Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Genco Shipping & Trading Limited Third Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call and Presentation. Before we begin, please note that there will be a slide presentation accompanying today's conference call. That presentation can be obtained from Genco's website at www.gencoshipping.com. To inform everyone, today's conference is being recorded and is now being webcast at the company's website at www.gencoshipping.com. We will conduct a question and answer session after the opening remarks, and instructions will follow at that time. A replay of the conference will be accessible at any time during the next two weeks by dialing in 1-877-674-7070 and entering the passcode 329256. At this time, I will now turn the conference over to the company. Please go ahead. Good morning. Before we begin our presentation, I note that in this conference call, we'll be making certain forward-looking statements pursuant to the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements use words such as anticipate, budget, estimate, expect, project, intend, plan, believe, and other words and terms of similar meaning in connection with the discussion of potential future events, circumstances, or future operating or financial performance. These forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations and observations. For a discussion of factors that could cause results to differ, please see the company's press release that was issued yesterday, the materials relating to this call posted on the company's website, and the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including, without limitation, the company's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022, and the company's reports on Form 10-Q and Form 8-K subsequently filed with the SEC. At this time, I would like to introduce John Wobensmith, Chief Executive Officer of Genco Shipping & Trading Limited. Good morning, everyone. Welcome to Genco's third quarter 2023 conference call. We'll begin today's call by reviewing our Q3 2023 and year-to-date highlights, providing an update on our comprehensive value strategy, financial results for the quarter, and the industry's current fundamentals before opening the call up for questions. For additional information, please also refer to our earnings presentation posted on our website. During the third quarter, we continued to advance our value strategy, providing shareholders with a sizable dividend while continuing to take steps to renew our fleet. For the quarter, we declared a dividend of $0.15 per share as we utilized the built-in optionality and flexibility within our dividend policy. This highlights Genco's differentiated capital structure and industry-low break-even levels for providing sizable dividends to shareholders even during a lower freight rate environment. Notably, the third quarter represents our 17th consecutive quarterly dividend, highlighting our commitment and success, returning significant capital to shareholders. Over this time, we have declared dividends of $4.745 per share or 36% of the current share price. While our stated formula did not produce a dividend for the quarter, the board of directors elected on management's recommendation to declare the 15-cent per share dividend. Genco's industry-low cash flow break-even rate and low financial leverage position, together with improved freight rates in Q4 to date, gave the company confidence to declare the 15-cent per share dividend. Regarding the dividend calculation, we have consolidated the previous voluntary quarterly reserve of $10.75 million and voluntary quarterly debt repayment of $8.75 million, which total $19.5 million in one line item. This voluntary quarterly reserve was reduced to $4.4 million for the purpose of the Q3 dividend. Given that both the reserve and debt repayments are fully in Genco's discretion, we felt it was appropriate to consolidate them into one voluntary quarterly reserve. Furthermore, with our new 100% revolving credit facility, this advantageous structure allows us more flexibility than with previous term loan structures to actively manage our debt outstanding, to reduce interest expense, while providing meaningful capacity to partially fund future vessel acquisitions. In Q4, we received a commitment for a $500 million revolving credit facility, significantly expanding our borrowing capacity, reducing interest expense, and extending debt maturities. This facility aligns well with our value strategy, as the revolving credit facility structure enables Genco to continue to voluntarily pay down debt in line with our medium-term goal of net debt zero, without losing the capacity to draw down to fund growth. To this point, we took advantage of the company's strong liquidity position to opportunistically enter into an agreement to acquire a modern, high-specification Capesize vessel. The vessel, to be renamed the Genco Ranger, is a 2016-built SWS scrubber-fitted, 181,000 deadweight ton Capesize vessel, which we anticipate taking delivery of in mid-November of this year. Modern Eco Capesizes rarely trade with only a handful of transactions in a