Welcome to Virtual Investor Conferences. On behalf of OTC Markets, we're very pleased you joined the Small Cap Growth Conference. Our next presentation is from D'Amico International Shipping. Please note, you may submit questions for the presenter in the box to the left of the slides, and you can view a company's availability for one-on-one meetings by clicking Book a Meeting in the top toolbar. At this point, I'm very pleased to welcome Carlos Di Mottola, and he is the Chief Executive Officer of D'Amico International Shipping, which trades on the OTCQX Best Market under the symbol DMCOF, and on the Milan Exchange under the symbol DIS. Welcome, Carlos.
Thank you, John, and thank you for the introduction, and good afternoon or good morning to everyone, depending on where you are located, and I'll jump straight into the presentation. I'll skip the executive summary, and I'll start by giving a quick overview of our fleet. We are a product tanker owner and operator, and this is our fleet today. We have 29 vessels on the water, mostly MRs, MR2, 17, and then we have six LR1s and six Handysize vessels, also known as MR1s. 27 of them owned, two bareboat chartered in, and then we have eight vessels ordered, which will be delivered to us between 2027 and 2029, two MRs, four LR1s, and two Handysize vessels.
We still have a young fleet, an average age below 10 years, 9.6, relative to an industry average, which is of almost 15 for the MRs and 16 for the LR1s. Most of our vessels are eco-designed, 93%, and the new builds we ordered have the objective of ensuring we keep controlling a modern and competitive fleet, and they will be replacing some older vessels that we have already sold and or that we will be selling in the coming years. Going on to the next slide, we have a very strong balance sheet, thanks to very strong markets we have benefited from in the last few years.
The ratio between the Net Financial Position and the fleet market value of our fleet as at the 13th of September was around 7%, and this ratio has decreased since we have generated quite a lot of cash in Q4 last year, and also because asset values have continued rising throughout Q4 and the beginning of this year. We did very well in the first nine months last year, not as well as in the first nine months of 2024, but still very good result, $63 million in profit almost in the period. And what is important is that there was an improving trend throughout the year.
So if you look here at the average of earned by our vessels on the spot market, you see that in Q1, the average was at around $21,150, and then almost $25,000, $24,500 in Q2, and $25,500 in Q3. So clearly, you can see this improving trend throughout the year. And also, in Q4, this was the figures we announced when we approved our Q3 results. So we had, at the time, which was early November, fixed around half of our available spot days for Q4, so 23% of the total available days, at an average rate of $28,300. So higher than what had been achieved in Q3. So there is this improving trend, which is also confirmed in the first quarter of this year.
So the market has improved further in the beginning of this year. Well, why do we have such a strong market? We'll get into later. Quickly, just here on our CapEx commitments, which I already referred to, the new buildings, this is—these are the investments for the next few years. We have outstanding commitments of around $374 million for these vessels. We ordered most of the investments occurring in 2027 and then in 2029, which are the delivery years for these vessels. We have also two vessels, which are bareboat chartered in, which we could... With which we have options to exercise at any point with three months' notice. These are cheap financings for us today. These transactions were closed just before interest rates started moving up. They are fixed-rate transactions.
If interest rates continue moving down, it will become attractive to exercise these options, in, in the future, possibly this year, if not next year. And here instead, in relation to the vessels which we had on time charter in, the options that we exercised, we show the value that was generated at the exercise date, which was of around $57 million, being the difference between the valuation of these vessels at, at the date at which they were exercised and the exercise price of the options. This value decreased slightly as at 30th of September, but still very positive. This is the difference between, at, as at 30th of September, between the market value of the vessels and the book value of the vessels, that's at the same date.
But since then, I would expect this figure to have improved, because vessel values have moved up in the last quarter of the year and the beginning of this year. Going on to the following slide, we show here our contract coverage for the coming years. We have 42% of our available vessel days covered for 2026, at an average rate of around $23,300, and 16% of our 2027 days at an average rate of $22,200. So very profitable rates, considering our break-even is just above $15,000 per day. Here we show how the markets have been moving over the last few years, both spot rates, TC rates, and asset values.
