Thank you for standing by, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the EuroDry conference call on the second quarter 2022 financial results. We have with us today Mr. Aristides Pittas, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and Mr. Tasos Aslidis, Chief Financial Officer of the company. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. There will be a presentation followed by a question- and- answer session, at which time, if you wish to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad and wait for the automated message advising your line is open. I must advise you that this conference is being recorded today.
Please be reminded that the company announced its results with a press release that has been publicly distributed. Before passing the floor to Mr. Pittas, I would like to remind everyone that in today's presentation and conference call, EuroDry will be making forward-looking statements. These statements are within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Matters discussed may be forward-looking statements which are based on current management expectations that involve risks and uncertainties that may result in such expectations not being realized. I kindly draw your attention to slide two of the webcast presentation, which has the full forward-looking statement, and the same statement was also included in the press release. Please take a moment to go through the whole statement and read it. Now I would like to pass the floor over to Mr. Pittas. Thank you, sir. Please go ahead.
Hello, ladies and gentlemen. Good morning, and thank you for joining us for the scheduled conference call. I have with me Tasos Aslidis, our Chief Financial Officer. The purpose of today's call is to discuss our financial results for the six-month period and quarter ended June 30th, 2022. Please turn to slide three. Our income statement highlights are shown here. For the second quarter of 2022, we reported total net revenues of $21 million and net income of $10.6 million, or $3.61 per diluted share. Adjusted net income attributable to common shareholders was $9.9 million, or $3.38 per diluted share. Adjusted EBITDA for the period was $13.7 million.
With positive earnings in a dry bulk market that is still anticipated to remain firm for the second half of the year, we believe our stocks should be trading at much higher levels given the net asset value of the company as well. We believe these factors create captivating opportunities for us and therefore the company's board of directors has approved the share repurchase program for up to a total of $10 million of the company's common stock to be used at management's discretion. The board will review the program after a period of 12 months. Share repurchases will be made from time to time for cash and open market transactions at prevailing market prices or in privately negotiated transactions. The timing and amount of purchases under the program will be determined by management based upon market conditions and other factors.
The program does not require the company to purchase any specific number of, or amount of shares and may be suspended or instated at any time at the company's discretion and without notice. Our CFO, Tasos Aslidis, will go over our financial highlights in more detail later on in the presentation. Please turn to slide four for our operational highlights. Motor vessel Aikaterini charter was extended for a minimum period until February 2023 to a maximum period until April 20, 2023 at 105% of the average Baltic Kamsarmax Index. While sister vessel, motor vessel Xenia's charter was also extended for a minimum period until March 1st, 2024 to a maximum period until May 15th, 2024, also at 105% of the average Baltic Kamsarmax Index.
M/V Eirini was fixed for a trip of approximately 20-30 days at $14,000 per day, and upon completion of this trip will undertake its scheduled dry dock. M/V Blessed Luck was fixed for a trip of approximately 20-25 days as well at $15,750 per day after completing its dry dock for approximately 23 days during the second quarter. Furthermore, M/V Santa Cruz was fixed again for a small trip of about 15-25 days at $11,500 per day and M/V Pantelis for a trip of 55-65 days at $13,000 per day.
Our motor vessel Alexandros was fixed for a trip of about 55-65 days at $28,000 a day earlier in the quarter, which was followed by its scheduled dry dock from where it sailed yesterday. The vessel is now fixed for a trip that will earn it a minimum of $15,000 per day for 65 days. Finally, motor vessel Tasos was fixed for about 80-100 days at $20,600 per day and is also currently undergoing its scheduled dry dock. Regarding conversion of hire, motor vessels Pantelis and Alexandros P. were hired for 2.2 and 3.9 days respectively during this quarter, while waiting to commence their next employment due to complications that arose from dealing with the COVID issues.
