Good morning, everybody. Welcome, and thank you for joining us for this Q3 webcast. My name is Torbjørn Wist, and I'm the CFO and Acting CEO of the company. Before we move into the agenda and practical information on the Q&A, I thought I would share some highlights from the Q3. All in all, we delivered another good quarter where we showcase our competitive advantages and demonstrate our ability to scale and adapt to secure higher margin cargoes in what can only be described as a volatile market. Our EBITDA ended at a record $233 million, the highest quarterly level since the merger in 2017. We have a strong rate and profitability development in the shipping segment, and this outweighs a reduction in volumes across all three segments.
Unfortunately, global supply chain issues remain, and it is no surprise that the semiconductor chip shortage has affected volumes in our business. In August, we successfully issued a NOK 1.5 billion bond at attractive pricing, and we ended the quarter with a cash position of $587 million, up $21 million quarter- on- quarter. These good results will help build a solid foundation to return to a dividend position, as well as consider future investment decisions. We have established an ambitious target to reduce CO2 intensity in our shipping operation by 27.5% from 2019 to 2030. The target can only be reached by improving energy efficiency for our sailing fleet in combination with fleet renewal for vessels that age out during the next decade.
We are working hard on our fleet renewal and emission reduction strategy, which includes the concept study of the Orcelle Wind, as well as other existing vessel technologies. We expect to revert with more information within the coming 12 months. Last week, it was confirmed that our U.S. subsidiary, ARC, was not awarded the updated bid for the global household goods contract. ARC has requested a debrief from the United States Transportation Command, TRANSCOM, and will evaluate its options to protest the decision. Any further announcements will be made as and when needed. Turning to the agenda, we will as usual start with the business and market updates before we review the financial performance. We will have a Q&A session at the end of the presentation managed by Anette Orsten, who is our VP Global Treasury & IR.
If you have any questions, please send it on the Ask the Question button which you see on this screen. We will of course endeavor to answer all your questions either on or after the call. As last time, we're fortunate to be joined by Erik Nøklebye, a COO of our Shipping Services based in Seoul, as well as Mike Hynekamp, who is on a bit more disadvantageous time zone, sitting in New Jersey. Mike is, of course, the COO of our Logistics Services. They will together review the key business and market developments for the respective segments during the quarter. I will now hand over to Erik for an update on the shipping segment.
Thank you, Torbjørn. Before I move into the shipping business and market update, I would like to share the story behind the picture that you can see on the slide, as it relates to our position as an end-to-end solution provider, where both shipping and logistics are a part of the overall delivery. In this picture, you can see our first shipment of Airbus A220 fuselage large components that's leaving the port of Dalian in China, and we will move the Airbus parts on land and sea from the manufacturing plant in Shenyang, China to the Airbus factory in Mirabel, Canada. In addition to the transportation services, Airbus will also know the location of each part as it moves through the supply chain using our digital tracking tool, and that allows them then to optimize their operations at every point.
This, for us, showcases what is a modern end-to-end supply chain management and what that looks like. Okay, moving into the results part for the Shipping Services segment. For the Shipping Services segment, we saw a net freight rate per cubic meter improving significantly in the Q3, and it's up 30% since the last quarter in Q2. The rate improvement then countered the volume drop of 9% on the back of auto production remaining impacted by the semiconductor chip shortage, as well as the high and heavy portion that ended at a strong 33.5% for this quarter. But of course, also high and heavy volumes do remain high, but they are somewhat lower than in Q2, also on the back of similar type of drivers.
The semiconductor shortage and continued unpredictability in the supply chain continues to affect our operations and volumes also in the Q3. The volume drop we saw was largely driven by continued reductions in volumes on both European, Atlantic, and Atlantic export trades. These trades continue to lag significantly behind the trade volumes we saw in the Q3 of 2019. While this impact our operation, we do our utmost to handle the volatility and remain trustworthy for our long-term clients, and that, of course, is a balancing act in this current market environment. Looking to Asia, while trade volumes from Asia to Europe and Asia to South America specifically continued to grow in the Q3, and by that positively impacting average dead freight rates.