On the left-hand side, the yellow line is the most volatile one, that shows the average spot rates for MR vessels. And we see this improving trend since around June last year. And the same, of course, in a less pronounced way for the TC rates, which for the one year TC rate. Asset values have also been moving up since the middle of last year, both for five, 10-year-olds and to a lesser extent, also new building prices. And well, why is the market so strong? There are a number of disruptions which have been supporting the markets.
The main one, and the one we have been benefiting from since 2022, is the disruptions related to the war in Ukraine and the rerouting of Russian oil exports, both crude and products. Russia is one of the biggest oil producers in the world, one of the biggest exporters in the world. Used to export around 5 million barrels of crude and 2.5 million barrels of refined products before the war started. These exports have proven resilient despite the sanctions, but they have declined gradually over time as sanctions became more stringent.
And more importantly, these exports, in particular of refined products, which is what we transport, have been moving to much more distant locations than where they used to be exported before, where around 50% of these exports used to go to Europe, and now almost nothing is going to Europe, and it is being exported to China, India, Turkey, Africa, Latin America, mostly. So, the ton-mile demand effect of this disruption is estimated to be of around 7%. Then there was the disruptions related to the transit of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which had a very positive impact initially in the first nine months of 2024.
We see on the chart on the right-hand side, on the top, the ton days on the east to west and west to east routes for transportation of CPP products. We see how these levels have risen substantially in the first nine months of 2024, relative to the averages seen in 2023. You see that the horizontal yellow line being well above the horizontal red line. However, this changed after that, starting in Q4 2024, and the green horizontal line, which is the average for that quarter, is below the average for 2023, and the average for 2025 is even lower than that.
So there was, of course, the product that continued being transported, was being transported on longer routes around the Cape of Good Hope. Initially, almost all the products, and then gradually, some shipowners resumed transiting through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait as the, the situation improved last year. These transits are still well below where they were in 2023. But what happened is that the additional costs associated with these longer transits through the Cape of Good Hope meant that it was not always profitable for this product to move along these routes, and the products stayed, were traded more regionally, so over shorter distances.
So, it could actually be argued that, during most of the period following the onset of this disruption, it was actually slightly negative for the market, if anything. However, furthermore, actually, here we show that not only the ton days decrease, but that a large portion of these products were actually transported on non-coated vessels. This figure peaked at around 12% in Q3 2024. We see on the graph on the left-hand side has been a very volatile figure.
It's now only at around 2%, but there were moments where a large portion of these products were transported on larger vessels, Suezmaxes and VLCCs, which can cannibalize the market, which is usually catered for by the product tankers, which is the type of vessels we control. Well, another disruption, this is a very fresh one, or geopolitical factor rather in this case, which should support the market, and we are already seeing some of the effects of this, is the, in this case, the removal of sanctions on Venezuela. So Venezuela was a very important producer and exporter of oil before Chávez came to power. The industry suffered greatly thereafter.
Production declined from a peak of 3.2 million to around 1 million barrels per day last year. And there, this product was transported on vessels which were sanctioned because of the sanctions that were in place, on a, on a-- It was transported on the shadow fleet. And the removal of sanctions means that these, this product, this oil, would then now be able to be transported on compliant vessels, so it will increase the demand for compliant vessels. It will be especially beneficial for Aframax vessels, which are suitable for this particular trade, out of Venezuela, but it will indirectly benefit also other vessel sizes, in particular, the smaller vessel sizes.
So this is a positive factor, and we have seen that Aframax rates after the sanctions were removed have already benefited from this, and more is likely to come. And another factor, of course, which has been very supportive for the market, has been the increasing sanctions that are being placed on vessels involved in sanctioned trades. We have now arrived at 16% of the tanker fleet, which is sanctioned when measured on a deadweight ton basis.
