked up on a longer structure. This is pure speculation, of course. But given recent news on the demand side, we could see production cuts reverse as early as during the second half of 2020. One factor we stated, volatility will continue forward -- going forward, sorry, very much like the year so far.

轉到浮動儲存。我們目前估計約有 2 億桶浮動石油，我們可能已經接近高峰。我們預計 2020 年剩餘時間內浮動儲存將會減少。歐洲的阿芙拉型油輪可能是最先卸貨的，有些已經卸貨，而超大型油輪可能會被鎖定在較長的結構上。當然，這純粹是猜測。但鑑於近期需求方面的消息，我們最早可能在 2020 年下半年看到減產逆轉。我們提到的一個因素是，波動性將繼續下去——抱歉，未來的波動與今年迄今為止的情況非常相似。

So in conclusion, Frontline enjoys the youngest fleet and lowest breakeven level in the history of the company. And 2020 is shaping up to be a great year for Frontline and its shareholders.

總之，Frontline 擁有公司史上最年輕的機隊和最低的損益兩平水準。對於 Frontline 及其股東來說，2020 年將是偉大的一年。

With that, operator, I would like to turn it over to questions, please.

那麼，接線員，我想將其轉為提問。

(Operator Instructions) Your first question comes from the line of Jon Chappell of Evercore.

（操作員說明）您的第一個問題來自 Evercore 的 Jon Chappell。

Three questions for you today. Hopefully, they'll all be relatively quick. Rob, you guys did a great job explaining the accounting on the quarter-to-date and kind of how that plays out. So the 75% that you've done at over $90,000 a day, can you just kind of help us frame what we should be thinking about in the next 25%? Obviously, the market's come down, but there's always these ballast days. And if we look at 1Q and we took what you had to date and then we back into the $74,800, it looks like it was actually negative for the last 17% of the day. So I'm not asking for guidance or the exact number, but is it closer to what's [key to this] today? Is it closer to 0? Is it somewhere in between? Just so we can frame how the second quarter will kind of shape out.

今天要給大家三個問題。希望他們都會相對較快。羅布，你們很好地解釋了本季至今的會計情況以及其結果。那麼，您每天收入超過 90,000 美元的 75% 的工作，您能幫助我們制定接下來的 25% 中應該考慮的內容嗎？顯然，市場已經下跌，但總是有一些穩定的日子。如果我們看一下第一季度，我們把迄今為止的數據拿出來，然後我們回到 74,800 美元，看起來當天最後 17% 的時間實際上是負值。所以我並不是尋求指導或確切的數字，而是它是否更接近今天的[關鍵]？是不是更接近0？是介於兩者之間嗎？這樣我們就可以框架第二季的情況。

Obviously, it would be difficult to predict here. But it will be some ballast days at the end of the quarter, which will take it down. It would also be taken down a bit by that the current rates are weaker than what we saw for the 75% has contracted. So -- but to give you an exact number or anything, that's difficult or very -- that's not possible in a way. So sorry about that.

顯然，這裡很難預測。但本季末將會有一些壓艙日，這將導致其下降。目前的利率低於我們所看到的 75% 的收縮率，這也會導致這一結果下降。所以，但要給你一個確切的數字或任何東西，這很困難或非常困難，這在某種程度上是不可能的。對此感到非常抱歉。

Yes. That's okay. Maybe another way to ask it is if the ballast days that you foresee for the rest of 2Q, would it be similar to a normal end of quarter? Are there more? Are there less? Just maybe if there's a way to find that.

是的。沒關係。也許另一種問法是，您預計第二季剩餘時間的鎮流日是否與正常季度末相似？還有更多嗎？還有少嗎？只是也許有辦法找到它。

It does vary. The number of ballast days do vary between the quarters. But for this quarter, it was quite high actually. It was 390 ballast days for the VLCCs as an example, and that was one from the previous quarter.

它確實有所不同。各季度的壓載天數確實有所不同。但就本季而言，實際上相當高。以 VLCC 為例，壓載天數為 390 個，這是上一季的一個。

Okay. That's helpful. Rob, on the fleet side, obviously, something that we're watching very closely and very hopeful to set up the next real sustainable recovery, not just the blips. I heard earlier this week that the Korean yards are becoming a bit desperate. Now we were hopeful that they would be filled up with LNG carriers from Qatar. But we're hearing they're becoming a bit more desperate on the VLCC front. Can you confirm or deny whether you've been hearing from the yards? And then also Frontline, and your largest shareholder specifically, have been kind of early on ordering at attractive prices. So what's your appetite to order ships today if the Koreans are really becoming aggressive on pricing?

好的。這很有幫助。羅布，顯然，在船隊方面，我們正在非常密切地關注並非常希望建立下一個真正的可持續復甦，而不僅僅是短暫的復甦。我本週稍早聽說韓國船廠正變得有點絕望。現在我們希望它們能裝滿來自卡達的液化天然氣運輸船。但我們聽說他們在 VLCC 方面變得更加絕望。您能否證實或否認您是否收到了船廠的消息？此外，Frontline，特別是你們最大的股東，也很早就以有吸引力的價格訂購了。那麼，如果韓國人真的在定價上變得咄咄逼人，那麼您今天訂購船舶的興趣是什麼？

Now the yards, over time, have been -- I wouldn't say desperate, but the prices have come down, and we've seen -- there's virtually been no ordering ahead lately. When it comes to Frontline and our interest, we have a constructive view of the tanker markets in '20 and '21. So our interest in -- further out in '22, when there are resales available, we -- and other opportunities, then I think that will take the main focus and ordering newbuildings here is not on our radar.