We have seen exports from all main Asian markets affected as well negatively by the semiconductor shortage, especially throughout September. For us, that has led to actually less pressure on the operation and also a reduced capacity shortage overall. Our shipping business for automotive and high and heavy clients is largely categorized by one to three year contracts with pre-agreed pricing and fuel adjustment clauses. For us, this means that we do not see the same fluctuation in rates when the supply-demand balance changes, neither up nor down as experienced by, for example, the container lines. As to contract renewal activity for Q3 specifically, it was successful. Our ability to negotiate higher rates and better terms reflects the overall capacity shortage, and especially manifesting itself for used and spot-generated volumes, as well as break bulk cargo.
As a general rule, for regions where volume and demand are high, we do see the ability to improve rates, while in regions with new development, we see more of a flat development overall. For the final quarter, our contracting activity is focusing on renewal of contracts commencing in 2022, and I can also mention that we are in a process of renewing the contract with Hyundai and Kia Motor Group starting in Q1 2022. The renewal process is tracking well, and on the back of our 17-year-long history together, we have a lot of confidence that we will maintain our good relationship as well going forward. Finishing up on the fleet capacity overall. The fleet capacity constraints that we experienced in the first half of the year has eased on lower shipping volumes.
The car carrier fleet does not see the same level of congestion and pressure as experienced, for example, by the container fleet as we access a separate terminal network, and of course also for us that means many overall terminals. The core fleet remained at 119 vessels at the end of Q2, and that accounts for about 20% of the global car carrier fleet. Our core fleet consists of vessels on long-term charter as well as owned, and the total number includes the final vessel in cold layup that we hope to have in operation now in November. The short-term charter activity and charter inactivity for us was reduced during the quarter as further reactivations took place and then also somewhat less pressure on capacity, especially out of Asia.
In Q4, we have also taken delivery of our final newbuilding, the post-Panamax vessel Nabucco. That concludes the shipping business update, and then I will move on to the market update. Then I would like to start with the light vehicle market. Light vehicle deep-sea volumes remained stable while the sales volume declined 11% year-on-year. While sales clearly hampered by the supply chain pressure, including parts shortages that we have talked about before. On a quarter-by-quarter basis, the global light vehicle sales declined 10% as dealers did not have enough vehicles to supply the strong demand, and the strong demand remains solid on continuing strong consumer confidence. It's linked to job markets remaining strong. We see continued low interest rates environments. There is still a post-COVID pent-up demand.
There are still incentive programs in place, et cetera. In addition though to the supply chain pressure, OEMs are challenged by continued cost pressure linked to high commodity prices. Steel has risen by 4 times over the last 12 months, and we also see rising labor costs now. Finally, on light vehicles, we do see reports on the reserves of magnesium are running low, and magnesium of course being an important input for the aluminum and thereby in auto production. That's another risk factor that we are watching going forward. If I then move to the high and heavy section or part of the market update, we continue to see a strong development also in this quarter.
Quarter-over-quarter, the global volumes dropped approximately 5%, and that's a development broadly reflecting what we have seen also in our group. Compared to the same pre-pandemic period in 2019, global volumes were nearly 20% higher. It is a strong overall marketplace. We believe that the high and heavy fundamentals they continue to remain relatively intact compared to three months ago. There has been a strong rebound in construction activity, and while it's still uneven, both geographically and when comparing residential and non-residential constructions, this is still moving on well. Commodity price inflation has also continued, benefiting most commodity producers around the world. Global food prices have not been this high for a decade, despite prices for some crops pulling back since the summer.
The same goes for metal prices that are at an all-time high, despite the iron ore price having fallen significantly close to 50% the last three months. While the demand picture remains strong, the situation related to machinery availability, both in terms of production disruptions and also record low inventories has only intensified the last couple of months, same as for the automotive market. This supply crunch and the fluidity of the situation makes the near-term market increasingly hard to predict, obviously. However, we do expect both unfulfilled end user demand and also inventory restocking to be positive for us once global supply chains begin to normalize again.
