Prepared remarks
Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to the CMB.TECH Q1 2026 Earnings Call. My name is Alexander Saverys, and I'm joined by my colleagues, Ludovic Saverys, Enya Derkinderen and Joris Daman. We will present to you the highlights of our first quarter and the title of this call is Firing On All Cylinders. We had a very interesting quarter, a very good quarter, and we would like to start with some financials and highlights, and I will hand it over to Ludovic.
Thanks, Alex. As usual, we will start with a high-level overview of our company. We're active in 5 different segments from dry bulk, crude tankers, containers, chemicals to offshore energy. We had an interesting quarter, as Alex mentioned. Compared to last quarter, our total fair market value has increased. Our market cap has increased. We've reduced our leverage. We've reduced our CapEx commitments and increased our contract backlog. Next slide, please. If we zoom in on the Q1 financials, we've ended the quarter with a net profit of $368.8 million. Notable in these figures are obviously our increased revenue, but we have been able to, while the quarter passed, delever quite a bit and reduce our margins with the banks. Our net finance expenses decreased from $113 million last quarter to $81 million this quarter, delivering a very nice profit. The liquidity of the company at the end of Q1 stands a little bit above $0.5 billion. Our equity on total assets value adjusted is below 50%, which is our through-the-cycle target. Further zooming in, we have delevered. We are paying dividends, and we're strengthening the balance sheet while we are optimizing our fleet through well-timed S&P. Notable on the contract backlog, we have signed one 5-year time charter on a Suezmax vessel and extended two 9-year time charters by another year. The Board of Directors has decided they would like to distribute $0.64 per share as distribution. This will be managed by $0.20 interim dividend and $0.44 distribution out of share premium. That's quite interesting because there is no withholding tax on that part. So 70% of our dividends will be exempt from withholding tax. We took delivery of seven newbuilding vessels, which Alex will discuss a little later on, and we have sold quite a few ships that were announced already: two Capesizes and eight VLCCs. One additional vessel, the Suezmax Sienna, has been sold and will be delivered in Q2. So the capital gains of the first quarter were $267 million. And in Q2, we're expecting a capital gain of $127 million. We are a diversified platform. However, we have a large spot exposure in two of our promising markets, which is dry bulk on the one hand and tankers. If you look at full 2026, we have roughly 53,000 shipping days, of which 80% is spot. From those spot days, we have 36,000 open dry bulk days, which is roughly 10,000 on the Kamsarmaxes and 26,000 on Capes and Newcastlemax. These are increasing markets, and hence, we are favorably positioned to enjoy those in the coming quarters. On this slide, we have shown a hypothetical free cash flow for our company in 2026. This is including the free cash flow from the first quarter, but putting some rate assumptions on the right bottom side, where you could see that actually, if we take the market today, we are in the plus 20% case compared to our market assumptions, and we would have an operational free cash flow of over $1 billion. This is excluding vessel sales, but it is also excluding the remaining CapEx, which we will discuss a little later on. On the CapEx, we've come a long way. We have a remaining CapEx end of April of $1.2 billion, of which roughly $184 million is unfunded. If you have followed our story, you know that with the vessel sales, this is more than double covered for the unfunded CapEx. But this slide shows that 2026 will be the last heavy newbuilding delivery year with the remaining $740 million to be paid to the shipyard in the coming three quarters, whereafter, obviously, our free cash flow could be used on other topics than CapEx. Contract backlog: we've increased our contract backlog roughly by $200 million, as mentioned. There is a gradual repayment. The contract backlog reduces by roughly $100 million per quarter, but we've added $200 million of fresh charters. Of these long-term contracts, still $1.9 billion is on dual fuel-related vessels, and we have quite strong counterparts, most of them investment grade, as you can see on the right side. I'll then hand over the discussion topics to Alex to talk about the markets.