現在，隨著時間的推移，船廠已經——我不會說絕望，但價格已經下降，我們已經看到——最近幾乎沒有訂單。當談到 Frontline 和我們的興趣時，我們對 20 世紀和 21 世紀的油輪市場有建設性的看法。因此，我們對 - 22 年以後，當有轉售機會時，我們 - 以及其他機會，那麼我認為這將成為主要焦點，在這裡訂購新船不在我們的考慮範圍內。

Okay. And then just the last one. I don't think anybody is worried about Frontline's ability to get credit facilities given your relationship with European banks. The $310 million is a pretty big chunk at a time where the world is pretty uncertain right now and things are under pressure. What should we think about as far as the timing of that refinancing ahead of December 2020? How deep are the discussions? And the $100 million ATM that you put in the press release, obviously, you said you were near to today's prices, but is that something you're thinking about putting in place just in case the financing market becomes very difficult in this uncertain time?

好的。然後就是最後一個。鑑於你們與歐洲銀行的關係，我認為沒有人擔心 Frontline 獲得信貸便利的能力。在當前世界充滿不確定性、情勢面臨壓力的情況下，3.1 億美元是一個相當大的數字。對於 2020 年 12 月之前再融資的時間安排，我們應該考慮什麼？討論有多深入？很明顯，您在新聞稿中提到的 1 億美元 ATM 機，您說您已經接近今天的價格，但您是否正在考慮設立這一點，以防融資市場在這個不確定的時期變得非常困難？

I think it's very easy to -- in terms of the backing of the company and Mr. Fredriksen and the access to finance, we have absolutely full confidence, and the ATM is not linked to this in no shape or form. The ATM is sort of housekeeping. It's a tool that we had in the past. And it's, as we clearly state, it's not something we would even think about using at the current share price.

我認為這很容易——就公司和 Fredriksen 先生的支持以及融資管道而言，我們絕對充滿信心，而且 ATM 與此沒有任何形式或形式的聯繫。ATM 機有點像家事服務。這是我們過去擁有的工具。正如我們明確指出的那樣，以當前的股價來看，我們甚至不會考慮使用它。

No. But to answer your question also, I mean, as I referred to, we did -- recently, we did a couple of financings in the market. We did the refinancing of this Nordea facility. So we don't really have any concern about not being able to refinance the $500 million liquidity either. So it's only a matter of trying to just, say, maximize or improve the terms that's just possible in a way. But the financing is there, so no problem.

不。但為了回答你的問題，我的意思是，正如我所提到的，我們最近在市場上進行了幾次融資。我們為北歐聯合銀行的設施進行了再融資。因此，我們也不擔心無法為這 5 億美元的流動資金進行再融資。因此，這只是嘗試以某種方式最大化或改進可能的條款的問題。但資金有了，所以沒問題。

Our next question comes from the line of Randy Giveans of Jefferies.

我們的下一個問題來自 Jefferies 的 Randy Giveans。

Yes. Two quick questions here. So for the fourth quarter, you announced the dividend of $0.40 based on the $0.60 EPS, so about 66% of that. First quarter announced a dividend of $0.70 on EPS of, let's call it, $0.91, around 75% there. Do you have a defined kind of dividend policy going forward? Just trying to think about 2Q and beyond.

是的。這裡有兩個簡單的問題。因此，對於第四季度，您宣布基於 0.60 美元的 EPS 派發 0.40 美元的股息，約為 66%。第一季宣布每股盈餘 (EPS) 股息為 0.70 美元，我們稱之為 0.91 美元，約 75%。您未來是否有明確的股利政策？只是想考慮第二季及以後的情況。

Our dividend policy has not changed in a way. So we do have the statement on our website which says that we are, in a way, there to pay broadly the excess cash flow or equal to or close to. And we also, of course -- or the Board also have -- of course also have the possibilities to decide to lower risk in a way. And what we have to take into account is, of course, the CapEx program that we have going on at any point in time and any other adjustments which needs to be taken into consideration, noncash items. So I guess that's more or less how it is.

我們的股利政策沒有發生任何改變。因此，我們的網站上確實有聲明說，在某種程度上，我們將廣泛支付或等於或接近的超額現金流。當然，我們——或者董事會也有——當然也有可能決定以某種方式降低風險。當然，我們必須考慮的是我們在任何時間點正在進行的資本支出計劃以及需要考慮的任何其他調整，非現金項目。所以我想或多或少就是這樣。

So for 2Q '20, should we expect similar, at least 50%, 60% of kind of EPS there?

那麼，對於 2020 年第二季度，我們是否應該預期類似的、至少 50%、60% 的每股盈餘？

Sorry, I didn't really get your question there.

抱歉，我沒有真正明白你的問題。

For the second quarter, is it fair to expect another 50% or higher? 60% of EPS?

