Hello everyone again, and we would like to welcome you to our video conference for the financial results for the first half of 2024 . Very briefly, I'm not going to repeat the information available, but there are a couple of aspects that remain important for our first half of the year. First off, the results are affected by the significant reduction of grain flows from Ukraine. This manifested at the beginning of the year, and this was caused by the reopening of Ukrainian exports via Odessa. In relation to the results, what we stated in the report, and we reiterate, is the fact that the very good effects that we benefited from in terms of Ukrainian exports via Constanța last year are significantly diminishing, and we are returning to a normal trend, let's call it, in terms of long-term development.
If you want to have a correct image in what, in terms of what will follow, please take into account that this development will continue. We are actually simply coming back to a normal situation in relation to Ukraine as previous to the war, as before the war. Moreover, now we are waiting for your questions. We have already received the first question that I may answer to. We received it via email. The question sounds as follows: Are there any chances to achieve the revenue and expense 2024, and w ill we come forward with a rectification and adjustment of the budget? T his is the question. Do you want me to answer? Okay. Hello again.
T he budget was drafted at the beginning of the year, in February, if I'm not mistaken, based on data and results that we had at the time, and estimations that our partners transmitted to us. Since then, there have been a lot of developments and events, the development of the situation in Ukraine that affected the Danube transportation flows and volumes. W e had huge volumes in these two years previously, and higher prices, and they continued and translated into a huge growth of assets, especially in terms of river transport, and they had an indirect impact on traditional goods flows on the Danube during the war. Overall, these effects of the war in Ukraine were visible in 2022 and fully in 2023 .
The beginning of the year was more or less following the same trend, but of course, the effects were annulled in a way at a huge speed that was surprising for us. We expected a recovery, just not as quick as it happened, and the sole argument is the fact that Ukrainian ports via Odessa started to resume their activity as of last fall but at the beginning of this year, they started working at full pre-war levels. We're talking about goods that they manage throughout the year in Odessa and in the other ports that constitute the great basin of Odessa, as it is called, so in addition to this impact of sudden decrease of flows via Odessa, we're not only mentioning grains, we're mentioning minerals as well, and all of the goods.
W e are also witnessing a drought that has been unmatched up until now. It was sudden, had a sudden onset in June, and it majorly affected the grains crops in Romania, especially sunflower, and it also affected crops from other countries as well, traditional countries, let's call them, on the grains market, such as Hungary and so on. But the effects are less in significance in this regard. T hese natural phenomena and economic events, such as stagnation of metal production as of April, May, which we presented in the report, at page fourteen. You can see, analyze all the elements that we mentioned. T his all led to the situation in which the development of our activity has not been as for February.
It's difficult to answer such a question, because if in February we had certain elements that we based our assumptions upon, the market right now is very volatile. There are events that are happening very quickly and suddenly. T hat's why we still don't consider that we could revise the budget, because when you revise a budget, you have to have facts. R ight now, we can't estimate other figures as compared to the ones we already estimated. If this will happen, if we obtain figures that are somewhat certain, of course, we will come back to you and inform you about the potential revision of the budget and of the figures for 2024 . Yes, and there is another aspect that we have to take into account.
Right now, if we analyze only the first half of the year, we are not at a level that could justify a budget rectification. We are relatively close to the figures estimated in the budget, but the differences are not as big as to justify a rectification. But of course, once the results for Q3 are available, we will take a decision at the moment. We are monitoring the situation, but before we have the results for Q3, before we publish them, we can't take into account a potential rectification of the budget. The next question is...
Is there a reason why you did not report revenue breakdown?
What happened? Okay, I'm going to ask the question in Romanian so that everyone can understand. Is there a reason why you did not report a revenue breakdown by each business unit and volume type this quarter?
The answer is as follows: we usually don't carry out this breakdown per segment and volume type, goods type, in terms of revenue in the report for a simple reason. If we were to go into this high detail level, it's a lot of commercial information that we do not want to publish that relates to contractual volumes and tariffs, contractual tariffs. However, there is an indication, if you want, in the financial statements, in the consolidated financial statements. That's where you can view a breakdown per segments, per main business units, and you can draw conclusions, general conclusions. But we cannot go into a higher detail level because the information is of a commercial nature. Our markets are very low in terms of number of competitors, so that's why our competitors would take this information, of course, and use it.