given year. As such, we are pleased with this purchase to further modernize our fleet. We continue to assess additional sale and purchase transactions in the market in line with our fleet renewal strategy. Regarding the current dry bulk market, beginning in September, we have seen a significant uplift in dry bulk freight rates led by firm iron ore, coal, and bauxite shipments, which is reflected in our solid estimated Q4 TCE to date. Moving forward, while we expect volatility to persist, we view commodity demand growth from China and developing Asia, coupled with capacity constraints that have resulted in a historically low order book,... to be supportive for the dry bulk market. Given the recent rate improvement, we have also seen asset values strengthen. In addition, firm new building prices and lower shipyard capacity continue to be supportive of secondhand asset values. Lastly, in October, we are pleased to become a signatory to the Operational Efficiency Ambition Statement, focused on emissions reductions and reducing our carbon footprint, an initiative led by the Global Maritime Forum. I will now return the call over to Peter Allen, our Chief Financial Officer. Thank you, John. For Q3 2023, the company recorded a net loss of $32 million or $0.75 basic and diluted loss per share, which included a non-cash vessel impairment charge of $28.1 million. Excluding this non-cash charge, adjusted net loss is $3.9 million or $0.09 basic and diluted loss per share. This non-cash vessel impairment charge was recorded as the estimated future undiscounted cash flows for 3 of our 170,000 deadweight ton Capesize vessels that we were evaluating divesting as part of our fleet renewal. The third special survey, scheduled in 2024, did not exceed their net book values, and we therefore adjusted their values to fair market value during the third quarter. Adjusted EBITDA for Q3 totaled $14.6 million, bringing the nine-month 2023 total to $64.4 million. As of September 30th, our cash position was $52 million, and our debt outstanding was $144.8 million, bringing our net debt to $92.5 million and net loan to value to 10%. With $198.8 million of undrawn revolver availability, our total liquidity position at the end of the third quarter was $251 million. Subsequently, in Q4, we received commitments for a $500 million revolving credit facility, which can be utilized to support fleet growth as well as general corporate purposes. Key terms include an increase in borrowing capacity by nearly 50% or over $150 million, lower pricing on margin of 1.85%-2.15% plus SOFR, compared to 2.15%-2.75% plus SOFR previously. Extended maturity to the end of 2028 and 100% revolving credit facility structure, providing further flexibility. We appreciate the continued support of our high-quality lending group that participated in the revolving facility, including leading international shipping banks that are both existing and new lenders to Genco. The amended facility is subject to definitive documentation and fulfillment of customary closing conditions and is expected to close in Q4 2023. Upon closing the amended facility and acquisition, we anticipate pro forma debt outstanding to be $179.8 million and undrawn revolver availability of $320.3 million. This includes a $35 million drawdown in Q4 to partially fund the acquisition of the Genco Ranger. Looking ahead to Q4 2023, we anticipate our cash flow break-even rate to be $8,170 per vessel per day, well below our Q4 TCE estimates to date of $16,665 for 69% fixed. After a slow start to the third quarter, freight rates began to rise in September. Specifically, the Baltic Capesize Index rose from approximately $8,300 to end the quarter at $20,000. Rates continued to push higher in October, reaching a year-to-date high of $31,000. While we expect volatility to persist in the near term, current spot and Supramax rates of $20,000 and $12,000 remain firm. The year-to-date iron ore and coal trades into China have increased by 6% and 67% respectively. In the second half of 2023, we have seen abundant cargo availability from major iron ore miners in Brazil and Australia, supporting these solid import figures. Given the general tight supply and demand balance, freight rates continued to be sensitive to the fluctuation of port congestion levels. In Q3, we saw a meaningful unwinding, which offset some of the firm trade volumes that pressured freight rates. While in October, increased congestion off of Q3 lows helped to reduce effective capacity and push rates higher. Despite the challenges within China's property sector, several key indicators within the China steel complex continue to convey positive signals. These include multiyear low iron ore port inventories, iron ore prices above $125 per ton, and steel mill utilization above 90%. Furthermore, ex-China steel production has now risen for three straight months after an elongated period of contraction, potentially signaling an increase in demand in developed countries and support for the secondary trade routes outside of Asia. Regarding the supply side, annualized net fleet growth in the year to date is 2.7%, primarily due to the front-loaded nature