We are very pleased to announce that we have completed our 2021 sustainability report, which is available on our website. Our commitment towards all aspects of ESG is steadfast. Please turn to slide five to review our current fleet. Our current fleet consists of 11 vessels, including six Panamax, two Ultramax, a Supramax, and two Kamsarmax, with an average age of 13.5 years and a carrying capacity of approximately 800,000 deadweight tons. On slide six, we review the current vessel employment schedule. As you can see, fixed rate covers for the remaining quarters of 2022 stands at around 31%. This figure excludes the three ships on index charters which are open to market fluctuations that have secured employment. Using slide seven, we'll go over the market highlights for the quarter ended June 30th, 2022, and as it currently stands.
The market continues to be driven by a shaky supply and demand balance, which is reflected in rates trending lower in recent weeks due to the ongoing geopolitical conflicts and volatility surrounding the greater economy such as high commodity prices and inflation. As seen here, the average spot market rate for Panamax was approximately $35,400 a day in the second quarter. By July 1st, the price drifted lower to about $31,500 per day and currently stands at around $17,000 per day. Similarly, the one-year time charter rate for Panamax was about $36,000 per day, dropping to $20,250 per day by July first and currently stands at $16,750 per day.
Despite the drop, the BDI index strength is still relatively strong, especially considering it comes against the fairly muted iron ore market, which has seen flat cargo volumes on the back of modest Chinese steel production and iron ore demand. Please turn to slide nine. The global GDP growth forecast has been further reduced for 2022 by the IMF in its latest report, as several additional events have hit the world economy already weakened by the pandemic. The ongoing geopolitical conflict between Russia and Ukraine added to existing inflationary pressures that had already started mounting due to the economic stimuli provided during the pandemic, which triggered tighter financial policies, including a series of aggressive interest rate hikes in order to address it.
With elevated energy prices, mainly due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict and lingering supply chain issues, as well as additional slowdowns in China due to regional COVID-19 lockdowns and the property sector crisis, may further suppress Chinese growth. The IMF has lowered its global GDP estimate from 3.6% in April to 3.2% today and to 2.9% for 2023. GDP growth for the United States was revised downwards to 2.3% for 2022, a 1.4 percentage point lower from April's forecast due to lower growth and tighter monetary policies. Similarly, European growth has dropped 2.6%, resulting from the Russia-Ukraine conflict and tighter monetary policies.
Due to major global spillovers caused by various regional issues, China's growth was revised also down to 3.3% for 2022, a 1.1 percentage point difference from April's forecast. Growth in emerging markets and developing economies is also expected to sharply decelerate. India's forecast has been revised down to 7.4% for 2022 and 61% for 2023. While the only country with better forecast in this quarter seems to be Brazil, with an anticipated growth of 1.7% in 2022 from 0.8% previously due to robust recovery in Latin America. From the developed economies, Japan and the Asian side have also been revised downwards for 2022 and 2023 due to concerns about slowing economies following the U.S. interest rate hike and ongoing inflation.
Looking at the dry trade and according to Clarksons Research, demand growth is expected to decrease to just 1.2% in 2022 compared to 3.8% for the previous year. For 2023, dry trade is expected to grow by 2.1%. Recent growth projections are being continuously revised as the effects of geopolitical tensions between Russia and Ukraine on world growth and trade are being continuously assessed. Please turn to slide 10. Lack of newbuilding orders in recent years paints a favorable picture for the dry bulk sector. The order book remains at just 7.2% of the existing fleet, which has mostly been unchanged over the past 18 months, despite the strongest in more than a decade charter rates. Now please turn to slide 11 for our dry bulk fleet overview.
It's expecting new deliveries of about 3.5% of the current fleet to be delivered in 2022 and 3.2% in 2023 versus a fleet growth of around 2.4% in 2022 and below 1% in 2023 as the order book to fleet ratio remains at a record low and contracting subdued. Please turn to slide 12 where we summarize our outlook in the dry bulk market. Bulk market remains firm, with earnings still above historical averages despite demand side concerns around the Russia-Ukraine conflict and macroeconomic headwinds. Severe port congestion continues to provide major disruption upside, with the short-term market outlook still positive in anticipation of the traditional second half market seasonality.