W e can't give you information in terms of contract types, client types. We didn't give out this breakdown this quarter. We didn't give out such breakdowns in previous quarters either. Let's move on. Mr. Mustafa? No, Mr. Marius Martin has left the meeting and will view the meeting subsequently. Moving on. The question is as follows: You say we are returning to the situation pre-war. The question is: What effects will investments, the investments of over four hundred million, I'm not sure if this is the correct figure, but it's an approximate amount. T hese investments, what effect will they have? Have they changed the company or not? T he question... This is how I understand this question. Maybe you can correct me if I am wrong.
If we return to the situation pre-war without the investments or the pre-war situation, plus current investments? I think we can answer. We can say that, yes, we are returning to the situation before the war, the normal development pre-war with the effects of the investments, but without the effect of Ukraine. T he equation, if you want, is as follows: pre-war minus Ukraine, plus investments, and of course, these investments will produce and will be reflected in terms of effects in our future estimations. Please don't interpret as our outlook on the growth pre-war without taking into account the investments. Of course, these investments will be reflected in our future results, because these investments will start to produce, and we are going to see these results in the future. Next question from Mr. Sarkany.
Hello. H ow flexible is the cost structure, f or example, salary increase from last year that you had to carry out as a result of increased demands. H ow flexible is the structure cost in terms of salaries? I think we discussed this subject at the last meeting that we have. The salary components or all salary costs are or have a fixed part and a variable part. No, so it's clear that the variable side of the salary costs relates to the production process, and we have already taken into account the measures to reduce the impact of salaries on every activity segment. T here are specific aspects related to fleet, to port management activities. E ach activity has a set of measures in place in order to reduce expenses, not only salary expenses, but other expenses as well.
What we have to remember is that there is always a threshold underneath you can't go. I n terms of salaries, there is a level that we cannot go under, because that is a mandatory requirement. T here is a certain level that we have to maintain. There are certain measures in place and other measures that are currently in implementation. Obviously, here, there is an inertia moment that we are facing. These measures are coming at a later stage as compared to the impact of the market and on the market of the developments. Before you explain the next question, let's talk about DECIROM, because it's important. T he next question: Where does the difference of RON 47 million per net result and RON 37 million per consolidated level come from? Where does the difference between these two amount come from?
DECIROM wasn't supposed to bring a plus, a surplus in terms of profit. Now I'm going to answer in relation to DECIROM. DECIROM is currently in a full investment process, and of course, we inherited investments that took place before the takeover. DECIROM has a huge amortization level. In terms of balance sheet, the P&L is loaded with amortizations, write-offs, and it's good because it releases an important cash flow, but this is not reflected in the profit. The situation will continue, of course, because the investments conducted up to 2023 will not be amortized in a year. From the new investments that we carried out and continue to carry out, they will continue, but from our point of view, if you want, the profit of DECIROM is less important.
What's important for us is for the company to have a good EBITDA, and right now, we are relatively satisfied with the situation, and even more satisfied with the fact that if you analyze the volumes, the only goods segment, type of goods that recorded a growth in the first half of the year, and now seems to look good in terms of the second half of the year, are chemical products. C hemical products, from the chemical products, a good or a high weighting was brought forward by DECIROM. DECIROM already is contributing to the situation in terms of our revenues in general.
The difference, the 47 million and the 37, is justified by the dividends that were recorded, were RON 9.7 million . This is the reason behind the difference in the two results, so it was the dividend that was included, and of course, we need to talk about the amortizations, of course, these dividends are a lot higher than the amortizations. The DECIROM is about to sign two contracts. The two contracts that we talked about. I talked about in the conference. They are non-agricultural contracts. There are three new flows. Two are new for the group, but also for the DECIROM, and there is another one that has no correlation to the DECIROM. These flows are non-agricultural, including the three ones that we're exploring to bring to the group.
