Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by, and welcome to StealthGas Q4 2021 results call. At this time, all participants are in listen only mode. After the speaker presentation, there will be a question- and- answer session. To ask a question, you will need to press star one. Now I would like to hand the conference over to CEO Harry Vafias. Please go ahead, sir.
Good morning, everyone, and welcome to our fourth quarter and twelve months 2021 earnings conference call and webcast. This is Harry Vafias, the CEO of StealthGas. Joining me on the call today is our finance officer, Ms. Sakellari. Before we commence our presentation, I would like to remind you that we will be discussing forward-looking statements which reflect current views with respect to future events and financial performance. At this stage, if you could all take a moment to read the disclaimer on slide two of the presentation. Risks are further disclosed in StealthGas filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. I would also like to point out that all amounts quoted, unless otherwise clarified, are implicitly stated in U.S. dollars. Today, we released our earnings results for 2021, and indeed challenging year governed by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, energy price increases and overall inflationary pressures.
Unfortunately, the Russian invasion in Ukraine has made our global reality even more challenging. As well, we hope for a prompt and peaceful resolution to this tension. During this call, we will discuss this matter as we will try to identify the short term and perhaps longer-term effects this geopolitical tension may have in broader shipping sector, in particular in the LPG market. On slide three, we summarize the highlights of our fourth quarter and full year 2021 results. On the fourth quarter of 2021, we faced an improved LPG market, particularly in Europe. Hence, we took the opportunity and secured all of our vessels trading in the area on period charters. On the other hand, the market in Asia was softer, where we had about five vessels trading spot.
When compared to the third quarter of 2021, we marked an almost 10% reduction of both spot days and commercial off hire and ended Q4 2021 with an improved operational utilization of about 96%. Our spot and period activity has picked up, hence our fleet coverage increased. We now have 49% of our fleet days secured on period charters for the remainder of 2022, with total fleet employment days for all subsequent period generating about $70 million, excluding the JV vessels in contracted revenues. In terms of our sale and purchase activity, we completed the sale and delivery of our 3,500 cubic meter ship, the Eco Loyalty, to its new owners. This deal was concluded on February 22, 2022, and in addition, we entered into an agreement for the sale of our 5,000 cubic meter vessel, the Gas Inspiration, again for further trading.
Both of these transactions will further enhance our cost base and reduce further our leverage. As announced during our previous earnings discussion, our spin-off was finalized on December third, 2021, so our four tankers were transferred to a new Nasdaq-listed entity called Imperial Petroleum, IMPP. With the completion of this spin-off, StealthGas is now a pure-play company that focuses on the broader LPG market, able to service its clients on both short-haul and medium-haul voyages. Looking briefly into our financial highlights this quarter, we did account for our tanker operations in StealthGas all up to the spin-off date, i.e., almost two thirds of the way, so by default, numbers against the same period of last year are not exactly comparable.
In Q4 2021, our voyage revenues came in at $36.1 million, $1.2 million lower than in Q4 2020, mostly due to lost revenues as one of our tankers ballasted for its new period employment, along with declined revenues in the region of $1 million generated by one of our semi-ref vessels, both partially offset by an increase of our small LPG time charter revenues. Our time charter revenues came in at $31.2 million and were heavily affected by the sharp rise in bunker costs. Indeed, our daily bunker costs came in at close to $5,000 per day, and it's foreseen that heavy bunker costs will continue at least for the first half of 2022. This quarter, we took a material impairment charge that was mainly due to the completion of our tanker spin-off.
Excluding these impairment charges, we ended the last quarter of 2021 with an Adjusted EBITDA of $14.6 million and an Adjusted Net Income of $3 million. Looking at our full year results, again excluding the impairment, StealthGas generated an Adjusted Income of $10 million corresponding to an EPS of $0.27. Following the completion of the spin-off transaction, we still maintain a well-balanced capital structure with low gearing of 37.7%. On slide four, we have the employment update in terms of charter types, and as of March 2022, out of a fleet of 36 LPG operating vessels, excluding our seven JV vessels, we have four of these on bareboat, 27 on time charter and five in the spot market. Since our previous announcement, we successfully concluded nine new charters and charter extensions.
These new fixtures were all done at improved rates as we face a better market, particularly in Europe, than in Q3 2021. Given this improved environment and charterers' appetite to secure vessels for a longer period, we agreed on some slightly longer charters of about one year duration. Our period coverage for the remainder of 2022 is in the order of 49%, while for the second quarter of 2022, average period is 63%. We have close to $70 million of secured revenues, $58 million of which is expected to be received within the remainder of the year. Including our joint venture vessels, total secured revenue increases to about $83 million. On slide five, I'd like to provide you an update as to our two joint venture performances.