Beyond the overall risk to the global economy, final demand in the bulk sector is likely to be impacted by a complex mix of upsides and downsides. Increasing commodity prices, inflation and interest rates putting a strain on businesses and consumers, while the shift in trading patterns and slow steaming due to environmental concerns could increase average sailing distances. Congestion remains an issue, and so far this year, more ships have consistently been stuck for longer than in 2021. This naturally adds an inefficiency to the supply chain and reduces effective supply, thereby tightening the supply demand balance in favor of owners and operators. Demolitions slowed significantly in 2021 as high trade rates and tariffs continued trading, and we expect it to remain at about the same level throughout the year. A few scrappings in the Capesize sector have already materialized this year.
Ordering of new ships for 2023 and 2024 deliveries are expected to be nonexistent due to lack of available slots in shipyards. In addition, the lack of clarity for the fuel of the future remains an unknown, something that makes placing a new order a very risky option. On the other hand, annualized normalization of trade routes and congestion easing will probably increase effective supply. Overall, the direction of the market will be determined by the outcome of the war between Russia and Ukraine and the efforts of the global economy to fight inflation with the least possible negative consequences on the world growth. Please turn to slide 13. The left side of the slide shows the evolution of one-year time charter rates of Panamax dry bulk vessels since 2002.
As of August 5th, the one-year time charter rate for Panamax ships with capacity of 75,000 deadweight tons stood at $16,750 per day, greatly reduced from its three-month earlier highs, but still significantly higher than median levels. On the other hand, on the slide, you can see the historical price range for a ten-year-old Panamax vessel, which has a current price of around $36.5 million. Over the past year, dry bulk prices have gradually been increasing, exceeding the historical median and average levels and approaching the highest levels of the decade, but still considerably lower than the peaks of 2008. While we are overall quite bullish that in the medium term the dry bulk market will remain strong and perhaps strengthen further if today's geopolitical problems are resolved.
At current vessel prices, we are reluctant to make further acquisitions. We will be monitoring the market, though, for any opportunities that may arise, as our strong balance sheet provides us with plenty of firepower. With that, let me now pass the floor over to CFO, Tasos Aslidis, to go over the various financial highlights in more detail. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Aristides . Good morning from me as well, ladies and gentlemen. Over the next five slides, I will give you an overview of our financial highlights for the second quarter and first half of 2022 and compare them to the same periods of last year. For that, let's turn to slide 15. For the second quarter of 2022, the company reported total net revenues of $21 million, representing a 48.8% increase over total net revenues of $14.1 million during the second quarter of 2021.
That was the result on the one hand of the slightly higher time charter rates our vessels earned during the second quarter of this year compared to last year, but mainly because of the increase in the average number of vessels we owned and operated in the second quarter of 2022 compared to the second quarter of last year. It's worth noting that compared to the second quarter of 2021, our fleet in the second quarter of this year is about 45% larger. The company reported net income and net income attributable to common shareholders for the second quarter of this year of $10.6 million, as compared to net income of $2.2 million and net income attributable to common shareholders of $1.85 million for the same period, the second quarter of 2021.
Interest and other financing costs, including interest income and loss on debt extinguishment for the second quarter of 2022 amounted to $0.8 million, compared to $0.5 million for the same period of 2021. Not including the $1.7 million charge on debt extinguishment that we reported last year. Interest expense for the second quarter of 2022 was higher, mainly due to the increased amount of debt that we had during the period as compared to the same period of last year, and the higher underlying LIBOR costs. Adjusted EBITDA for the second quarter of 2022 was $13.7 million, compared to $9.2 million achieved during the second quarter of 2021.
Basic and diluted earnings per share attributable to common shareholders for the second quarter of 2022 were $3.66 basic and $3.61 diluted, calculated on about 2.9 million weighted average number of shares outstanding, compared to $0.83 basic and $0.81 diluted, calculated about 2.4 million weighted average number of shares outstanding for the second quarter of 2021. Excluding the effect on the income attributable to common shareholders of the unrealized gain on derivatives, the adjusted earnings attributable to common shareholders for the second quarter of this year would have been $3.43 and $3.38 basic and diluted respectively.