There is a logic of the business, meaning that the minerals have a higher predictability degree, and they're less volatile when compared to agricultural products. Now, we have some blockages from the downstream flow. When we talk about the products, the agri products, globally is priced, which were at a level that is not comfortable. The market expects better prices. The minerals have an amortization effect of tempering of the curves, and this is the reason behind the decision. There are situations where the minerals disappeared, the flows, but there are extraordinary events as the war. One point five million, two million tons disappeared, for example, after the war and did not reappear. T his is correlated to the energy prices and also correlated to the war.
They are more stable as volume when compared to agri products. This is why we're looking at non-agri flows currently. We have somebody who wants to talk to us.
[Foreign language]
Hello, Caius.
[Foreign langauge]
Hello, everybody. Just one second. Somebody stated about the volumes. T hat the volume, the sound, is it okay? Yes, it's okay. Thank you, gentlemen, for your pres...
[Foreign language]
Presentation.
[Foreign language]
Of course, it's more detailed what was published. Many of us are aged, lie to me beautifully. This is a saying that we used to use in the day. I would like you, of course, in quotations, for you to lie to me beautifully. There are problems about the budget, because we cannot the budget. We have figures when compared when talking about the future, of course, there are uncertainties. Where are we heading with this company? Which are the main drivers you confide in? Which are the directions of the companies? These will be the engine for the future growth and future profit, and this is the reasoning behind our investments.
I know it sounds a bit, romantic and silly, but we also need a story, not only the figures, from the quarterly or half-year results. Of course, you invested time, you invested emotions, your mind into companies. Where are we heading? I'm sorry for this unique question. Mrs. Bobircă, please remove the sign. This. I asked her to talk. No? Leave her alone. I thought she wanted to talk. No, she didn't. Our colleagues need to answer this question. I would start by saying that, this company very clearly has a future. I'm not worried at all, because the three main directions that we operate on correspond to the mass flows of our goods. They are very good for the river transport and it becomes a necessity for agriculture.
Of course, it's a drought-dominated year, and the situation meant a national interest in irrigation. If the plans do become actions and the results, the Siret Canal would bring water to Bărăgan to be finished, and other works, other irrigation works that are being planned to be completed, this would mean that the Romanian agriculture to be able to produce also in crisis mode. The quantities this year, the production was not affected, and we could see in the sunflower and the corn harvest, but the market situation in this moment that does not allow a grain trade because the prices are too low and we have inventory, and of course, the decision moment is being delayed.
In the steel industry, I see that the economy and the situation will reach the point that without the steel industry, Europe cannot survive. As a joke, we need steel for the tanks, and we don't produce them, and we buy it from the enemy. It's just a wording. Of course, I believe that the things will, from a national level, in Romania and Serbia, the steel industry will gain the resources needed to evolve, and at European level, there is demand. In Germany, for example, the management has to buy green steel so for the steel industry to become green, of course, you government, you authorities, need to acquire so that, of course, investments are needed.
From the chemicals industry, fertilizers, raw materials for fertilizers, we have developed this direction of the industry. The industry has a continuous activity, and of course, they need raw materials. Of course, it's more profitable, the seasonal agriculture, but there are moments, periods, where seasonally we do not have volumes, and that's why the industry sector is very important. I n the steel industry, aside the raw materials required, minerals, we have the laminated products that we transport from the producer to the beneficiary. Currently, Romania that forty years ago was producing ten million steel and we were exporting, now we're importing. W e want to integrate in Port Constanța the infrastructure to have the equipment necessary for a different flow of laminated from Europe to Romania.
In the chemical industry, we have phosphates and the end product, we have the fertilizer, we have the routes completely changed from exports to imports, and currently, we have fertilizers that come from Europe in Danube, in downstream. We have exporters to Austria, to Serbia, and Port Constanța is a port that the transfer from outside to Europe is being done. We, of course, dependent on the supply. We are in a moment that we have a market issue, a pricing issue, and this, of course, is transitory. We have seen similar crisis in 2008, 2009, where we had blockages in the goods due to pricing, and there were margins very low. About four million tons disappeared then.