of the delivery schedule and low scrapping levels. The historically low order book as a percentage of the fleet, as well as near-term and longer-term environmental regulations, are expected to keep net fleet growth low in the coming years. While we expect volatility for the balance of the year and into early part of next year, the foundation of a low supply growth picture provides a solid basis for our constructive view of the dry bulk market going forward. This concludes our presentation. We'll now be happy to take your questions. Thank you. And ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question and answer session. Should you have a question, simply press star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. You will hear a three-tone prompt acknowledging your request, and your questions will be pulled in the order they are received. Should you wish to decline from the calling process, please press the star followed by the number two. If you're using a speakerphone, please keep the handset before pressing any keys. One moment, please, for your first question. Your first question comes from the line of Omar Nokta from Jefferies. Your line is open. Thank you. Hey, John and Peter. Good morning. Good morning. First off, I guess, you know, congrats on the $500 million revolver. Obviously, not every day that you see a facility of that size that's fully revolving. So congrats on that. Wanted to just sort of ask about the, you know, the Capesize you acquired, the 2016-built ship. Just in general, you also sort of signaled in the release being a bit more active on the sale and purchase front, and it sounds like it's going to be both sale and purchase, the way I kind of read that. Could you give us maybe a bit more, you know, color or maybe expand a bit on that comment, and how you're thinking about Genco moving forward here in the near term in the S&P market? Yeah. Thanks, thanks, Omar. So if you look at our fleet, we have some older Capes, some of the 170s. So our intention is to ultimately replace those with newer, high-spec eco vessels. So we're looking at that, and working on a few things right now. And then also on the Supramaxes, we have the Genco Auvergne, the Ardenne, the Bourgogne, and the Aquitaine, which are older and are coming up for dry docking next year. So those vessels we're also focused on replacing with higher spec Ultramax, eco, you know, better fuel efficiency type vessels. We have all those vessels that I just mentioned are dry docking next year, so the intention would be to try to save on the CapEx numbers by disposing of those and deploying capital for newer vessels. And I think, you know, you have the CapEx side. We're obviously also trying to reduce our carbon footprint, but we have, you know, the EU ETS coming into play starting next year. So particularly with the Ultras and Supras, we want to be as efficient as we can to keep those costs down and be in a better position to trade to Europe. Thanks, John. That's helpful. And maybe just was going to come back to the Ultras, Supras. You know, clearly, over the past several years, in terms of acquisitions, Genco has been more focused on the Ultras, and it's been some time since you've acquired a Cape. Is this a shift, perhaps in thinking, in wanting to lean a bit higher, in sort of future investment, or is it still kind of, you know, that barbell approach, with the fleet? I would say. Yeah. I would say it's still a barbell approach. We like the Capesize exposure. You know, it's very difficult to get your hands on eco tonnage right now, and really over the last few years. We've only seen a few trade this year in 2023, including the Genco Ranger. So when they do come up, you know, you want to move on them quickly and be very precise about it, which is what we did here. But you know, again, with the focus on environmental regulations and reducing emissions, I think eco vessels are going to have more and more value and certainly more flexibility trading going forward than maybe some of the older ships. Yeah, definitely. Thanks, John. And maybe just maybe one final one for me, and I'll turn it over. You know, clearly the, you know, the revolver gives you a lot more flexibility than the one, and you pushed out the maturity by a couple of years. Plus, when we think about sort of the, you know, the dividend policy and the ongoing reserve, which is obviously very conservative, giving you plenty of flexibility to toggle with it. But in general, is there any kind of shift or changes that you see happening with sort of the numbers that go into the reserve once the new facility is completed? I don't see any change at this point, though, you know what? So we've put out guidance for the fourth quarter, and when we get into announcing fourth quarter, and we have our normal board meeting, there obviously will be discussion about how we want to set that for 2024. And, you know, as we did with 2022 and 2023, you know, we, we announced that ahead of time. So I would say stay tuned, and we'll see how the conversations go and our strategy session for 2024 plays out. Okay, very good. All right. Well, thanks, John, and congrats again on the