For the second quarter of last year, excluding again the unrealized loss in this case on derivatives and the loss on debt extinguishment, the adjusted earnings attributable to common shareholders would have been $2.81 and $2.76 basic and diluted respectively. Usually, securities analysts do not include the above items in their published estimates of earnings per share. Let us now look at the numbers for the corresponding six-month periods ended June 30th, 2022 and 2021. In the first half of this year, the company reported total net revenues of $39.3 million, representing a 73.1% increase over total net revenues of $22.7 million during the first half of 2021.
That was a result of both the higher time charter rates our vessels earned during the first half of this year and the increased average number of vessels we own and operate. We reported net income and net income attributable to common shareholders for the first six months of $21.1 million, as compared to net income of $3.1 million and net income attributable to common shareholders of $2.4 million for the first half of last year. Interest and other financing costs included interest income for the first half of 2022 amounted to $1.4 million, compared to $1.1 million for the same period of 2021. Non-inclusive again of the $1.7 million charge on debt extinguishment we suffered we registered last year.
This increase is mainly due again to the increased amount of debt in the current period as compared to the same period of 2021 and the underlying LIBOR cost increase. Again, the adjusted EBITDA for 2022, for the first half of 2022 was $26.4 million, compared to $13.2 million achieved during the first half 2021. Basic and diluted earnings per share attributable to common shareholders for the first half of 2022 were $7.35 basic and $7.25 diluted, calculated on 2.9 million weighted average number of shares outstanding. Compared to $1.03 basic and $1.01 diluted for the same period of last year, calculated on 2.3 million and 2.4 million weighted average number of shares outstanding respectively.
Excluding the effect on the earnings attributable to common shareholders for the first half of this year of the unrealized gain on derivatives, the adjusted earnings for the six-month period would have been $6.37 basic and $6.68 diluted. Period ended June 30th, 2021. Again, excluding the unrealized loss on derivatives and the loss on debt extinguishment, the adjusted earnings attributable to common shareholders would have been $3.40 basic and $3.33 diluted. Let me now turn to slide 16 to review our fleet performance. As usual, we will start our review by looking first at our fleet utilization rates for the second quarter of 2022 and 2021.
As we do all the time, our utilization rate is broken down to commercial and operational. During the second quarter of 2022, our commercial utilization rate was 99.4% while our operational utilization rate was 99% compared to 100% commercial and 99.4% operational for the second quarter of last year. Our overall utilization rate was 90.3% in the second quarter of 2022 compared to 99.4% for the second quarter of last year.
On average, we owned and operated 10.79 vessels in the second quarter of this year, earning an average time charter equivalent rate of $23,490 per vessel per day, compared to 7.37 vessels in the same period of 2021, earning an average of $22,613 per day. As I mentioned earlier, our average fleet during the second quarter this year was up about 45% compared to the second quarter of 2021. Our total operating expenses, including management fees, general and administrative expenses, but excluding the cost of dry docking was $6,562 per vessel per day in the second quarter of this year, compared to $6,467 per vessel per day for the second quarter of 2021.
If we move further down in this table, we can see the cash flow breakeven rate for the second quarter of 2022, which also takes into account dry dock expenses, interest expenses and loan repayments and preferred dividends if they're paid in cash. It only excludes any balloon payments. Thus, during the second quarter of 2022, our daily cash flow breakeven rate was $11,986 per vessel per day, compared to $10,313 per vessel per day for the same period of last year. The increase mainly due to the higher loan repayments that we did during the second quarter of 2022. Let's now go over our utilization rate and the remaining figures for the first half of this year and compare them to the first half of 2021.