Our first joint venture, which comprises and gets majority of small LPG vessels, has only one vessel trading spots since January 2022. The rest of the JV fleet are all on period employment. Following our last announcement, charters finalized the duration of the Eco Lucidity time charter, which was prolonged to 12 months instead of the original six months. Our second joint venture, comprising of two medium gas carriers plus one under construction, are both under time charter contracts and are yielding steady cash flows. With regards to the Gaschem Bremen, the charter ends at the end of March 2022, and therefore we are currently discussing new charter opportunities. Our JV arrangements combined have a solid cash base of about $40 million. In terms of our fleet geography in slide six, our company focuses on regional trade and local distribution of gas.
This graph is a snapshot of the positioning of our vessels, excluding our JV vessels as of February 21. Currently, 70 vessels trade in Europe, 14 vessels in the Middle East, Far East, three vessels in South America, and two vessels in Africa. I will now turn the call over to Fenia Sakellari for our financial performance.
Thank you, Harry, and good morning to everyone. I will discuss our financial performance for the fourth quarter and 12 months of 2021. As mentioned in the beginning of our call, year 2021 was governed by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic upon LPG demand, but most importantly, the significant additions to our operating costs through the imposed crew changes and safety restrictions. Moreover, in year 2021, we witnessed a surge in oil prices which impacted bunker costs. Let us turn to slide seven, where we see the income statement for the fourth quarter of 2021 against the same period of the previous year.
Voyage revenues came in at $36.1 million, marking a decrease of $1.2 million compared to the same period of last year, mainly due to lost revenues stemming from our M&A-targeted Clean Thrasher and one of our semi-refs, the Eco Freeze. In more detail, the Clean Thrasher ballasted towards a new area for its new period deployment, while the Eco Freeze spent some idle time following its redelivery. This lost revenue that was in the region of $2 million was partially offset by the 16% increase of our time charter revenues generated from our LPG vessels. Voyage costs decreased by $0.5 million compared to the same period of last year.
This small decrease in voyage expenses was minimal when considering the decline of spot days by 56% and is attributed to the sharp rise of daily bunker cost by almost $2,600. Based on all of the above, our net revenues for the period were in the order of $31.2 million. Running costs were up by $400,000 compared to Q4 2020 due to fewer vessels on bareboat, as our bareboat days declined by 16%, along with a further increase of our daily crew cost due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Impairment charges amounted to $41.5 million, $40 million of which correspond to the impairment charge we incurred due to our tanker spin-off. Based on the above factors, our EBITDA excluding non-cash items such as impairment came in at $14.6 million.
Interest and finance costs marked close to $100,000 decline. Although interest charges were $400,000 less this quarter, we incurred $400,000 in swap prepayment costs and arrangement fees for loan refinancings. With regards to our income from our JVs, both of our JVs entered the quarter with an operating profit as all of the vessels were under time charter employment. As a result of all the points analyzed above, we ended the fourth quarter of 2021 with a net income excluding impairment of $2.8 million, corresponding to an adjusted earnings per share of $0.07. Briefly to comment on our full year results. Although compared to 2020 our revenues improved, we witnessed a sharp rise in our voyage cost due to a higher number of spot days for the year in conjunction with increased bunker prices.
In addition to this, our fleet employment mix altered this year as several vessels that were on bareboat in 2020 operated either spot or on a time charter throughout 2021, and therefore we incurred higher operating costs. Nevertheless, and again excluding impairment charges, we ended year 2021 with a net income of close to $10 million corresponding to Adjusted EPS of $0.27. Proceeding to slide eight, given that StealthGas is now a pure play LPG company, and in order to assess the dynamic of our LPG fleet, we looked at the quarterly performance of 2021 exclusively for the LPGs currently in our fleet, JV vessels excluded. Indeed, it was quite interesting to note the following. Our TC revenues remained fairly stable across the quarters regardless of higher time charter activity, mainly due to the weakening of our spot earnings.
Focusing on our spot activity for 2021, as the quarters went by, we gradually reduced both spot and commercial idle time. However, high bunker costs due to continuous increase in oil undermined our spot activity profitability. In terms of our operating expenses, crew costs and COVID-19 related charges were the main obstacles in 2021. These charges marked a year-on-year increase of 8%. Nevertheless, we did manage to maintain a more stable quarterly operating cost base. Looking at our balance sheet in slide nine, our liquidity, including restricted cash, is now in the order of $46 million. As mentioned in previous earning calls, all throughout 2021 we were very active with vessel refinancing. Taking this into account, along with our schedule of principal repayments, we decreased our outstanding debt by $51 million.