If I move to the last slide of this part of the market update and the fleet, the global fleet, demand recovery and trade imbalances has led to a tight owner situation. The situation is mirrored in the global fleet figures where we saw no recycling at all, and there was also only one delivery in Q3. Some highlights from the slide you see, there are still a substantial number of recycling candidates there. The order book has, for this quarter, increased significantly and now stands at 40 vessels, up from 16 last quarter. While that's a large increase, it's still at a moderate level. We think this then contributes to the expectation of a continued tight supply and demand balance going forward.
New orders currently have a lead time of three-four years, and that's a significant increase in lead time during the year as well. Supply chain inefficiencies like port congestions and other COVID-related activities has eased and added some capacity during Q3. When we look at markets, they are forecasted to be beneficial with a utilization rate of 91% next year, and that's considered a fairly high utilization of the global fleet, as it usually is between 85-90. That's considered to be fully utilized.
The continued media reports on even more activity in the ordering market, we see that, however, these are still not firm signed orders yet, and they are not accounted for in the numbers that you see on this slide. This concludes the business and market update for the Shipping Services segment, and I would like now to hand over to Mike for an update on the Logistics Services segment.
Great. Thank you, Erik, and good morning, everyone. Before I move into the business and market update for logistics, I'd like to give you some insights into this photo you're seeing of a car inside an automotive vehicle scanning booth. Two weeks ago, we made a small investment in DeGould, a U.K. company which offers automated vehicle inspection systems by using high-definition cameras to take photos of automobiles. The images are then analyzed with their proprietary AI technology to capture the full condition of the vehicle and detect any damages. While the investment amount is small, it represents an important strategic position to foster more efficient as well as consistently high-quality operations in our network digitally.
In addition, the partnership supports our strategic ambition of providing end-to-end as well as full lifecycle supply chain services, some of which you've already heard about from Erik in regards to our work with Airbus. So far, we've done a pilot with this in our operations in Southampton with some promising results. We've improved the overall process quality, we've eliminated process bottlenecks, and reduced damage claims by upwards of 50% compared to our historical averages. We're excited about this new partnership with DeGould and the opportunities that it presents for us in the future. With that, I'm gonna turn over to the business update itself for Logistics Services. The shortages in the semiconductor chips continued to have a negative impact on auto volumes in the Logistics Services segment, leading to a reduction in revenue and profitability compared to the previous quarter.
On a more positive note, although our efficiencies were impacted at the margin level, our direct labor efficiencies or times for activity remained positive when volumes were actually provided to be handled. Balancing labor is critical at the moment in planning for the eventual recovery of volumes. We are constantly ensuring our business has sufficient and highly trained staff to handle potential volumes related to pent-up demand for autos, which is expected to come in mid-2022 and then, of course, extending into 2023. Our vehicle processing centers were significantly impacted by lower and quite erratic OEM volumes, leading to inefficiencies in operations, challenges in labor planning, and in some cases, site shutdowns in our embedded plant locations. This volatility in volumes has had an especially big impact on processing centers and Solutions Americas for autos.
It's also in the quarter impacted EMEA and APAC regions, as well as in some of our terminals. In EMEA and APAC, we also saw the expected vacation seasonality in the Q3 with lower volumes during the summer holiday season. The terminals business experienced volume decreases that correlated with the drop in shipping volumes mentioned. More specifically, the terminals incurred decreased auto volumes related to chip shortages, reduced storage volumes for auto and high and heavy due to strong product demand in the market, as well as the seasonality that we've mentioned. It's important to note that Logistics Services revenue is a combination of volume and mix effects, where we see at the moment lower storage and fewer need for value-added services as OEMs are in great need to get their product to their customers as quickly as possible.