During the first half of 2022, our commercial utilization rate was 99.9% and our operational utilization rate was 99.3% compared to 100% commercial and 99.7% operational utilization rates for the same period of last year. On average, 10.72 vessels were owned and operated during the first half of this year, earning an average time charter equivalent rate of $24,025 per vessel per day, compared to 7.19 vessels owned and operated in the same period, the first six months of 2021, earning on average $18,879 per vessel per day.
Our total operating expenses, again including management fees, G&A expenses, but excluding dry docking costs, were $6,584 per vessel per day in the first half of this year, compared to $6,518 per vessel per day for the same period of 2021. Looking at the bottom of this table, we can see again the cash flow breakeven rate for the first half of 2022, which takes into account also dry docking expenses, interest expense and loan repayments and preferred dividends if any of them were paid in cash. In the first half of 2022, our daily cash flow breakeven rate was $12,393 per vessel per day, compared to $10,688 per vessel per day for the same period of last year.
The reason again being that we had higher loan repayments this year. Let's now move to slide 17, our EBITDA calculator. As we noted in previous earnings presentations, we use this slide as a calculation tool that enables our shareholders and investors to assess the earnings potential of our fleet in the current year and under the current environment, and to allow them also to make their own assumptions and assess the impact of them to our profitability.
As you can see here from the table, our contracted covers in fixed rate contracts is about 47% in the third quarter of this year, declining to about 13% in the fourth quarter of this year. Our calculator here indicatively shows in the second half of the table the Supramax and Panamax Baltic forward rates as of August first, and how this index level get translated to other rates, to another blended rate for our ships. Based on these assumptions for OpEx and G&A costs and assuming a 5% commission rate, one can estimate the EBITDA contribution of the vessel days of our fleet yet to be fixed.
The user of this calculator, as I mentioned earlier, can make his or her own assumptions about the other earnings that our open days might earn during the third and fourth quarter and assess our EBITDA for the remaining quarters and full year 2022. Let's now move to slide 18 to review our debt profile. As of June 30, 2022, we have outstanding bank debt of about $7.8 million. Looking at the chart, we can see that our debt repayments over the next three years range between $10 million and about $14 million per year, and then drop to $2.8 million and $3.6 million in 2025 and 2026. Our next balloon payment is towards the end of 2023 for a balloon of about $11.3 million for one of our Kamsarmax vessels.
We expect to be able to refinance this payment if we choose so, as we have done in similar situations in the past. A quick note here about the cost of our debt. The average margin of our debt is about 2.7%, and assuming a LIBOR rate of about 2.8% on the top of it, we can estimate the total cost of our senior debt as of the end of the second quarter to be about 5.7%. At the bottom of this slide, we can also see that projected cash flow breakeven rate for the next twelve months, broken down into its components. We can see here that our expected cash flow breakeven for the next twelve months is about $13,100 per vessel per day.
Let's now move to slide 19, where we can see some highlights from our balance sheet in a simplified way. This slide shows a snapshot of our assets and our liabilities. Our assets consist of our cash and other short-term assets and of course of our vessels. As of June 30, 2022, we had cash and other assets of about $17 million. The book value for our vessels was approximately $160 million, resulting in total book value assets of about $177 million. On the liability side, our debt as of June 30th, as I mentioned, was about $7.8 million, representing about 40.5% of the book value of our assets.
Additionally, other liabilities amounted to $2.9 million or about 1.6% of our total assets, resulting in shareholders equity of about $102.5 million, translating to approximately $30 of net book value per share. However, based on our own estimates and on market transactions, as of the end of June, the market value for our vessels was around $235-$236 million or about 48% higher than the respective book value, suggesting an NAV per share in excess of $59 per share. With our share price recently trading in the high teens, it closed yesterday just below $18 per share. There appears to be a sizable gap to our NAV, suggesting significant appreciation potential to our shareholders and investors.
With that, I'd like to turn the floor back to Aristides to continue the call.
Thank you, Tasos. May I now open up the floor for any questions that you may have?