We see on the graph on the left-hand side, the sanctioned oil on the water, which has been rising sharply, especially because the latest sanctions, which were placed on Lukoil and Rosneft, also means that it is taking longer for these exports to arrive at destination. There are middlemen which are involved to obfuscate the origin of the product. The exports of Russia have declined slightly, but nonetheless, a lot of oil is still continuing to be exported, but it takes longer for the oil to arrive at destination.
That is why we see this spike in sanctioned oil on water, which means, which absorbs a lot of tonnage, which is not free to trade, to transport other product, and therefore, it tightens the supply-demand balance. Going back instead to the fundamentals that we usually look at and not geopolitical factors, we see oil demand continues rising at a quite healthy pace, slightly at a lower pace than in the past, but still an almost 1 million barrels per day, 0.9 million barrels per day increase in demand expected for 2026, with also an increase in refined volumes expected.
What is more important is that where this increase in refined volumes is occurring, and it is occurring mostly in non-OECD countries, where we see an expected increase in refined volumes of 0.9 million barrels per day, and a small contraction instead in refined volumes in OECD countries expected in 2026. So, and which this is positive for ton-miles. So we are seeing a lot of the additional volume coming online in coming from Asia, from the Middle East, and it will be exported to Europe, it will be exported to the Americas, in particular, well, the West Coast of North America also should pull in more products because of their refinery closures in that region. More products being imported also by South America.
So going on to the following slide, we see that there was a very sharp increase in oil supply last year, on average of around 3 million barrels per day, and a further, very sharp increase expected, but in 2026, of around 2.5 million barrels per day. This has been very supportive, especially for the crude tankers. Furthermore, these barrels have come a large portion from the Americas, and a lot of that is being exported to Asia, so over very long distances. And, out of the increase expected for 2026, 1.3 million barrels per day is expected to come from the US, Brazil, and Guyana. So very sharp increase from these countries contributing to ton-miles.
We see here the forward oil price curve, which is still in backwardation in the front end, but thereafter in contango. The backwardation in the front end is explained by the risks associated with a conflict with Iran, and how that could affect oil production and exports out of that region. However, the market is oversupplied with oil currently, and if there is more clarity or resolution to that situation, we expect even the front end of the curve to move into contango. That should be provide further support to the market, as it should incentivize the buildup of inventories onshore initially, but also at sea.
Also, through vessels slowing down because they are able to sell the product they have on board at a higher price if it is delivered later. So, that has been extremely positive for the market in 2020, when the supply-demand balance was not particularly tight. And we saw very strong rates because of this, of the forward oil price curve moving in contango. If this were to happen in today's market, where the market is already very tight, then we could see a very, very strong market indeed for tankers generally. Going on to the following slide, here we just show which products should be contributing more to oil demand growth in 2026.
And we see that the demand should be driven by Gaso il and Jet Fuel next year, with Naphtha also playing an important part. Yeah, Naphtha has been a product which is being increasingly imported by China as it develops its petrochemical industry. So, this is a trend that we expect to continue in the near future. And here we see that the strength in the crude markets, we see the graph on the right-hand side. We see how, especially VLCC rates have spiked towards the end of last year. It's a very volatile series, these rates now are above $100,000 per day, again, for VLCCs, and very strong also for Suezmax and Aframaxes.
They have driven a lot of LR2 vessels, which typically trade in both markets, both the dirty and the clean, to move into the dirty markets. We see the yellow line on the graph on the left, where how it has risen sharply since November 2024, and we see the two lines crossing. So there are more LR2s today which are trading dirty than clean. And despite almost 50 LR2s being delivered in 2025, we actually saw a reduction in the number of LR2s trading clean. So that has tightened up significantly the market for product tankers trading clean, smaller product tankers trading clean. And it explains why the market has been so strong recently, and this should also be one of the main drivers for the future strength in the market.