facility. Great. Thanks, Omar. Appreciate it. Your next question comes from the line of Liam Burke from B. Riley. Your line is open. Yeah. Thank you. Good morning, John. Good morning, Peter. Morning. Morning. John, on the supply side, are you seeing any additional tightening, either through congestion or slow steaming, with the global fleet? Look, I think the global fleet is actually going fairly slow as it is already. The congestion side of it, particularly in China, has started to move up again. Obviously, there's a lot of flow of iron ore and coal that is driving that. I still think as we get into next year, there is, you know, positive. There's upside risk on congestion winding back up again. Are we going to get to the levels of, you know, during COVID? Probably not, but certainly, we can get back to more historical averages, which should help take supply out of the market and push up rates as we get into next year. You did mention in your pre-prepared comments about your, you know, how you, the outlook for the Capesize market, and mentioned, the commodities that are hauled. ... As we look down the road, do you still see them fitting in vis-à-vis a Newcastlemax, where there seems to be a larger% of the order book there? You know, in terms of the Capesize fitting in with the Newcastlemaxes? With the- Yeah. Yes. So personally, we like the flexibility of the Capesize more so than the Newcastlemaxes. You know, there are times where, you know, you're still not filling up a Newcastlemax to its full capacity. So in terms of return on capital, we still like the Capesize sector. And but we obviously like the modern ones that are more fuel-efficient. You know, if you look at the trades, Liam, you know, whether it's iron or coal or the bauxite trade, which is growing quite significantly, Capes are extremely active in all three of those markets. And I think that it's gonna be the case for quite a while. Great. Thank you, John. Thanks, Liam. Your next question comes from the line of Sherif Elmaghrabi from BTIG. Your line is open. Hey, good morning. Thanks for taking my questions. Good morning. Morning. So, first, charter-in days roughly doubled from Q2, but they're still pretty far below what we've seen for the last couple of years. So, you know, rates have seen a pretty significant improvement from Q3 to Q4. So should we expect charter-in days to tick higher for the end of the year? I guess any general color on how you're thinking about chartering in would be helpful. Yeah. So keep in mind, the chartering that we're doing is very short term. It is used to create arbitrage trades on our existing fleet, on cargo that we have booked forward, and used to create alpha over the indices, which we've obviously been very successful at, particularly in the mid-size sector. I would expect to see some higher charter-in days as we get into the fourth quarter. Or I guess we're really in the fourth quarter, but as we get to the end, the market has moved up. We also have been fixing forward some for first quarter, which is, you know, what we typically do. So I think you'll see more charter-in tonnage in the first quarter as well. But keep in mind that chartered-in tonnage, again, is not long-term. It's usually for short-term cargo liftings, where we've identified an arbitrage opportunity to use somebody else's ship and then take our ship and go perform another cargo. That's, that's very helpful. And then, maybe a bit more macro. On the North and South American grain story, we've got a record grain season in Brazil, but then in the U.S., we have low inland water levels kind of constraining exports. So I'm wondering how you see seaborne winter grain exports shaking out, especially given the low water levels on the Mississippi could persist kind of into Q1. Tracy? Yeah. No, absolutely. Thanks for the question. Yeah, look, it's obviously been a terrific grain season out of South America. It's extended. It's been definitely supportive to the overall Atlantic market that we've seen, and it's been good to offset some of the reduced volumes out of Ukraine in particular. In the fourth quarter, yes, wheat exports out of US likely to be lower. But again, you know, in the not-too-distant future, we'll have South American grain season picking back up in towards the end of Q1. So, should be relatively short-lived. You know, we are getting some help on the Panama Canal situation, which is extending ton miles and taking ships. You know, instead of going to the Panama Canal, they're going through Suez, so it's extending ton miles there. So there are some fleet inefficiencies that are supportive to the current market. But yeah, like John mentioned in prepared remarks as well as during the Q&A, you know, we do expect volatility in Q1, but we're doing a good job of fixing over that. We have three short period deals on the Ultra, Supras at $15,000-$16,000 that are fixed over through March. So you know, pretty good job on that side. Okay. Thanks for taking my questions. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, our Q&A session has ended. This concludes today's conference call. Thank you all for participating. You may now disconnect.