Thank you. If you'd like to ask a question, please signal by pressing star one on your telephone keypad. If you're using a speakerphone, please make sure your mute function is turned off to allow your signal to reach our equipment. Again, press star one to ask a question, and we'll pause briefly to allow everyone to signal for questions. We do take our first question from Tate Sullivan of the Maxim Group. Please go ahead.
Hi. Thank you. Good day. For summer repurchase plan, how did you decide on the size, initial size of the repurchase plan at $10 million? Was it looking at what you recently generated in free cash flow every quarter? Just to start there, please.
I think we mostly decided on the size looking at our current liquidity and wanting to put an initial size on it. We will see how things develop, and we can anytime make it bigger if we want or smaller or whatever. We thought it was just a reasonable amount to start with. Appropriate to the size of the company as well.
Can you just review, is this in your history with public shipping companies and shipping sectors at all? I mean, is this the first repurchase plan in 15 years for EuroDry or forever? Can you just review the repurchase history in our shipping sector, please?
Yes. We had never done that in the past. Looking at how low our share price is, we felt compelled to do something to help, you know, support the price and make it a good return for our shareholders. Yeah. At this time to buy a new vessel is quite expensive as asset prices are extremely high compared to where we are trading. It makes more sense to buy back our stock rather than to buy a new vessel. Especially if you trade at 30% or 35% of NAV. Exactly. Because of that.
That's related to one of my other questions. You mentioned reluctant to make more acquisitions in this environment even though you're positive for the medium term. Is it mainly because the asset prices are still high?
Yeah. Prices are still high. We've seen the correction, the charter rates. We think that it's the seasonal line. Things are definitely uncertain. At these prices, we don't want to be making a new investment. At 30% of the price, which is where our stock price is trading, it becomes interesting.
Great. The refinancing Tasos you mentioned of the debt. I mean, what facility is due this year and, I mean, do you usually wait till three months when it matures? What is the maturity on that facility? Will it probably be at a higher interest rate or maybe even a lower still if you did it five years ago or so?
I think this year we have no facility maturing. The balloon I mentioned was for one of our chartered vessels. I think it had a lien on the vessel. Its original loan, it was a five-year loan. It expires, it matures in the fourth quarter I believe of 2023. We believe we can refinance the balloon routinely as we did in the past. In addition, we have two vessels that are currently unencumbered. We have the option to lever up those vessels as well.
Thank you. Thank you.
Next, we move on to the line of Poe Fratt with Alliance Global Partners. Please go ahead.
Yeah, good morning, Aristides . Good morning, Tasos. Good move seems like on the stock buyback program. Quick question on it. How quickly can you become active on the program?
We can become active as soon as we want. We are set up, and we can. I think over the next couple of days we'll be ready to use it.
Okay. Then Tasos looking at the, looked like an increase in the share count over the second quarter. Then, you know, looking at the cash flow statement, it looked like you might have issued a little bit of equity under your ATM. The average price that I calculate was a little bit over $40, so this was, you know, probably done in late April. Can you just confirm those numbers or just give me an idea what happened under the ATM in the second quarter?
The numbers, those are quite right. We have used our ATM early in the second quarter when our share price was above $40. Indeed, we sold a little bit of stock, reflected in the counts, in the increased share counts for this quarter, at significantly higher price than where the stock trades today. Much closer to NAV. At that time, actually, it was very close to NAV.
Yep, understood. Then, you know, the Aikaterini is, you know, as you mentioned, is April 2023 it looks like. You know, the outstanding balance I think is what? About $12 million or gonna be about $12 million at that point in time. Would you know, look at doing a more comprehensive refinancing and encumbering the two other vessels, or can you just sort of talk about your a little more, on finite terms sort of what your refinancing plan is at that point in time? Because after the Aikaterini, looking at what I have is the next tranche of debt would be the Blessed Luck in April 2024, and everything else would be turned out into, you know, pretty much 2026-2027 or beyond.