Now we can see the same thing, but guaranteed, after the storm, the sun shines brightly. It's also a period with military conflict, but the future is a bright one. We would look at TTS and who it is the business. It's a logistic integrated operator. We are very happy to be able to buy DECIROM last year. We have berths in Constanța. This changed the possibilities of evolution for our company. We have two thousand kilometers that can be served, connected or not, developed or not, on the three main business segments. The CEO talked about the history. This is TTS, a structure of assets, geographically balanced, that serves a logistic with an entry and exit point in Constanța port.
When we work here, and we're talking about the phosphates, our activity is not just about today or tomorrow; it's about the future, and our future is connected to the growth of several industries in the Danube Basin, but we have the fundamental vector of economic growth, because as a principle, the economy has to increase. Of course, it goes up, it goes down. Now, the CEO has said very clearly, we have an excess of volatility. It's an uncertainty which leads to temper us in communicating some data that are not very clear. On the long term, we don't have any issue to build new projects because we have 10 countries on the three business lines. We have the chemistry, steel, and metallurgic. It's unavoidable. It's like at the stock exchange.
We have a top, a leader as the trading prices and the other companies that are going down. A s the stock market computes a BET Index, this is what we compute for the economic evolution. We would like to tell you about some secrets in our jobs. There are 40 of you participants. We cannot... We have nothing against our competition, but we need to maintain our company and business secrets. Let's talk about focusing. What you can clearly see, and we're talking about
T his will continue.
Operating business line.
Operation will begin to increase in terms of importance and strategy worth. Operation itself is less volatile compared to transportation. First off, because operation in Constanța does not transport only on the Danube. A third is transported on the Danube. There is also railway transport, traffic transport, but operation is the same. T he volumes that we managed are already higher than volumes transported. This happened last year as well, so there is a trend towards balancing, let's call it. We, ten years ago, were focused on transport and not operation. Gradually, we made the shift. A s I stated, you can already see, if you analyze the port statements, you can see certain effects from what I mentioned before. T he second important thing, as we did in previous situation where flows disappeared, we bring in new flows. Of course, we cannot go into detail.
Probably in half a year or a year, we will be able to say clearly what flows I am referencing right now, but right now, we cannot tell you. The volumes are important, periods are important because we are talking about long-term contracts. It's the same client profile that we have in our history, but right now, we cannot go into further detail for a simple reason. Until we have a work period active, we cannot give you details in this regard. We cannot give out this information. Thank you. This is a very interesting news, piece of news. Gabriel, if you want, or whoever wants to add things. Taking into account these geopolitical developments from the area, taking into account the logistical chains, some of them haven't appeared right now, but they will appear. Who knows?
Maybe, vertical, flows, Greece, Hungary, Romania, on that side. H ow do you envisage developments in this regard? What will be the future of the Constanța Port or the Danube's future and the new geopolitical logistic structure that is now in the area and will be in the area? N ow we're talking about goods flows. The Greece-Serbia route via Hungary relates to finished products, containers, and the like. What we are talking about, we're talking about cross-bulk merchandise goods, and they are not good for this route that you mentioned. If we combine it with the metal goods, everything takes place on the Danube. Hopefully, all of our products from this area are on the Danube, transported on the Danube. T he assets are organized in order for goods to be taken over on the Danube.
Of course, finished products can be transported on the Danube and other routes as well. Chemical plants that are still working, we're talking about Brașov, which is on the Danube. Well, a couple of hundred meters away from the Danube, but you understand the idea. T he objectives of investments and developments that we see and we envisage were built in order to relate to entry and exit to and from the Danube. If we're talking about cranes, it's different. Serbia, in relation to Constanța, will, of course, be transported via the Danube. The area from Serbia has a direct opening to the Danube basin. In Romania, it's a different story. It's a combination of trucks, as we mentioned beforehand, for silos in Constanța. A lot of the goods come via railway and trucks, less via water transportation.
T he development is constant, and we can't give out an estimation. We can't see an end of a certain development and then state that things will be stationary after that point. Who knows? Maybe when a development phase on a railway will be concluded, we will move on to a different type of development, but we don't envisage an impact. T he option with Greek ports and Chinese contribution to these ports is not for us, or we don't envisage it, except for the end of the railway for Central Europe and maybe for Hungary, which is less important for us. Containers from Serbia or towards Serbia are not transported on the Danube. Containers to Hungary or from Hungary are not on the Danube.