對於第二季度，預期再成長 50% 或更高是否公平？每股收益的 60%？

I think for the second quarter, Randy, we'll see what the Board comes up and decides in August. Looking at the history of the company, we're now well above $6 billion paid out since the U.S. listing. And I think the company and the Board has no intention to change this history and track record. We want to keep building on it. And looking at the company and looking at where we are in our cash breakevens, looking at how we've done on the time charters recently and also with our constructive view of the market and with the fleet of an average age of just over 4 years, I think we've got every possibility here to perform well going forward. And looking at track record, I think, is the best way to answer your question.

我認為對於第二季度，蘭迪，我們將看看董事會在八月提出什麼並做出決定。縱觀該公司的歷史，自美國上市以來，我們目前支付的股息已遠遠超過 60 億美元。我認為公司和董事會無意改變這段歷史和業績記錄。我們希望在此基礎上繼續發展。看看公司，看看我們的現金收支平衡狀況，看看我們最近在期租方面的表現，以及我們對市場的建設性看法以及平均船齡剛剛超過 4 年的船隊，我認為我們完全有可能在未來表現良好。我認為，查看往績記錄是回答你的問題的最佳方式。

Okay. And then looking at your Aframax, LR2s, for most of the first quarter, Aframax crude tanker rates outperformed LR2s. But in April, the crude rates kind of fell off, but LR2s hit all-time highs. So currently, kind of how many of your LR2 products tankers are operating in their crude or dirty trade? And if you can kind of talk to that market a little bit what has caused that rate to spike and then the subsequent kind of rate decline back to maybe $40,000 a day?

好的。然後看看您的阿芙拉型油輪和 LR2 型油輪，在第一季的大部分時間裡，阿芙拉型油輪的運價表現優於 LR2 型油輪。但 4 月份，原油價格下降，但 LR2 價格卻創下歷史新高。那麼目前，你們有多少艘 LR2 產品油輪正在從事原油或骯髒貿易？如果您能與該市場稍微談談，是什麼導致該利率飆升，然後隨後的利率下降到每天 40,000 美元？

That's a very good and relevant question. And what you're stating is actually also the case of the second half of 2019. The Aframaxes were outperforming the LR2s. And there were definitely times where I was kicking myself for not having gone dirty on more LR2s. The -- between the 2 segments, obviously, we have 18 LR2s in total. We are trading 11 clean and 7 dirty, which, fortunately now in recent months, the LR2s have sort of clawed back in, in terms of the earnings. Not having looked at the exact numbers, but they're probably going to be not far off being on par with what's happened recently.

這是一個非常好的且相關的問題。而你所說的情況，其實也是2019年下半年的情況。阿芙拉型油輪的性能優於 LR2型油輪。確實有很多時候我會因為沒有多買一些 LR2 而自責。顯然，在 2 個部分之間，我們總共有 18 個 LR2。我們正在交易 11 個乾淨的和 7 個髒的，幸運的是，近幾個月來，LR2 在收益方面已經有所回升。雖然沒有查看確切的數字，但它們可能與最近發生的情況相差不遠。

The LR2 markets, I find it very difficult to even comment on how it's been going over the last couple of months. It's been -- I've never seen anything like it. It's -- I would describe the LR2 spike to be more extreme in relative terms than what the VLCC spike was. There's a lot of delays in that segment. The -- in terms of number of LR2s, the fleet size is only 23%, 24% of the VLCC in terms of numbers. So as soon as you have a lot of ships delayed or held up on storage or poor storage, then you get the these mega spikes. So I think the very, very high rates, as we had on the VLCCs as well, only happen on a handful of fixtures. But over the last month or 2, it's been extraordinary. So it's now stabilizing, but still, it is at very healthy levels. But it's very, very difficult to predict how this is going to carry on. But it looks like, although there are signs of progress, I was saying earlier that the demand is coming back, especially in Asia, then Europe and the U.S. will still be struggling. So you will have our ships being forced to store for quite some time.

對於 LR2 市場，我發現很難評論過去幾個月的發展。我從來沒有見過這樣的事情。我認為 LR2 的峰值相對而言比 VLCC 的峰值更為極端。該部分有很多延遲。——就LR2的數量而言，船隊規模僅為23%，就數量而言是VLCC的24%。因此，一旦大量船舶被延誤或滯留或儲存不良，就會出現這些巨大的峰值。所以我認為非常非常高的費率，就像我們在 VLCC 上一樣，只發生在少數固定裝置上。但在過去一兩個月裡，情況非比尋常。所以它現在正在穩定，但仍然處於非常健康的水平。但很難預測這將如何繼續。但看起來，雖然有進展的跡象，但我之前說過需求正在回升，特別是在亞洲，然後歐洲和美國仍將陷入困境。因此，我們的船隻將被迫儲存相當長一段時間。

Sure. And what's your split there for your aframax, LR2s in terms of crude versus clean?

當然。您的阿芙拉型油輪、LR2 在原油與清潔油方面有何不同？

11 LR2, 7 afra.

11 LR2，7 afra。

11 LR2, 7 afra. Excellent. And then last quick question for the Hemen facility. It looks like you paid down half of that from $120 million down to maybe $60 million. Is the plan to repay the remainder during the second quarter?