Even following the completion of the spin-off, our gearing ratio remains low in the region of 37.7%. Concluding our financial commentary with slide 10, we will briefly discuss our debt profile and capital structure following the spin-off. Since the beginning of 2021 and up until February 2022, we underwent the important project of financing 20 vessels, thus succeeding in reshaping our own portfolio and deferring balloon payments. Our first balloon payment is now due on March 2027. Enhancing our free cash base, an outcome of our last refinancing that took place in February 2022, and reducing our average loan margin by about 50 basis points, which given the relatively low for now, LIBOR environment, assists us in keeping our finance cost at moderate levels.
In terms of capital structure, not only our company gearing continues to be low following the spin-off project, but is still well below the average gearing of our industry peers. I will now hand you over to our CEO, Mr. Harry Vafias, who will discuss market and company outlook.
Moving on slide 11, we'll provide some insight on the LPG market. Needless to say that given the current geopolitical tensions in Ukraine, along with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it's very difficult to foresee clearly our market's performance. Based on research performed by Poten & Partners, LPG production is expected to increase all throughout 2022 and 2023 on the back of U.S. shale rising production and increased exports from the Middle East as OPEC continues to unwind production cuts. China will continue to be the demand driver in Asia due to several PDH expansion projects, the majority of which, about 6 million metric tons, will commence production in the second half of 2022. India's LPG imports are set to remain high as new LPG terminals on both the western coast and eastern coast will help growth in imports in the near term.
In addition to this, LPG imports of Northwestern Europe are expected to increase in the years ahead on the back of the rising petrochemical demand. Factoring in the recent outbreak of war in Ukraine, this may have both direct and indirect impacts on LPG and petchem trade. The direct impact in the event of reduced LPG volumes from Russia could be a change in trade patterns in Europe. Increased oil prices may cause a further increase in bunker costs. This may be one of the important indirect negative effect. However, at the same time, the high oil price we currently witness may increase the use of LPG, particularly for industrial use. As things stand, the U.S., Europe, and other nations have exempted Russian energy trade from sanctions. This is to prevent an already tight market from rallying further.
However, even if this measure has failed, as knock-on effects of other sanctions are already being felt all across the oil markets and the broader energy sector. On slide 12, we present the key fundamentals of our small LPG market, commencing with market rate evolution. During Q4 2021, rates improved across all small LPG subsegments. We witnessed a noticeable rise in rates for the 3,500 cubic meter vessels trading in the West. Looking at the small LPG trade west of Suez, all throughout 2021, the spot market remained tight, particularly during the winter period. During the wintertime, seasonal factors combined with imbalanced fleet have resulted in owners enjoying better day rates. Rates have now reached pre-pandemic levels. On the period side, we have seen considerable activity.
This naturally comes as a result of a tight spot market and charters' anticipation that this tightness will continue. East of Suez during the last couple of months of 2021, the spot market was tight and charters were on many occasions struggling to find workable tonnage. Since then, the tightness has eased. There are more vessels available in the market and spot rates have slightly softened. Looking at the age profile of the small, pressurized LPG segment, the segment has substantial old tonnage. 27% of the fleet is currently above 20 years of age, which is the driving force behind the increased scrapping activity. In 2021, seven small, pressurized ships have been sold for demolition, equivalent to 38% of the current order book. We might witness further scrapping as we head towards 2023, when IMO decarbonization measures such as EEXI and CII will come into force.
As per recent published orders, there are 18 vessels on order, eight to be built in Japan, Korea, and 10 to be built in China to be delivered until the end of 2024. Slide 13 presents our company share performance over the past 15 months. Since the beginning of 2022, we noticed a sharp rise in oil prices on the back of limited oil supply production cuts along with geopolitical fears. As evident, energy related stocks did not follow the same trend. Gas stocks still trades at a discount to NAV. In slide 14, we are outlining the key variables that will affect our performance in the quarters ahead. Given the market turmoil, especially now with the current situation in Ukraine, it's quite difficult to predict our market's future.
Our strong points going forward is that we have a sizable and quite diversified fleet that we can easily leverage upon any further market improvement, particularly now that rates have climbed to pre-pandemic levels. In addition, and as we have seen in the past, the oil price surge may increase demand for LPG, particularly for industrial use. Our market fundamentals are quite solid as we enjoy a relatively low order book, while 20%-27% of the fleet is above 20 years of age. On the downside, and given the recent geopolitical crisis, inflationary pressures on our costs may become stronger. If oil prices continue to rise, we'll take a further hit on our voyage costs.
Regardless of the global situation, our focus in the following quarters will be to adapt to how the seaborne trade in our LPG market will shape while relying upon our strong fleet and robust capital structure. We feel confident that our strategic decision to make StealthGas a pure play LPG company across the broader LPG spectrum will pay off and strengthen our asset returns. At this stage, I will summarize our concluding remarks. The year 2021 has been throughout its course demanding as it required shipping companies to adapt to the pressures arising from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, along with inflationary pressures as an outcome of rising energy prices.