T he impact might be positive in the future because we tried to operate container transportation to these areas, and one of the main obstacles encountered relates to what happens to empty containers. Y ou take the container full from Constanța to Belgrade, let's say, or to another port where you can operate these goods. What happens when they return empty? If there are more flows, of course, then maybe you can avoid empty transport, empty load transportation. Maybe that's when you can create a network of transportation routes that could balance out this discrepancy. This is just an example, okay? Yes, this is very interesting. I'm sorry that you cannot. I cannot join you tomorrow. I would have wanted to be, but I'm starting my holiday leave. Okay, next question. Thank you, Caius.
Can you tell us how the activity took place in the third quarter as compared to the same quarter from the years before the war? We know, the third quarter is the best in terms of profitability. Unfortunately, we cannot go into detail. We can say right now, in relation to the whole, half of the year, not necessarily about, the Q3, without going into detail, is that it relates to the situation of the markets. For minerals, in terms of minerals, we are still affected by the metal industry that has, stagnated a bit. In addition to the plants that are closed, which we all know, the environmental conditions and cost conditions right now make the situation to be a bit stagnant. T hat's the situation for plants that are functioning right now. In terms of agricultural flows, the blockage is real.
Russia and Ukraine have flooded the market. We're talking about the agricultural market at international level, so international markets are not convenient or good for traders who work in the Danube Basin and who are waiting for better prices. That's the situation and the products. In terms of what I stated before, we can already see that there is a good development in this regard. In relation to markets themselves, the transportation market is right now in a difficult spot. Resettlement period, let's say. The effect of the overcapacity from last year is showing its influence, and our flows with Ukrainian grains continue, not at the level of 2023, but these flows continue because our contracts are concluded for longer periods of time.
In terms of the market itself, I stated it before. It is a resettlement period, undershooting period, because in addition to the disappearance of flows from Ukraine, there is also an overall overcapacity state as per 2023. Everyone hurried to buy fleets. There were huge volumes, and everybody hoped that these volumes would continue in 2024 and forward. This was not the situation. The volumes have disappeared, the fleet remains. T hat's why we have this, these issues in the transportation market. But of course, things will settle in this regard as well. On the medium term, you can't go with costs. You can't go forward with costs. Of course, for a short period, everyone is running after cash, nobody is analyzing profit. We're talking about the spot segment right now, which of course radiates and affects us as well.
But things will not continue for a long time. They can't. We don't know when the situation will become better in terms of conditions for us, but this is the situation that we can describe right now, without, of course, referencing the third quarter. Next question. Investments in DECIROM. A question about these investments. When will the new storage spaces be finalized? H ow much revenue can we generate from external activities, and how will we expand abroad? T hree questions, DECIROM, Hungary and Austria, and expansion abroad. F or the first question, I can answer. We started this year with a project in terms of storage units, which was inherent, let's say. It was envisaged for the older flows of DECIROM. We replaced two new storage areas units.
For these two new flows that will come to DECIROM, they are dedicated to these flows. They have long-term contracts in place. For the first one, it will become operational in a provisionary way, at in a month, let's say, and at a more consolidated level, or in a more stable form, probably at the end of the year. I don't have a precise date in mind. The second storage unit, we are currently debating and discussing, negotiating. It's a different type of client involvement, so both storage units have a client behind them, and one will be opened quicker and will start to function. The contract is in place, it's signed, so there is no hindrance in terms of exploitation.
The second one, we're still working on the final form and position for the second storage, for the second flow of goods. I n the meantime, two of the cranes of DECIROM have started modernization works, one of the larger cranes and one of the smaller cranes at the low-depth berths. F or these flows that we are preparing right now, we carried out an acquisition that was not envisaged. Basically, this entire flow did not exist on paper half a year ago, and we invested in two new motorized goods handlers, 32 tons capacity for each of these machines. T his is the current status of investments. The second question was, how much do we generate with Hungary and Austria?