On a positive side, we continue to benefit from some spillover break bulk volumes due to a lack of capacity in the container market, particularly in our terminals. Finally, inland transportation activity fell in Solutions Americas for high and heavy, primarily due to just that lower transportation activity. While we did see brokerage and equipment processing services were mainly flat compared to the previous quarter. Now I'd like to turn over a little bit to the market update itself, and I'll spend a short update here on the overall market development, more specific to the logistics segment itself. The logistics business is somewhat more heterogeneous than shipping, and there are slightly different drivers for the various land-based subsegments. For instance, our terminal business will have many of the same customers and volume drivers as Erik has just covered in the market update for the shipping segment.
Yet for other land-based subsegments, the deep sea auto volumes are not as highly correlated. Our vehicle processing centers are in many cases located within the OEM plant itself, or in very close proximity to the OEM plants, as well as being in port locations. That is why we have included in this slide where we look at all the light vehicle flows for our two main logistics regions, that being North America and Europe. This includes all product flows, meaning all light vehicle production for both domestic sales and seaboard volumes for export abroad, plus imports inbound. In these regions, sales and production developed as follows. In North America, in Q3, the semiconductor shortage accelerated and clearly held back sales. Dealer inventories lack various models and trims, and we see the OEMs beginning to prioritize the most profitable models in their lineup.
We saw overall inventories at a low of 25 days supply in the dealer networks. On the positive side, demand remains very strong with excellent job figures, low interest rates, fiscal stimuli that contributes to solid consumer confidence. The result is record high average retail prices that are supporting strong OEM and dealer profits for the vehicles that are actually available for sale. In addition, in the U.S., we see increased focus on low emission vehicles, including the current Biden administration's non-binding goal of 50% EV sales by 2030. Turning to Europe, the worsening situation around semiconductors has led to longer waiting periods, which has been starving the demand recovery. Variations of COVID intensity, including partial lockdown and slightly reduced incentives, have curbed potential sales.
It's also worth mentioning that last year's figures were a bit inflated by incentives and pent-up demand after the first COVID lockdown, but yet today we still see inventories at lows of 40 days supply. Most government incentives have continued and are still related to low emission vehicles and stricter CO2 regulations, creating upward pressure on purchase prices in Europe as well. Also, we are seeing increased imports from China to Europe, particularly related to low emission vehicles.
All in all, the strong underlying demand and high consumer confidence have not shown their full potential in the actual production and sales of autos as the semiconductor shortage has continued to interrupt the production. As previously mentioned, we expect the situation to stabilize by mid year-2022. This concludes the business and market update for Logistics Services. At this time, I'd like to hand over to Torbjørn for an update on financial performance. Torbjørn.
Thank you, Mike. Let me start with the financial highlights, where we can see all improving in the Q3. If we start on the left-hand side of the chart, you can see the total revenue was $990 million, up 1% quarter-on-quarter, and 42% year-on-year, as Q3 last year was heavily affected by COVID-19. The Shipping Services revenue increased 4% over Q2, despite the lower volumes, due to an increase in fuel surcharges and a solid increase of 13% in net freight rates from $42.7 per cubic meter to $48.3. Since Q2, revenue flat in Government Services and fell 9% in Logistics Services. The Adjusted EBITDA was $223 million, up 9% quarter-on-quarter.
In the middle, you can see that the group posted a net profit of $65 million in Q3. The Adjusted EBITDA margins increased to 22.5%, and we will get into the key drivers behind the improved margins on the next slides. Cash increased to $587 million, and net debt decreased to $3.4 billion. On the right side of the chart, you can see that annualized return on capital employed was 6.4% up since Q2, mainly on the back of increased EBITDA generation and lower net interest-bearing debt. Additionally, Q2 was negatively impacted from a $7 million reversal of impairment related to a vessel reclassified as a tangible asset from asset held for sale. The equity ratio is up to 35.7%.