11 LR2，7 afra。出色的。最後一個關於赫門工廠的快速問題。看起來你已經付了一半的錢，從 1.2 億美元減少到了 6,000 萬美元。是否計劃在第二季償還剩餘款項？

Yes. So that's been -- we're going from $120 million to $60 million. Further down payments have not been decided, but we will revert on that when that comes up.

是的。所以我們將從 1.2 億美元增加到 6000 萬美元。進一步的首付款尚未決定，但當出現這種情況時，我們將重新考慮。

And your next question comes from the line of Greg Lewis of BTIG.

您的下一個問題來自 BTIG 的 Greg Lewis。

Rob, just -- you mentioned some of the vessels at shipyards that are under construction. Clearly, some of those are obviously owned by stronger hands, some of those are owned in weaker hands. It's been an interesting pick-your-adjective to describe the first thus far of 2020. What is kind of the appetite then from potential sellers of tonnage? How has that changed? Or has that changed over the last few weeks? It looks like now we've kind of settled into just a firm, solid market with these around $50,000 a day. We're not seeing those headline $200,000 rates, but still an attractive market. Has that kind of loosened up or paused any more interest or pickup in maybe not actual physical deals closing, but activity or inquiries interest in the S&P market?

羅布，您剛才提到了造船廠正在建造的一些船隻。顯然，其中一些顯然是由實力較強的人擁有，其中一些顯然是由實力較弱的人擁有。這是一個有趣的自選形容詞來描述 2020 年迄今為止的第一個。那麼潛在的噸位賣家的胃口如何呢？這有何變化？或者過去幾週情況發生了變化嗎？看起來現在我們已經進入了一個穩定的市場，每天的收入約為 50,000 美元。我們沒有看到那些標題為 200,000 美元的價格，但仍然是一個有吸引力的市場。這種情況是否會放鬆或暫停更多的興趣或回升，也許不是實際的實體交易結束，而是標準普爾市場的活動或詢問興趣？

I think you touched on something very interesting, Greg. So I've not seen anything like this. When it comes to S&P, what's happened so far this year has actually amazed me. And the simple example is that normally, when the freight market goes to levels where you can write-down a purchase with more than $10 million or even $15 million or $20 million in a short span of time, there were periods there where 1-year charters would write-down a vessel by more than $20 million. Even at that point, we didn't see many transactions. There were ships offered for sale. We did have a look at a few. But it's been a very, very strange market with very few things of transactions happening.

我認為你談到了一些非常有趣的事情，格雷格。所以我還沒見過這樣的事情。說到標準普爾，今年到目前為止所發生的事情實際上讓我感到驚訝。一個簡單的例子是，通常情況下，當貨運市場達到可以在短時間內減記超過 1000 萬美元甚至 1500 萬美元或 2000 萬美元的採購額時，就會出現 1 年期的情況。將使一艘船舶的減記額超過2000 萬美元。即使在那時，我們也沒有看到太多交易。有船隻可供出售。我們確實看了一些。但這是一個非常非常奇怪的市場，很少有交易發生。

And with the rate correction and the -- which also corrects the write-down potential in the front, then we're now at a very healthy levels still, as you described, but we are seeing very little activity. And I'm also of the opinion that even if the yard prices will fall, then the number of deals will be low there as well. Because we mustn't forget that access to finance, as we discussed in the earlier question, and I think Frontline's access is superior. And it's never sort of a problem or challenge for us. But as an industry, this is more difficult, and this affects it. So -- and also, as you're saying, quite a few strong hands sitting and probably happy to sit if they share the same constructive view as we do.

隨著利率修正和前面的減記潛力的修正，我們現在仍處於非常健康的水平，正如您所描述的，但我們看到的活動很少。我還認為，即使堆場價格下降，那裡的交易數量也會很低。因為我們不能忘記獲得融資的機會，正如我們在前面的問題中討論的那樣，我認為 Frontline 的機會是優越的。這對我們來說從來都不是問題或挑戰。但作為一個產業，這是比較困難的，這也影響了它。所以——而且，正如你所說，有相當多的強手坐下來，如果他們與我們擁有相同的建設性觀點，他們可能很樂意坐下來。

Okay. Great. And then just one more for me. You kind of -- and I believe it was in the prepared remarks, it might have been Jonathan's, one of his questions, but you talked about vessels going a little bit slower. And that's part of the reason why you decided to delay some of these scrubber installations. Just kind of curious how we should be thinking about that. I mean, clearly, fuel prices are low, so it's not higher fuel prices that are driving slow steaming. I mean rates are firm. So just kind of -- just any kind of color you could give us around why we are still seeing slow steaming and maybe what's driving that?

好的。偉大的。然後再給我一個。你有點——我相信這是在準備好的發言中，這可能是喬納森的，他的問題之一，但你談到了船隻行駛速度有點慢。這就是您決定推遲部分洗滌器安裝的部分原因。只是有點好奇我們該如何思考這個問題。我的意思是，很明顯，燃油價格很低，因此並不是燃油價格上漲導致了航行緩慢。我的意思是利率很堅挺。所以你可以給我們任何一種顏色來解釋為什麼我們仍然看到緩慢的航行，也許是什麼推動了這一點？

I think slow steaming, congestion and general delays, it's all -- if you look -- and then some is contango driven. Some is driven by lack of space onshore. And all these factors, they build together, and they create this oil and water stat, which is -- it's up almost 20% this year in terms of how much oil is on the world tanker fleet. So going to each individual, I think it's very difficult to sort of see how they affect the overall market. But this oil and water which gathers all the factors I find quite useful. When it comes to the scrubber, then in actual fact, all we've done is that we've decided to leave the scrubber at our factory, only prepare during dry dock, only prepare the ship under water. So a small investment of less than $100,000.