Okay, Austria, in principle, is a company, but it's an agent. It's a broker for TTS, and representative on the local market, if you will, for contacts with clients and so on, information. S mall impact, and Hungary has a significantly good business. T owards 10% is Hungary from the overall activity, but a large part of this turnover comes from railway transportation as an intermediary. More, I can continue. If we will have opportunities to further invest in a foreign country, yes, of course. We take the opportunities that we are given. We're ready. Our debt ratio is very low, and this allows us, as last year in six months, to go through the overall process.
When we see an opportunity, we'll be there, and we will profit from that opportunity. The issue is with the opportunities. As you go upstream on the Danube, the fleets are less and less. Y es, whenever an opportunity is available, we will have no issues in expanding our business. The quarter with their highest revenues, none of them. It's very hard to say which of the quarters is the highest. There isn't a perfect seasonality. In theory, but just in theory, the order should be Q4, Q3, Q4, Q2, Q1, and this is because we have the downstream agri market, and there are blockages.
We have harvests that can be higher or lower, but mainly the blockages in the agri market has an impact, all, of course, on transport and shipment. W e don't have a recipe for that. If around us, everything is perfect, we should have Q3, Q4, Q2, Q1. When we are talking about going to the situation from 2021 or 2022 . 2022 was the weirdest year. We had the war, the fears, there was stagnation, and the second half, it was all about Ukraine. I don't know how to answer to you relatively to 2022 . I don't know how to respond to this question right now. Next question: Which is the difference between the DECIROM and SOCEP? This is a very interesting question. Both of them are port operators.
SOCEP is bigger in as a surface, as vessels and stores. A n advantage for SOCEP is the old container terminal. T his was the only container before the investment in the south, in Dubai Port. SOCEP is active, operates a lot of containers. This is the main difference, actually, when we compare about the surfaces, but SOCEP is a number of times higher from all perspective than the DECIROM. The next question: What business lines could bring the company in the two years, considering the European requirements to move the road or transport to river, to the river transport? How to tell you? The wish of the European Union to bring them goods to the river is just a wish.
If we talk about the trucks in Romania, the fleet, we don't have trucks. But if we look at the fleet, the estimates are two to three fold increase in the fleet. In the trucks, we don't know, but we have a huge one in Romania, the fleet of trucks. I drove over a longer distance throughout Europe, and I was scared. I didn't drive through the center of Europe. When I looked at the number of trucks that we could see, it's very scary. T he policy is one, or the number of fleets increase, or the riverways increase, respectively. On Danube, our Danube, up to Hungary and all including Hungary, we don't see any transfer from roads and rail to the fleet. What you see in the European Union is something strictly political.
It has nothing to do with the reality. When we talk about road transport, the investors will never let this happen. Yes, it will be nice, it will be a good perspective to move, to transfer to the river. If the volumes of transports from Ukraine decreased, where do we see the volume increasing in the operating port? It's simple. It's short, the answer. The port operating market has other flows and going to and coming from other countries, and we have the other 66% of Constanța Port is by road and by rail. That's why port operating activities are more stable, and that's why we're focusing on that. But there are more sources and destinations, more destinations. The goods from Ukraine, it's about the fleet. W e have on barges, it reaches in Constanța.
Including in grains, the Canopus terminal, the Chirom is by rail and road transported goods. The Chirom, 80% the barge, comes to. From there, we can see this discrepancy. Mr. Mustafa, please. Can you hear us? Yes, I can hear you. Hello. There's a short delay, and I'm sorry about that. Yeah, I might repeat myself. Technical, from the upgrading, that was with the barges being covered, that were announced last year. This year, how many will they be upgraded? How many are included in the investment plan? When talking about the upgrades, we're talking about covering the barges. T he engines, there was a problem in upgrading, modernizing to increase performance. When talking about modernization of the engine, this is a long-term process.
We don't include that in this plan. At the next capital repairs, in 2026, we will be talking if we change the engine, the engines, or we perform capital repair works. There are interventions, two vessels that were finished last year. This year, we don't have any upgraded plant. W hen talking about barges, the covering process was stopped. There are a couple of them still made to be performed. We rather invested in eight new barges that they are undergoing, so four are in the finishing stages this year. There are new barges that continue the modernization process that we mentioned a couple of years ago. We want to get rid of all the schleps in our fleet and replace them with barges. This is the situation currently.