Net debt to EBITDA improved to 4.8x, down from 5.5x in Q2, as the LTM EBITDA is now affected by one less COVID-19 impacted quarter. Moving on to the next slide, in Q3, the segments, as mentioned, experienced a mixed EBITDA and margin development. The Shipping segment increased the Adjusted EBITDA margin to 24.8% from an already solid 21.5% in Q2. The net freight rate development per CBM and lower net fuel cost countered the impact from the 9% drop in volumes. The Logistics segment margin fell in Q3 on the negative volume impact from the semiconductor chip and other shortages that Mike touched on.
The Government Services margin was slightly down in Q3 as a new logistic support services contract did not outweigh lower U.S. flag cargo activity, as well as an increase in fuel prices. As mentioned, ARC was not rewarded the global household goods contract. It is important to note that the solid existing business operations and results in Government Services are not impacted by the loss of that contract. We will now look further into the quarter-over-quarter revenue and EBITDA development. As mentioned, EBITDA ended at $223 million, increasing 9% quarter-over-quarter. To explain the key drivers behind the improvement, we first look at how the group revenue improved by $12 million to $990 million compared to Q2.
Volume effect was negative for shipping and for logistics in the quarter, mainly due to the continuing impact on auto volumes from the frequently mentioned semiconductor chip shortage. The revenue per CBM increased significantly for shipping and more than outweighed the negative volume effect in the quarter. For shipping, net freight rate per CBM increased on the strong cargo mix, beneficial trade route mix, as well as some rate improvements on contracted and spot volumes. For logistics, revenue per unit decreased slightly as the volume impact also led to a reduction in value-added services as well as storage. Fuel surcharges earned under fuel adjustment clauses in shipping contracts increased by $17 million from last quarter, reflecting the increase in fuel prices over the previous period.
Charter income increased $4 million for shipping in Q2, reflecting normal vessel swap activities with other liners and not a reduction in fleet capacity. Looking at the $18 million improvement in Adjusted EBITDA compared to the last quarter, the key impacts beyond the $12 million revenue increase can be categorized as follows. The cargo and voyage cost decreased in Q3 for shipping in line with the drop in volumes. Fuel costs increased by $12 million for shipping due to the continued increase in fuel prices in the quarter, despite the 6% reduction in fuel consumption due to lower volumes. Fuel costs for government increased by $1 million, reflecting price increase. Vessel OpEx decreased by $3 million for shipping and $1 million for government on fewer vessel reactivations and less vessel maintenance cost. SG&A developed flat for the group.
Other shipping include charter expenses, which increased by $4 million, Q-on-Q, due to increasing day rates in the short-term charter market. Other logistics include positive effects from reduction in direct operating expenses linked to the lower volumes and activity on some sites. Turning to our liquidity development. In the quarter, total liquidity increased by $21 million- $936 million due to higher cash flow from operations and lower financing cash outflows due to the 1.5 billion NOK bond issued in August. When looking in further detail at the cash flows in the quarter, the cash flow from operations at $166 million is explained by the Adjusted EBITDA of $223 million, which was offset by buildup of working capital and $32 million paid in customer settlement and fines.
This payment reduces the provisions and other current liabilities in the balance sheet. We also had some taxes paid of $2 million. The investment cash flow of $28 million mainly consist of $29 million in maintenance and scrubber CapEx, and then that was offset by some interest received. The financing outflows were lower in Q3 than in Q2. Net proceeds from the bond issue were positive with $41 million after settlement of derivatives, repayment of a WALWIL02 bond, and buybacks of 2020, 2022 maturities. We paid $7 million in connection with a maturing vessel facility, and regular bank debt installments amounted to $65 million, and regular lease payments to $47 million. We also had some interest paid of $40 million. Right. Moving on to the balance sheet.
We maintain a solid balance sheet and a comfortable liquidity position at the end of Q3. Total assets reduced to $7.5 billion. Equity is at $2.7 billion, and increased by $59 million in Q3, mainly thanks to the $65 million of net profit. This led to a 1.2% increase in the equity ratio to 35.7%. Net debt decreased $84 million- $3.4 billion, and net debt fell as cash increased $21 million, and as scheduled debt and lease payments, together with the $7 million balloon payment, exceeded the increase in debt through the bond issue and in scrubber related lease debt. The company concluded a successful NOK 1.5 billion senior unsecured bond in August, and this was again swapped to US dollars, $166 million.