Here, another structural long-term factor, which has been influencing the market for a long time, which we have already touched upon, which is the refinery additions that we will have been seeing and will be seeing in China, the Middle East, and in India. And the closures in refineries in the Americas, in North America, and in Europe, which should drive more imports into these regions. And the fleet is also aging very fast. At the end of 2024, if you look at MRs and LR1s only, you had an order book, which was of just below 16% of the vessels on water, and you had around six, just over 16% instead of the vessels which were more than 20 years old.
At the end of 25, this percentage, vessels, which are more than 20, had risen to 20%, and the order book fallen to 13.5. This is very healthy. Vessels, after they cross the 20-year threshold, they are much more limited in terms of how they can be employed. A lot of terminals do not accept vessels which are older than 20 years old. A lot of charters will not charter vessels which are older than 20 years, and so they really trade in a secondary market. As long as there are not that many vessels which are above this threshold, they can continue trading quite profitably, especially in strong markets like we have today.
But as the number of vessels in this age bracket increase, the competition becomes much fiercer, and the opportunities are not that many for them. And so, this should encourage demolition of these vessels in the near future, and we see at the bottom, the vessels which are reaching 25 years of age in the coming years. And there are an increasing percentage of the fleet, which is reaching 25 years, starting from 2028, where you almost have 4% of the fleet reaching that age, which is usually the age by which vessels are demolished. It's the average age of demolitions for vessels, usually 25 years.
So we are going to be seeing a lot more vessels being demolished very soon, even in a strong market, and that should provide further support for the markets. Fleet growth has been accelerating throughout 2025, and should accelerate further in 2026. But as we saw, a lot of that was absorbed through the clean to dirty switching that happened mostly on the LR2 fleet, but which has indirectly supported also smaller vessels. And we see, you know, on the graph on the right-hand side, that there was a reduction in vessels ordered last year. This is only MRs and LR1s.
There were two hundred and fourteen vessels ordered in 2024, which is a very big number, but this declined to seventy-four vessels in 2025. And then going on to the following slide, we see here fleet growth, which is accelerating. It's a 4.1% for MRs and LR1s. If you look across all tankers, it's of only 3.5%, even assuming very limited scrapping. More importantly, however, if you look at the fleet growth for the sub-twenty fleet, with, as I mentioned, vessels which are over 2010 to trade in the secondary markets, then this fleet growth across all tankers is of less than 1%. So, a very low fleet growth, which means that markets should stay strong in 2026.
So I think these are the main slides I wanted to present, so I'll pass over to the Q&A. I see we have some questions coming in here. So on dividend policy, "Can you discuss your dividend policy expectation for 2026?" Yes. Out of the 2024 results, our payout ratio, including buybacks, was of around 40%, and we expect that we are going to be able to confirm that payout ratio out of the 2025 results. So of course, this is a decision which will be taken later this year by the shareholders, but we expect this will be confirmed by them.
Looks like OpEx per day and G&A have risen over the past two years. What are your expectations for 2026?" Yes, it is indeed true. We have had quite a strong inflationary pressure over the last few years on OpEx and G&A. The G&A was influenced also by the variable compensation, which was linked to the very strong results that we achieved over the last few years. This will eventually somehow normalize. On the G&A front, we don't expect the same sharp increases in that category. Of course, if there were to be further increases on the variable compensation, they would be linked to even stronger results.
But in any case, especially the long-term incentive plan we have is capped, so it shouldn't increase that much or much less than the results would increase eventually. So that is not a source of concern. On the OpEx front, I think the inflation, inflationary pressures will be less important going forward. We will see more normalized, increases, possibly in OpEx than what we have seen in the last few years. And I think unfortunately, I ran out of time, but we have other questions, and I'll try to answer them via email after the presentation. If you want to contact us, if you have other questions, please feel free to do so. You can reach us through our investor relations website.
Thank you, everyone, for attending the presentation today.