When we're looking at the revenues and profitability this year, we pay more attention to the investments, new one or non-urgent one this year. The second question is about the draft, the transport on the Danube. Of course, it will be affected in the second quarter than in the first quarter. Will be without disclosing details, business insight, we look at - we are looking at the in the media. The navigation process is not stopped. There we have a convoy of six barges. It opened and two barges, two by two, enter. There are more in Serbia. There are actually steps. T here we can see barge by barge. This year started later. In July, there was an impact, a negative one. The first semester was optimal.
The situation is not perfect, it's not wonderful, but the drainage are being performed by the Bulgarians. They are draining. Last year they performed that, also this year, but they reduced capacity this summer. Them and us, if we talk about this process, probably there is a financial aspect to it. It's a budgeting issue. T he second crane, is it operating? Yes, yes, it performing. It's operating from last year, so the decrease on grain from Ukraine, are they justified in this year? There are some nuances here. In Constanța, we have three cranes, more performing cranes, old. Plus two, there's five cranes. We also had three regular cranes, and at maximum, we had two from Galați, who were additional. Now, they're back.
After the maximum, after the peak, they went back, so now we have five big cranes, three smaller ones, which are not that performant when required. The decrease in the operating side was not as big as the transport. Because the goods do not come only from Ukraine. Here, we're talking about grains. There are goods also from Ukraine. We still have goods from Ukraine, also on the Danube, and it's being operated by other port operators, that they don't have their cranes, floating cranes. N ow, increasing our capacity in terms of operation, we manage our goods, and we also offer services in terms of operation to other port operators from the Constanța port, so there is a balance, if you will, that changes every day.
I would like to add something that was unclear from last year. These floating cranes are not aimed only for operation outside. They can also work at berth. A t Canopus, we work when needed, simultaneously from the terminal and from the floating crane, in order to increase our operation speed. W herever needed, in our port or for others, it helps a terminal or another operate quicker. T here are situations, such as last year, as the Capesize that we conducted, right? The Capesize was last year. A part was done at Dubai Port, part was done by us at our level. T hey work not only for Ukrainian grains, so they can be utilized at any terminal. Thank you. Very useful. I think it was unclear.
Yes, it was unclear, because us, who are not experts in terms of sea aspects, we thought that those, floating cranes are only used, at sea. We didn't know that they can be converted to be used in other ways, in terms of berths, for example. T hank you very much. Moving on. Let's see.
F inancial impact to these new contracts. We can't or before we move into detail, I would like to state something, that our contracts, in principle, are based on certain programs, work programs, in terms of ores, minerals. P eople know that next year, seven ships will come, one in April, two in June, and so on. B ased on this, that's why we work based on the program of the client. It's difficult for us to establish how much of the turnover, what percentage will be brought in from these contracts. T he figures are stable. When such a flow appears, for example, I can tell you about one of the flows that we already have.
From the perspective of the client, they start out for a period of five years, but we can't know in two years, for example, the client can know in two years what volume, this client will, operate. But we have a picture, an overall picture of the volume, because we know what storage units we required in order to carry out this, contract. But we cannot give you, specific or concrete figures. It's impossible. Moving on. Will we move to sea transport? Does anybody want to answer? The young people of the team. Maybe it is, possible in the future to include this aspect in our, structure. In theory, of course, it's always easier, as compared to in practice. Sea transport is a different, thing altogether, as compared to river transport that we conduct right now.
We are open, but we can't do such a shift, carry out such a shift so easily. It's a huge market, a bigger market, very competitive. You need specialized staffers, and you also need a long-term project and a very long-term project as well. I would say that it is in our mind; we are thinking about such a project, but for the future, we cannot give you an answer right now. Let's allow Mr. Martin to ask his question. No, before Mr. Martin, let's take another question. Negative impacts of the amortization of DECIROM. There are two aspects. First off, DECIROM came with a huge amortization value. I don't know for cranes, what is the write-down period. 14 years, that's huge.