The group has no further debt maturities in 2021. For 2022, the bond and bank debt maturities are manageable and expect to be refinanced within the next 12 months. $132 million relate to three bond maturities, the majority in the final quarter of next year, and we plan to refinance these by accessing the bond market. $120 million relating to secured debt balloons and $40 million relating to revolving credit facility are intended to be refinanced with banks. Regular installments on leases and bank loans will be covered by cash flow from operations. With that, we conclude the financial update and move on to the prospects. Number one, we expect the shipping supply demand balance to remain favorable in the midterm due to the overall global fleet situation. For logistics, volumes will benefit from stabilizing semiconductor chip supplies.
Potential risks include further parts and labor shortages, further imbalances and disruptions to the global supply chains, and any operational impact from virus outbreaks. Continued stabilization of market conditions will provide more financial flexibility and help drive future shareholder value. As mentioned in the report, we aim to prepay the deferred debt in early 2022 to pave the way for payment of dividends in accordance with our dividend policy. That concludes the presentation we had planned for today. We will have the Q&A session, and Anette will read the questions. Please keep sending questions through the webcast. If there are questions that we will cover offline, I suggest that Anette just say so, and then we will address those after the call.
Mm.
Anette.
Thank you. Now before the Q&A session properly starts, just as you know, there are, just so that you know, there's a 30- 40 second delay in this webcast. At the end, when we have the last question, we will still wait another 30 seconds since there is that delay to allow for any final questions to come in. We will start with the questions that we have received. Just a quick reflection on the questions that we do see, they are very much relating to net freight rate. Some are asking for guidance on future quarters. We do not provide guidance on our financial results or our volumes, or any of our numbers in that matter.
Just so that you know, we will not go into detail on any outlook for future quarters. The first question is relating to exactly that from Frode Mørkedal. What net freight rate per CBM do you think we will see the next quarters? As mentioned, we will not go into detail on that, and we can move on to the next question. We have a few questions coming from Anders Redigh Karlsen. Number one is also relating to net freight rates. Erik Nøklebye, I ask you to prepare to look into these questions.
Just as all of you listeners know, we may do a more generalized net rate and contract development answer that may cover several of the questions we have received. Question number one from Anders Redigh Karlsen, are the high achieved rates per CBM for the quarter a reflection of low contract nominations? Erik Nøklebye, I give it over to you.
Thank you, Anette. Since there are several of these questions, and we will perhaps provide some more details later, let me try and answer a little bit more generic now, and let's see how that can provide value. When we look at the net freight development overall, and as many of you know, it's really split into cargo mix and then contracting and rate in improvements. Both of those factors play a substantial role into improving the overall net freight per CBM for this quarter.
When it comes to contracting, since the majority of questions are linked to that, I can say that for the Q3, the large OEM contracts we have that has a longer duration, none of them have really been a part of the improvement we have seen in the Q3. For those we are now renewing and working on, they will then come into play for next year. Of course, we are taking advantage of the current supply and demand picture. What we are seeing then in terms of actual rate improvements and improved on the contracting side are smaller types of contracts.
It's a lot of the break bulk space, also a lot of the used customers that we have, a lot of project cargoes that we move, especially out of Asia and China, and also all kinds of liner and spot cargo. Of course, since any rate increase we get is a dollar for dollar effect on the bottom line, this has, even though it's a smaller portion of our overall contract base, it has a large effect than on these monthly and quarterly results. We have been able to see some substantial double-digit improvements, over and over during the quarter, taking advantage of this positive supply picture that we see.
Mm.