我認為緩慢的航行、擁擠和普遍的延誤，這一切——如果你仔細觀察的話——還有一些是由期貨溢價驅動的。有些是由於陸上空間不足所致。所有這些因素綜合在一起，就形成了石油和水的統計數據，就世界油輪船隊的石油數量而言，今年增長了近 20%。因此，對於每個人來說，我認為很難看出他們如何影響整個市場。但這種集了所有因素的油和水我覺得還蠻有用的。說到洗滌器，那麼實際上我們所做的就是決定將洗滌器留在我們的工廠，只在乾船塢期間準備，只在水下準備船隻。因此，投資額不超過 10 萬美元。

And then when or if the fuel spread then returns, then we can go alongside and put the scrubber on and then start using it. So the spread is obviously very much correlated to the crude flat price. And when that comes up, then the spread will also increase. So time will show, but we thought it was prudent given where rates were when we decided because this also means that the dry dock time decreases by 2 weeks. So we thought it was the right decision. We can reverse it, but it looks to be the right -- because as you're saying, we're still at pretty good levels here in terms of earnings.

然後，當或如果燃料擴散然後返回時，我們可以並排放置洗滌器，然後開始使用它。因此，價差顯然與原油平價密切相關。當這種情況出現時，價差也會增加。所以時間會證明一切，但考慮到我們決定時的費率，我們認為這是謹慎的做法，因為這也意味著乾船塢時間減少了兩週。所以我們認為這是正確的決定。我們可以扭轉它，但這看起來是正確的——因為正如你所說，我們在盈利方面仍然處於相當不錯的水平。

Okay. Great. And just really quick following up on that. Do we have any sense, and realize it's a moving target, I'm not sure how you -- how Frontline tracks on the average speed of its fleet, but I don't know if we look at it on a month-over-month, week, daily. Is there any sense for how this average speed of the fleet has been trending over however you think about it?

好的。偉大的。並很快跟進此事。我們是否有任何感覺，並意識到它是一個移動目標，我不確定你如何 - 前線如何跟踪其艦隊的平均速度，但我不知道我們是否會在一個月內查看它 -月、週、日。不管你怎麼想，機隊的平均速度的趨勢有什麼意義嗎？

No. Generally, the fleet speed has come down since we started with the eco speed. So that's the speed at which -- the speed flexibility of the fleet's come down due to the more economic engine with less power. The laden speed, i.e., the speed that we are contracted to perform voyages at, have not changed much. So it's the ballast speed that is changing. And then generally, it's very simple. Its markets slow, you slow down to save some fuel. And when it's high, like it's been recently, then you rev up the engine to get to load ports as fast as you can. But in actual fact, over a year, it doesn't make that big, big a difference. It's a knot or two, but then you look at how many in ballast. And then you look at how many days the ship is laden or in port. So it's an important factor, but it's not a huge factor.

不。一般來說，自從我們開始使用生態速度以來，船隊的速度已經下降。這就是由於更經濟的引擎和更小的功率而導致機隊的速度靈活性下降的速度。滿載航速，即我們簽訂合約執行航行的航速，沒有太大變化。所以改變的是鎮流器速度。一般來說，這非常簡單。它的市場放緩，你放慢速度以節省一些燃料。當它很高時，就像最近一樣，然後你加速引擎以盡可能快地到達裝載港口。但事實上，一年多了，並沒有產生那麼大的變化。一兩個節，但你會看看鎮流器中有多少節。然後你看看這艘船滿載或停泊了多少天。所以這是一個重要因素，但不是一個重要因素。

And your next question comes from the line of Omar Nokta of Clarksons.

你的下一個問題來自克拉克森的奧馬爾諾克塔。

Robert, towards the end of your opening remarks, you mentioned floating storage and how some of the Aframaxes have come off that storage, but VLCCs will likely stay a bit longer. From a market color perspective, presumably some of the VLCC charters you entered into had options for floating storage. Can you give a sense of the ships that you have on charter, whether they're in floating storage at the moment or if the charters have exercised options to do so?

羅伯特，在您的開場白即將結束時，您提到了浮動存儲以及一些阿芙拉型油輪如何從該存儲中卸下，但 VLCC 可能會停留更長時間。從市場色彩的角度來看，您簽訂的一些 VLCC 租船合約可能有浮動儲存選項。您能否介紹一下您所租用的船舶，無論它們目前處於浮動儲存狀態還是租船方是否已行使選擇權？

So the -- it's a good question. Thanks, Omar. And then first, the Aframaxes we've seen, we've seen about 35 million barrels at the peak in Europe. Some of that's been unwound -- unwinded and on the VLCCs. Then we've done charter. I think we've done 5 or 6 between 6 months and 12 months, and these are time charters. So it's not a -- the charters are free to trade the ships as they wish. They're not pure storage charters. So at the moment, we actually -- I think we've got 1 Suez that has gone into storage, and we've got 1 BE that's about to start storing. But that's it.