Investments that we inherited, the three cranes acquired by DECIROM before we took over the company, will be reflected in theory in the next fourteen years or after fourteen years. It depends, because this does not mean that amortizations will not increase. Of course, they will increase. We come with our own investments, but in terms of the group, they are not as relevant or it's not relevant for us that DECIROM is loaded with write-offs and amortizations. It means that we can. We did not buy DECIROM for dividends. We bought it for it to operate and for it to give us this support in the Port of Constanța. That's why we don't call it, that's why we call it an investment for the next hundred years. There's no going around it. The next question, Marius Martin. Let's hear him out.
Mr. Martin, you have the floor. Can you hear us? Okay. Let's wait for Mr. Martin to intervene. Mr. Martin, can you hear me? Mr. Martin, can you hear us? Okay. Let's move on to the next question, and then we can come back. Modernization of Giurgiu. Giurgiu modernization, what advantages? Okay. T his modernization has two phases, one that we already concluded, the one included- or the one with European funds. We still have next steps that are difficult. S econd, there is a project initiated by the Ministry of Transportation and Port Authorities in Giurgiu, that replaces one structure with a vertical one, and it brings forward twenty meters in terms of platform, additional platforms.
The advantage brought forward by the second phase of the modernization relates practically to increase in terms of port operation activity, so a larger surface to conduct operations. I f we have such a vertical structure, we can eliminate the issues that we had in terms of operation with the previous structure, because a low water can always lead to issues when you have the current structure due to the further distance from the shore, and so on.
T these are the two main advantages: the advantage of vertical structure and the advantage of larger surface for operations. Next question. Let's see the question. We can see it. Good. C an we give a rough guidance in terms of volumes outlook for this year? I f we have and if we can revise our expectations for the long-term growth. In terms of long-term growth, I can answer. Okay, so long-term wise, I repeat, it's good for us to it's best for us to analyze previous or old variations, 2021, 2022. 2022, of course, is maybe a higher growth as compared to normal development because Ukraine appeared in the second half of the year.
As time passes, you will see that that hike caused by Ukraine will disappear and the development will recover. After normalization, it will be as per before 2022 , 2021 . It's difficult to pinpoint the event because 2021 was a special year. Moving on, in terms of volumes for this year, more information than the information included in the report is not possible for us to give. It's what we mentioned beforehand regarding the situation on the market, and so on, when referencing the question related to the budget rectification. Yes. W e're talking about the Danube and the Black Sea. We are as opportunistic on the Danube as we are on the Black Sea. Let's. Caius has a comment, not a question.
Considering the solid financial position, do you believe that the share buyback program, in order for their allowance, will be opportune at this pricing? I don't know what to say. At this moment, we do not plan to make a share buyback, like the one on the New York Stock Exchange, where everybody, instead of investing, is buying back the shares so that they artificially increase their dividend. W e don't have plans regarding this, the sustainment of the price on the market in this moment. In comparison to the American market, we have more long-term benefits by investing and not in the absolute profit. If this question has been answered already. Do you see new acquisitions? Yes, if the opportunities arises, we will be ready.
The debt ratio is very low. The banks wants to finance us, but we need to find the key opportunities. How much from the expense and revenues budget do you think you will obtain this year as a percentage? We don't know. When the deviations will be significant, yes, we will consider updating the budget. But in the third quarter, we need to see clearly what is going on, and we need to report that, because it would be like a acting before the publication. There is a news in the media, the Romanian government are fighting the Ludogorets Razgrad billionaires from Bulgaria. Yes, I also read this article. It's not good to comment on such issues just because of information. We loaded in Giurgiu Port.
It's a small port that serves Moldova, the Moldova Republic, and that operates all goods. They also have containers. It's a small port, seven-meter traditional depth. What other strategic interests are for our government for this acquisition? They want to sell it, or the EBRD wants to sell. We at the TTS, we don't have any interest, direct, immediate, or strategic in having a participation in this project. This is the link. Yes, yes, I read it. I didn't read it. I think we answered all the questions. Thank you that we can go back to the conference this year. We're participating there. Thank you for participating. Of course, the recording, the video, and audio, and the transcript will be available on the Internet.
When they will be published, we will communicate via the newsletter or in any other way. Thank you very much, and we will see you next after the...