I think I would stop there, Anette. Perhaps that's
Yeah. Then I think you have partly touched on question two from Anders Redigh Karlsen further in terms of contract renewal, how is this progressing? I think Erik Nøklebye you can just quickly repeat what you actually said during the contract renewal in your business update. The follow-up on this question, are you seeing positive rate shifts that reflect the freight levels seen in Q3, or what kind of changes in percent compared to last done is achieved? We don't go into details on % change, but Erik Nøklebye you can repeat that comment on contract renewals in Q3.
Yeah. I think I actually mentioned already in my high level answer, in terms of it's, we are taking advantage of the supply and demand picture. I think the contracting is progressing well. As I said, what we have done in Q3 has a substantial effect into the net rate improvement.
Just on the final question from Anders Redigh Karlsen, how much of your contract portfolio has been renewed through the year and what is outstanding going forward? As mentioned in the presentation, we have concluded all renewals for 2021, and what we are working on today relates to 2022. Further question from Anders Redigh Karlsen, in reference to a tighter supply side, what is the status of your long-term charter in portfolio? For example, average duration and what number of extension opens, options do you have, and when are these due? On that question, that is something that will require some further analysis. We need to look into that after the call. We have received some questions from Fredrik Ness.
The first one is also relating to net freight rates. I think we've already discussed some of that. Just I think a general reflection I would like to give is that our business is to operate a large and complex industrial shipping fleet, and for us to, as well as possible, utilize the vessels on all the routes that we do have, both with contracted cargoes and with additional cargoes that we secure on a spot basis. We do not break down in detail on trade route mix, or how cargo mix or contract impact that net freight rate per quarter, as it's quite a complex overall impact that leads to the net freight result. We will not go into detail on that.
There is a follow-up on similar matters from Fredrik Ness relating to contract negotiations. I think we've already covered that, well. As mentioned, I see there's also a question on net freight rate per CBM and how much that is ascribed to a tight container market. As just mentioned, we do not split our net freight rate into exact sources, as this is really the result of the shipping operation being as efficient as possible. We have received a question from Petter Haugen relating to the ARC contract and the question really if that impacts the ARC fleet. For example, will these vessels be used in other type of operations or contracts in ocean? On that, Torbjørn, can you answer that?
Yeah, sure. Now look, the global household contracts is call it, you know, something that would have entailed a buildup of capacity going forward in time, some of which will use existing fleet, some cost that would have had to be built up, particularly in relation to land transportation and buildup of employees. So this is not really going to affect much the utilization of Government Services as we see it. We of course will always consider whether we can utilize available capacity within one segment in another to ensure that we can cover our customer demands.
Then the second question from Petter relates to the update of the renewal of the Hyundai Kia contract. I will just repeat quickly that as Erik mentioned in the presentation, that is tracking well and we have confidence to continue our solid relationship. Next question is coming from Ludvig Jende. That is also very much relating to contracts and I think just we will not go more into detail on contract renewal than we've already mentioned. That also relates to the magnitude of rate increases under recent contract renewals. We've also been asked to provide a more specific breakdown of increase in net freight rates.
As mentioned, that is not something we go into detail to, but we do give information in our report and in our presentations in general on the key impacts that we see. We have received a question from Pål Holderdal. In the forecast of the global fleet utilization at 91% in 2022, which is up from 89% three months ago, that is counter to what we're seeing on the demand side by IHS, which is expected to be less strong than three months ago. 2022 supply is largely u nchanged, I guess. Is it ton mile or trade imbalance or supply chain inefficiencies that drive the utilization improvement? How sustainable is this effect? Erik, can you give an update on that question?
I would say it's a mix, but it certainly is an expectation that we will see less supply chain disruptions going into 2022, even though the part side supplying into the manufacturing will probably remain and provide some more volatility. We think that COVID related issues, like challenges with crew changes, challenges in terms of vessels being stuck in yards waiting workers, and a host of other issues that have driven at least congestions on the transportation side. We do see that it will be freeing up somewhat going into next year. I can mention as a flavor for our fleet, we have had, of course, a lot of follow-up after a longer period of cold lay-up, so vessels.