所以這是一個很好的問題。謝謝，奧馬爾。首先，我們看到的阿芙拉型油輪，我們在歐洲的高峰期看到了大約 3500 萬桶。其中一些已被解散——解散並放置在 VLCC 上。然後我們就完成了包機。我想我們在 6 個月到 12 個月之間已經做了 5 到 6 個，這些都是定期租船合約。所以這不是——租船者可以按照自己的意願自由地交易船舶。它們不是純粹的儲存租約。所以目前，我們實際上——我認為我們已經有 1 艘蘇伊士油輪已入庫，還有 1 艘 BE 即將開始儲存。但僅此而已。

And then we've got quite a few ships that are more the sort of forced storage where there's lack of haulage and so forth. But we'll see how it develops here. But what we are hearing is that some Aframaxes come 3, but on the VLCCs, then there are some cargoes headed that are likely to store through Q2 and Q3. And remember that obviously, the traders are, in terms of risk, flat price risk is not something they normally take. But what's been happening here is that some cargoes have been sold at such heavy discounts and the contango's been so strong that I would guess that some of them have hedged out the front of the curve for the next 2, 3 months. And there might be people believing in demand really coming back and the Brent recovering here. So you could see people waiting and -- for this curve to strengthen forward because some of the timings on crude purchases were historic in recent weeks.

然後我們有相當多的船隻更像是強制儲存，缺乏運輸等等。但我們會在這裡看到它如何發展。但我們聽到的是，有些阿芙拉型油輪來了 3 艘，但在 VLCC 上，有些貨物可能會儲存到第二季和第三季。請記住，顯然，就風險而言，交易者通常不會承擔固定價格風險。但這裡發生的情況是，一些貨物以如此大的折扣出售，而且期貨溢價如此之大，我猜他們中的一些人已經在接下來的兩三個月內對沖了曲線的前端。或許有人相信需求真的會回升，布蘭特原油也會復甦。因此，你可以看到人們在等待這條曲線向前走強，因為最近幾週的一些原油購買時機是歷史性的。

That's interesting. So it's a good point that -- so you're talking about the discounts from the Saudis and whatnot. And so it's not just simply looking at the front end of the curve and the back end or the 6 months. There's also the $5 or $10 discount upfront as well.

那很有意思。所以這是一個很好的觀點——所以你正在談論沙特的折扣等等。因此，這不僅僅是簡單地查看曲線的前端和後端或 6 個月。還有預付 5 美元或 10 美元的折扣。

Yes, exactly. And that was where you could really realize how tight the freight market was. So it was -- there we distressed cargoes and then suddenly if someone, someone go to ship, could make the dates in West Africa within the next 5 days or so. And then discounts of, say, $5 to $10 a barrel were offered. So -- and then you put the recent jump in the flat price into it, then you can see that there are people that have oil floating here, which is deep, deep in the money. And there might be some of them that are willing to take the risk to move even deeper.

對，就是這樣。在那裡你可以真正意識到貨運市場有多緊張。事情就是這樣——我們在那裡對貨物進行了處理，然後突然間，如果有人、有人上船，可以在接下來的 5 天內左右到達西非。然後提供每桶 5 至 10 美元的折扣。所以——然後你把最近的統一價格上漲放進去，然後你可以看到有人在這裡漂浮著石油，這是很深的錢。他們中可能有一些人願意冒險進一步深入。

Yes. Okay. And then just -- how does it work, for instance, if, for some reason, the contango really does switch and they want to go shorter? If they want to unwind the floating storage, is there any impact at all on the charter that you have with them?

是的。好的。然後，它是如何運作的，例如，如果出於某種原因，期貨溢價確實發生了變化，他們想要做空？如果他們想要解除浮動存儲，對您與他們簽訂的租船合約有任何影響嗎？

No. They would still have an obligation to keep the vessel o higher and pay us higher until the earliest redelivery date. So what you'd see in that sort of circumstance is that they would then try to trade the ship in the spot market. But many of the guys that have put ships on storage are very familiar with the spot market, having ships themselves. So they would then go from being on storage to being normal spot players.

不。在最早還船日期之前，他們仍然有義務將船舶保持在更高的水平並向我們支付更高的費用。因此，在這種情況下你會看到他們會嘗試在現貨市場上交易船舶。但許多將船舶入庫的人都非常熟悉現貨市場，自己也擁有船舶。這樣他們就會從儲存狀態變成普通的現貨球員。

But as I mentioned earlier in the presentation then, we thought the peak, it will take us -- go back the month, we thought the peak in storage of oil on ships is going to be at a much higher level. What we're hearing now is that we might be close to it at 200 million barrels floating. So the sort of the negative of that is that we are not enjoying the prolonged freight spike that we expect. We expect the crude price to be low and the contango to be strong for longer than what it was. But on the flip side of that, it means that the crude inventory draw, which everybody has been talking about for the last month or 2, being the sort of big animal that would sort of destroy the whole market, that volume will then be less. So there's a flip side to the recent drop. And then by that being less, then that means that our return to a more sort of normal freight market will be shorter.