Yeah. I think we're gonna wait and decide on whether to extend or refinance that balloon as we approach the time it is due. We're looking to potentially put some bets on some of our unencumbered vessels. Again, by trying to find competitively priced debt. Simply to have a little bit of a higher war chest in case an opportunity appears and we need more immediate liquidity. We can act without waiting for banks to provide a loan then. We're pretty flexible in our financial plans. We are looking to increase our cash balance a bit, but we are not in a hurry to do a bigger, all-encompassing refinancing at this stage.
Okay. I apologize, I was probably not paying as much attention as I should have when you talked about operating expenses. You know, some other companies in the dry bulk sector have had higher operating costs, whether it's, you know, travel expenses or crew changes or, you know, other things. Can you talk about your OpEx a little bit more looking at, you know, the next twelve months?
I think we expect to see. We've seen some, as you can see in our numbers, a little bit of an increase, but not dramatic increase in our operating expenses. I think, compared to our 2022 budget, we are, I believe right on budget, maybe slightly below budget. We've seen a little bit higher crew costs and a little bit higher travel costs, as you correctly pointed out. Lubricants are a bit higher because the cost of the oil and related products is higher. I don't think we have seen any dramatic shift on our cost structure at this point. I mean, the marginal increases amounting roughly to up to 5%, at least budget wise, compared to the outflows of last year.
Okay, great. You highlighted, you know, the three drydockings this quarter. Can you just talk about end of the fourth quarter drydocking activity and then maybe lay out plans for 2023?
I think we don't have anything for Q4 this year, but not too much next year. It's very seldom that we have a quarter with three dry docks, right? With 10 ships, one would anticipate that you have one dry dock a quarter on average. This is gonna be a heavy quarter on dry docks. It's by coincidence. It's not so much by planning. It's linked with a period where charter rates have been reduced, so the impact on our earnings is not that significant. It kind of helps us that we are doing the dry docks right now, that we've seen the reduction in the charter rates.
We do believe that in Q4 it will be better and it will be good to have the clean, you know, the newly dry docked vessel out of the dry docks. In 2023 we have, I believe, about three or four dry docks that might be within the year. The next one is Pantelis, I believe.
In the first quarter of 2024.
2023.
2023, first quarter. It's as I say, normally it's about one dry dock a quarter.
Give or take. Yeah. Yeah.
Okay, great. Yeah. There's silver lining, I guess, of the dry docks is the, you know, lower opportunity costs. Thank you, Aristides. Thank you, Tasos.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Again, ladies and gentlemen, if you do have a question or comment, please signal at this time by pressing star one on your telephone keypad. We return to the line of Tate Sullivan with Maxim Group for additional follow-up.
Hi. Thank you.
You're welcome.
You mentioned the Pantelis doing dry dock in 1Q 2023, and then also you mentioned some repositioning days for the ship in the second quarter. I think some other dry bulk companies and other shipping companies in other sectors have mentioned repositioning. Is this due mostly to the congestion that's still taking place in ports in China or what was that for Pantelis?
It's due to the congestion, but also more importantly to the COVID-related issues. Because at various ports in order to be able to go to the port and, you know, take on new crew and all that stuff, you have to wait to pass the COVID test and all that stuff. The delays are mainly due to the COVID-related issues and the congestion.
Thank you. You mentioned in the market commentary on the congestion consideration. If the congestion eases in China, is it mainly the positive supply side dynamic that can offset that in the medium term?
Well, congestion easing will mean more supply of ships, so it's not a positive, the congestion easing.
Right. In terms of no additional limited number of new builds mentioned in the market, are there other offsets to the congestion easing, perhaps, or things like?
Exactly. Very limited ordering and deliveries during the next couple of years. We will see some further slow steaming, especially as of next year, with the new regulations. These are positives of course.
Great. Okay. Well, thank you. Have a great day.
Thanks.
Thanks.
At this time, there are no further signals. We return to Mr. Pittas for closing remarks.
Thank you all for listening to us today, and we'll be with you again with the next quarter's results. Enjoy the rest of the summer. Goodbye.
Thank you, everybody. Goodbye.
Thank you. This concludes today's teleconference. We thank you for your participation. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Have a great day.