We have of course been performing dry docking, et cetera, to get the fleet and the vessels back up to standard. We will from start of 2022 then have our full fleet back in operation. That also then improves our overall capacity situation. That will also add similar to the other lines. That will also then improve the overall utilization of the fleet as they will be fully available.
In general, we have received several other questions on net rates and contracts, and we will not go more into detail on those. Next question is from Jonas Shum. He is asking if we can provide some guidance on expected CapEx going forward, beyond the Nabucco newbuild delivered in this quarter. Torbjørn, can you give some further color on that?
Yeah, sure. No, look, we not gonna comment on expected CapEx going forward, other than to say that, you know, we are considering, you know, the fleet investments, sustainability linked investments, et cetera. You know, we will provide more clarity on this, you know, in the months to come. We communicated earlier in the presentation that within the next 12 months we will give more clarity on the fleet. We'll leave it at that for now.
The next question is relating to the semiconductor supply situation. It is coming from Petter Hermanrud. He is asking, you expect the semiconductor supply situation to stabilize in the H2 of 2022. How should we interpret that? Is semiconductors supply no longer a restriction at that time, or should we just expect volumes to stabilize? I think, Mike, can you provide some color to this question on semiconductors?
Yeah, absolutely, Anette. It's a great question, and I think it's a question clearly, obviously, for the industry overall, both on the high and heavy end and on the automotive side. Our expectations is that we begin to see the recovery for semiconductors improving, supply of particularly autos in the H2 of 2022. The question about how much of that will stabilize or continue to be unhindered remains a question, I think, overall for the industry. It would be remiss of us to say that we have a deeper insight than what we're hearing from customers. All we know is that we're hearing that some of the challenges of volatility that we experienced in 2021, we expect that to kind of mitigate in 2022. To what level, in terms of stabilization or growth still remains, I think, an unknown for the industry overall.
Very good. I see we have a final question from Petter Hermanrud. If anyone else has some further questions, please enter those now so that we can catch them before we close this presentation. Petter Hermanrud asks also, you expect to remove dividend block in the H2 of 2022. Would that mean you can pay dividends for the first half of 2022 or even earlier? Or I think he means early 2022.
Yeah, it's Torbjørn here. What we said in the report is that we, you know, aim to prepay the deferred amounts in early 2022. Of course, that involves a dividend block. I cannot sit here today and talk about expected dividends. That is something the board and the company would have to come back to at a later point in time.
Very good. I see we have a question from Eirik Haavaldsen relating to our fleet, and I guess this will go to Erik Nøklebye. The question is, your fleet, including time charter in, is now smaller than it has been in a while. With pent-up demand from mid-2022, how comfortable are you with this now that charter rates are rising? Will it be easy to turn around and increase capacity when European export volumes accelerate according to your expectations? Erik, can you give color on that?
Yeah, I can give color on that. Of course, it's a very good question. I think just as a base here, the global PCTC fleet is not expanding much the next few years. Whatever large increase there is in volume, it's going to be a challenge from a global fleet perspective. I think it's more a matter of, how efficiently can we operate and how well can we then serve, in terms of the demands that we each and every one of us as operators have. As I mentioned just before now, we have our full fleet in operation as of 2022.
The large TC-in in demand that we had, especially at the start of this year, has gone away just for the fact that we have now taken vessels out of cold lay up. We have had some scheduled dry dockings, and that has also been delayed in terms of COVID issues with Chinese yards, et cetera. We are fairly comfortable at the start of the year. Of course, we will continue to look in the market as and when needed to take in charters if, as we see it. Again, overall, we do think that there will be a capacity constraint globally. There will not, we think, be capacity to carry all cargo that is forecasted to be shipped.
Now we see no further questions, so we will give it some more seconds before we conclude this Q&A. As we are not seeing any further questions at this time, I would like to hand this over to you again, Torbjørn.
Thank you, Anette. Thank you to everybody on this webcast for tuning into our Q3 presentation this morning, and also for your continued interest and engagement, both in Q&A and outside of this particular forum. Look forward to catching up with you at a future point in time. Have a great day.