但正如我之前在演講中提到的，我們認為高峰需要我們——回到上個月，我們認為船上石油儲存的高峰將達到更高的水平。我們現在聽到的是，浮動石油量可能接近 2 億桶。因此，這種情況的負面影響是，我們沒有享受到我們預期的長期貨運高峰。我們預計原油價格將處於低位，而期貨溢價將在更長時間內保持強勁。但另一方面，這意味著過去一兩個月每個人都在談論的原油庫存減少，是一種會摧毀整個市場的大動物，那麼成交量將會減少。因此，最近的下跌還有另一面。如果減少了，那就意味著我們恢復正常貨運市場的時間將會更短。

One other question I have is just on the -- you referenced earlier the LR2s, 11 are trading clean, 7 are dirty. How are you thinking about the mix going forward? There was a lot of pressure last year to switch to dirty. And then there's a lot of talk about potentially dirtied LR2S coming back to clean. How do you think about those ships from here as we think about the next 6 months, for instance?

我的另一個問題是——您之前提到過 LR2，其中 11 個交易乾淨，7 個交易骯髒。您如何看待未來的混合？去年，轉向骯髒的壓力很大。然後有很多關於可能髒了的 LR2S 恢復乾淨的討論。例如，當我們考慮未來 6 個月時，您如何看待這裡的這些船隻？

It's very -- it depends on how the market develops here. But generally, what we'll do on the dirty ships then, when we have opportunities to clean up in a cheap way, that will be by doing condensate cargos and so forth, then we're likely to take those opportunities. So I don't think there's going to be much change. The 11-7 split, we've done for quite some time. And if I was to guess, then I think it's more likely that we'll go clean on one and we'll go to dirty on one. But that's -- it's all down to how the market develops. And the developments in the market so far this year, it's been a true roller coaster ride, and there's some mechanics here that are truly remarkable. And this 35 million barrels floating in the North Sea or the continent on afras and end up being unwound. So we just have to pay very close attention, and then we don't have any problems in taking quick decisions on the charting strategy.

這非常取決於這裡的市場如何發展。但一般來說，當我們有機會以廉價的方式進行清理時，我們將在髒船上做的事情就是透過凝析油等進行清理，那麼我們很可能會抓住這些機會。所以我認為不會有太大變化。11-7 的分割，我們已經進行了相當長一段時間了。如果我猜的話，我認為更有可能的是，我們會在其中一項上乾淨，而在一項上我們會變得骯髒。但這完全取決於市場如何發展。今年迄今為止市場的發展，就像一次真正的過山車之旅，這裡有一些真正引人注目的機制。這 3500 萬桶漂浮在北海或非洲大陸上的阿夫拉斯最終被解散。所以我們只需要非常密切地關注，然後我們就可以在圖表策略上快速做出決定。

And your next question comes from the line of George Burmann of CL Securities.

您的下一個問題來自 CL 證券公司的 George Burmann。

Congratulations to a great quarter.

恭喜您度過了一個出色的季度。

Thanks.

謝謝。

I've got a couple of quick questions on your joint ventures. You have one with Clean Marine. And then recently, in January, you did one in concert with Golden Ocean and Trafigura on, I guess, fuel supplies. It looks like each one of those added about $600,000 as your share of the gains. What are your plans for these two investments for the company? Are any of them looking to go public? Or are you -- what kind of profits do you get out of those?

我有幾個關於你們合資企業的簡單問題。您擁有 Clean Marine 的一份。最近，在一月份，您與 Golden Ocean 和 Trafigura 就燃料供應問題進行了合作。看起來每一項都增加了大約 60 萬美元作為你的收益份額。您對公司的這兩項投資有何計畫？他們中有人尋求上市嗎？或者你從這些中獲得了什麼樣的利潤？

Thanks for the question. To take the first one on the Clean Marine. We own about 1/6 of the company. It's a scrubber manufacturer and scrubbers are not being sold at the moment, and that's why we put our own on -- at the factory and not taking on the ships. So that all depends on the fuel spread. So the company is looking into alternatives, and we have a brand-new factory that can produce many variable things. So that's being looked at. It's a very small investment for Frontline, and we are a passive shareholder. So no sort of immediate plans there.

謝謝你的提問。在清潔海洋上取得第一個。我們擁有該公司約 1/6 的股份。這是一家洗滌器製造商，目前不出售洗滌器，這就是為什麼我們在工廠安裝洗滌器，而不是在船上安裝洗滌器。所以這一切都取決於燃油分佈。所以公司正在尋找替代方案，我們有一個全新的工廠，可以生產許多可變的東西。所以這正在被考慮。對 Frontline 來說，這是一筆非常小的投資，而且我們是被動股東。所以沒有立即的計劃。

The JV with Trafigura is a fuel JV, which has started up very successfully. It's securing fuel at the right price and the right quality and the right timing to our ships and also ships in the industry. So it's been tremendous growth in that company. And I would say that's the best sort of IMO 2020 decision we made was certainly joining the forces with Trafigura and Golden Ocean to form that company. So we have high hopes for that, and it could be exciting times ahead for that company. But I think what's important for the company and us is that we keep focusing on delivering. And then as growth comes on, we can put further plans. But there's nothing in the pipeline on either these two investments.