Regrettably, the Russian war outbreak in Ukraine has made our global reality uncertain, with considerable effects on humanitarian, geopolitical, and economic aspects. LPG trade will not remain unaffected, and we may see further direct effects such as changes in trade partners, as well as indirect ones, such as further increases in energy prices and various other costs that may increase, such as insurance war risk premium. Regardless of the dire environment in 2021, StealthGas followed a dynamic pace, taking the strategic decision to become a pure play in the broader LPG segment, thus transferring the tankers to a separate listed entity. Equally important, we underwent a large scale project of refinancing the majority of our fleet, reaping the benefits on both cash flow and lowering our costs.
Our year ended with a profit of $10.2 million, excluding the impairment charges, a decent performance when taking into consideration the large scale increase in our voyage costs, crew costs related to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well expenses for dry docking due to the pandemic and yard restrictions. Going forward, we cannot predict our market's reality, especially in such erratic times. However, our sizable fleet, our market strong fundamentals, LPG rates improvement in the fourth quarter of 2021, along with our healthy capital structure, are the strong points upon which we'll rely despite any market disturbances that we may face in the near future. We have now reached the end of our presentation and would like to open the floor for your questions.
Ladies and gentlemen, we now begin the question- and- answer session. If you wish to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone. We have the first question from Randy Giveans from Jefferies. Please go ahead. Your line is open.
Howdy, team StealthGas. How's it going?
Hi, Randy.
All right, a couple questions. First, it appears, you know, the headline rates, as you mentioned, continue to slowly improve. We're above pre-COVID levels. Can you provide some details on where the pricing currently is for the market, maybe your outlook for 2022? And then more specifically, what's the average rate for the three recently signed one-year charters you have?
Yes. I can give you some general numbers because obviously with the Ukraine crisis, these might go up or down. I will give you the numbers prior to the Ukraine war. 3,500, I would say around 8.5. 5,000, I would say around 9.5. 7,500, I would say in the region of 11.5.
Nice. You're saying more recently with the conflict that's down a little bit, 5%, 10%? Can you sensitize that?
It's too early to judge, Randy. I mean, it might end up to be a positive thing, but as you know, we don't like to say too much.
Yeah.
Let's wait and see how long it will last and what other sanctions Europe and the U.S. will take against Russia, and then we can re-discuss this.
That's fine. How do those one-year charter rates compare to the kind of spot rates for like the Nemesis?
The recent fixtures were 5%-10% above the previously fixed rates, not the spot rates.
Nice. Okay. In terms of your vessel sale, the Gas Inspiration, when is that gonna be delivered to the buyers? Any additional plans for selling some of the other assets?
As you know, since we're trading to a big discount on NAV, selling assets at NAV is always in the back of our minds. That's why we did these two deals that will not only reduce our debt but also increase our cash. The Eco Loyalty was delivered in the end of February, and the Gas Inspiration will deliver either in March or beginning of April.
Got it. Okay. You brought it up there. Selling assets at NAV is certainly accretive, especially if you're buying shares at the discount to NAV. Obviously, you didn't buy any this quarter. You know, balance sheet's improved. Outlook's pretty good. Clearly, there's some uncertainty with Russia and Ukraine, but any thoughts on the share buybacks?
We have discussed this, Randy, many times. You know that we've done many, many share repurchases in the past, and the tender offer that we did when COVID began.
Yeah.
I will repeat it for one more time. As soon as we have COVID, still around, the board will not authorize us to buy back shares. We have to see the end of COVID, before we deploy capital and buying more shares.
Got it. It seems to be waning, but all right, I'll give you a few more months to-
I agree with you. I agree with you.
Yeah.
As you know, unfortunately, it's not out yet.
Sure. We'll get Dr. Fauci on the line to declare victory. Until then we'll wait. All right, last quick question. I don't wanna hijack the call here, but just for Opex and G&A, that clearly uptick during the quarter. Is that kind of a new run rate? Was that based on some of the one-off events like the spinoff? Just for our modeling purposes.
You already replied the question yourself. I mean, Opex has been affected by the crew changes and COVID regulations with quarantine and so on, which obviously pushes costs up. We hope that this will not be the new run rate. You should run based on those numbers for as long as COVID is around, as we just said. Yes, of course, G&A, you know we have one of the lowest G&A around. Obviously, we had an increased G&A because of the extra expenses connected with the spinoff, which by the way, StealthGas shareholders that got the IMPP common shares and pref shares should have done a very good job multiplying their investments.
Got it. All right, well, that is all for me. Thanks again, Harry.
Thank you, Randy.
Thank you for your question. There are no further question at the moment. If you wish to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone.
As there are no further questions, we would like to thank you for joining us on our conference call today. We look forward of having you with us again at our next call for our Q1 results in May. Thank you very much.
That concludes the conference for today. Thank you for participating.