與托克的合資企業是燃料合資企業，啟動非常成功。它以合適的價格、合適的品質和合適的時間為我們的船舶以及業內的船舶提供燃料。所以那家公司取得了巨大的成長。我想說，在 IMO 2020 年，我們做出的最好的決定肯定是與托克和 Golden Ocean 聯手組建該公司。因此，我們對此抱有很高的期望，這對該公司來說可能是個令人興奮的時刻。但我認為對公司和我們來說重要的是我們繼續專注於交付。然後隨著成長的到來，我們可以製定進一步的計劃。但這兩項投資目前還沒有任何進展。

Okay. Then referring to your current valuation in the stock market, it looks like a lot of the crude transportation companies, shipping companies, tanker companies are sort of afforded an extremely low valuation rather than acquiring newbuildings or existing ships in the market. Do you see any opportunities maybe for a combination with other companies that are even less attractively valued than yours?

好的。然後參考目前股市的估值，看起來很多原油運輸公司、航運公司、油輪公司的估值都非常低，而不是收購市場上的新船或現有船舶。您是否認為有機會與其他估值比您公司更差的公司進行合併？

We look for the opportunities. And I think if there's any company that can consolidate, it's Frontline. So we'll see what opportunities come up. But for us, the most important thing is to keep working hard with our modern fleet. We have the big size. And you can see from the Q1 results that we returned pretty hefty returns to our shareholders here. And I think that's going to maintain our focus and Q2, we made solid bookings. So I think we're in a very good standing. But generally, I agree with you. If you look at the tanker companies in general, it's -- they're not being valued as linked to the earnings it seems.

我們尋找機會。我認為如果有哪家公司可以整合的話，那就是 Frontline。所以我們會看看會出現什麼機會。但對我們來說，最重要的是繼續與我們的現代化機隊一起努力。我們有大號的。從第一季的業績可以看出，我們為股東帶來了相當可觀的回報。我認為這將保持我們的重點和第二季度，我們進行了可靠的預訂。所以我認為我們的地位非常好。但總的來說，我同意你的觀點。如果你觀察油輪公司的整體情況，你會發現它們的估值並不與看起來的獲利掛鉤。

Yes. It seems like we need to figure out a way to transport oil via the cloud.

是的。看來我們需要找到一種透過雲運輸石油的方法。

Exactly. Right.

確切地。正確的。

(Operator Instructions) And your next question comes from the line of [John Reardon]. He's a private investor.

（操作員說明）您的下一個問題來自 [John Reardon]。他是一位私人投資者。

I was wondering, the recent uptick in demand from China and now India, did that surprise you? Do you think that maybe they were playing catchup on lower inventories? Or do you think that their current appetite is something that's going to happen going forward?

我想知道，最近中國和印度的需求上升，是否令您感到驚訝？您是否認為他們可能正在追趕較低的庫存？或者您認為他們當前的需求會在未來發生嗎？

John, thanks. It's a very, very good question. It's extremely relevant. And unfortunately, I don't have the answer to it, but I'll make a guess. My guess is that the demand structure as described was not as deep as the analysts were projecting. And I think the return is coming quick. So it could be -- also, the data here is -- the USA, it's normally more accurate. But there's a trend and we're getting it in from various places. And it looks like Asia is coming back quickly. And the Chinese say on gasoline is encouraging. So it could mean that the fall in demand was not as low and the pickup is indeed a V. But let's see. The oil market has certainly been difficult to predict here lately.

約翰，謝謝。這是一個非常非常好的問題。這是非常相關的。不幸的是，我沒有答案，但我會猜測一下。我的猜測是，所描述的需求結構並不像分析師預測的那麼深。我認為回報很快就會到來。所以可能是——而且，這裡的數據是——美國，通常更準確。但有一種趨勢，我們正在從各個地方引入它。看起來亞洲正在迅速復甦。中國人對汽油的評價令人鼓舞。因此，這可能意味著需求下降幅度並沒有那麼低，而且皮卡確實是 V 型。最近石油市場確實很難預測。

Okay. And in closing, Inger, I detected in your comments that you have a sore throat. And may I suggest a little hot tea with lemon? I think that will help you recover. We need a healthy Inger out here.

好的。最後，英格，我在你的評論中發現你喉嚨痛。我可以建議喝點檸檬熱茶嗎？我認為這會幫助你康復。我們需要一個健康的英格。

Thank you very much.

非常感謝。

There are no further questions at this time. Please continue.

目前沒有其他問題。請繼續。

Thank you, Irma. And with our last comment, I think it's a great way to round off and also to apologize again for the delay in starting. And you might also notice that the quality of the sound on the call here was not as it usually is. So we'll make sure that doesn't happen next time. Thank you, everyone, for calling in. All the very best.

謝謝你，艾爾瑪。透過我們最後的評論，我認為這是一個很好的結束方式，也為延遲開始再次道歉。您可能還會注意到，此處通話的音質並不像平常那​​樣。所以我們會確保下次不會再發生這種情況。謝謝大家的來電。一切順利。

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, that does conclude the conference for today. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.

謝謝。女士們、先生們，今天的會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連線。