Thank you, Ludovic. I'll start with our normal slide overview in all the segments. We are, as you can see, still positive on the dry bulk market, the tanker market and the offshore energy market. We have been, over the last two quarters, cautious on the container and the chemical markets. High-level dynamics: we see dry bulk ton-mile growth for major commodities that we are transporting in our Capes and Newcastlemaxes like iron ore and bauxite. We also see growth on other dry commodities. Looking at the supply side, we will see a growth of 1.7% of the fleet in Capes today, a tick under 5% on Panamaxes. But we still believe that in balance, and we'll dig in in the following slides in more detail, the supply/demand is actually positive for freight and positive for our market. The same can be said on tankers. Of course, tankers is a more complex story with what is happening right now in the Middle East. In terms of ton-mile, it's very difficult to predict. But as it stands, analysts are expecting a small reduction in ton mile for crude oil this year, some growth next year. What is interesting on the tanker market is that the supply side, even though in the short term the fleet is not growing that much, from 2027 and particularly in 2028, we will see a big growth in the fleet. So the order book to fleet in VLCCs and Suezmaxes is coming closer to 30%. This being said, in the short term, the tanker market dynamics are positive. We'll definitely zoom in on that a bit later. On the container side, not a lot has changed. In the more negative story that we have been seeing over the last quarters, the Middle East turmoil has given some support to the market, but with a large order book and an expected contraction in TEU-mile demand, we are cautious on the container side. As you know, all our ships are fixed, so we are not really exposed to the spot market. On the chemical side, it feels a little softer. Chemical market is less volatile, but there we see some new vessels being delivered to the fleet and slightly softer growth in demand for chemical tankers. So on balance, we are a bit more cautious. And then last but not least, we remain positive on the offshore energy markets. After two slow years of wind installation, we're expecting an increase this year and next in, for instance, the important North Sea market. But also on oil and gas, we are seeing a lot of demand for offshore energy supply vessels like our ships. All in all, we're expecting good markets going forward in that segment. I want to zoom in on the largest segment and the market that is most important to us right now, which is dry bulk. On the left side of the slide, you can see our fleet. We have 36 Newcastlemaxes on the water. We're adding this year another ten; maybe one or two will deliver beginning of next year. So in the next six months, we will have 46 Newcastlemaxes, a big armada of Newcastlemaxes on the water. We performed very well during the first quarter, which is traditionally a slower quarter. We reached levels of $28,000 a day. Looking forward to the second quarter, we have fixed most of our days, 80% already at $44,000, which is very good for that segment. Capesizes is a big fleet as well. We have 37 Capesizes on the water. We achieved rates of $26,000 in the first quarter and have already fixed roughly three quarters of our days at $37,000 for the second quarter. With the amount of ships and the amount of days, this is all very supportive for our results going forward. And then last but not least, our Kamsarmax/Panamax fleet of 30 ships. The first quarter was satisfactory. We reached kind of a breakeven level of $14,500, but we have seen in recent weeks a market uptick, and we have already been able to fix very good levels, close to $20,000 for three quarters of our days in the second quarter. When you look at the main drivers in dry bulk, it's a mixed picture: some very positive signals, some not so positive, but we will dig into some of the elements in the next slides. Let's first start on the supply of the vessels, which is the newbuildings, the order book and then the age of the fleet. When you look at the newbuildings, the order book to fleet has increased over the last three to six months. There have been more orders for dry bulk tonnage. Specifically on Capesizes and Panamaxes, we are now reaching a level of 14% to 15% of the fleet. If you put that against the age of the vessels, you can see we've reached an all-time high average age of the fleet; there is a lot of potential for scrapping. There's a lot of potential for these newbuildings to replace the aging fleet. As it stands, there should normally be more ships leaving the fleet than being added to the fleet in the next two years at least and even going forward in 2029 and 2030. So on the supply side, we still believe this is supportive for our market going forward. If we look at the demand side, we are zooming in on important commodities for the Capes and Panamaxes. On Capes, it's iron ore, bauxite and a little bit of coal. You can see that the numbers are adding up nicely compared to last year. We are in all segments above. Coal is a little bit below. All in all, it's a supportive picture in the first quarter and in the month of April. A similar story holds for the Panamaxes. Typical cargoes for Panamaxes—coal and grain—have been growing and are being translated into better freight rates. Q1 has surprised us to the upside, has been less slow than usual and has underpinned the freight market. Now if we look at the total year, what to expect for the next couple of months: the picture remains supported for our Capes with the iron ore trade. The bauxite trade is a bit of a question mark. If we see some export caps out of Guinea, then this could be negative for our market. In the numbers, we don't see it yet, but it is something to watch. Interestingly, something that could underpin our market is the coal trade, and I'd like to zoom in on that. We have added on this slide as well the rate forecast for a regular 180,000 dwt Capesize for this year; including the first quarter, we are now at $31,500, which is actually a very good rate and definitely in a profit-making territory. Operation Epic Fury and the gas-to-coal switching: we've tried to analyze based on available information what the impact would be if certain countries that are powering their economies and making electricity with oil and gas would shift more to coal. This gas-to-coal switching is sketched out on this slide. Initially, on the coal side, all analysts and including ourselves were expecting a relatively soft market for seaborne coal going into the second half of the year. Our base case scenario was that coal power generation in Europe and in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan would go down. Now obviously, the war in Iran and turmoil in the Middle East, which have led to an increase in gas and oil prices, have changed the situation. What we are now taking as a base scenario is that over the course of this year, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan will increase their imports of seaborne coal by 27 million tons, increasing the utilization of their existing coal infrastructure. In Europe, as it stands, we are expecting 12 million tons of coal to be added to the trade and utilization to increase from 40% to 55%. There is further upside in a high case where Europe could import another 60 million tons of coal. On the right side of the slide you can see supply of ships and the different demand scenarios. For Capes, we were looking at a 1.7% increase in the fleet and a 3% base case increase in ton-mile demand. We have revised that to 3.5% ton-mile demand. With the extra kicker on coal to Europe in the high case, this could go up to 5.2% increase in demand. The same goes for Panamaxes; coal is very important for Panamaxes. We have a pretty high delivery schedule this year of close to 5% increase in the fleet. The base case was a bit under 4% demand growth for Panamaxes; in the current new base case, we're looking at 5% growth, but in the high case, this could go to 7.5%. So Operation Epic Fury and the war in the Middle East could have a significant positive impact on the dry bulk markets, and we're seeing some of it already now. To conclude, we've mapped the new base case volumes from Q1 to Q4. For those not familiar with the dry bulk market, the first quarter is always the lowest quarter in terms of volume. Volumes usually ramp up in Q2, Q3 and Q4, which bodes well for our dry bulk market going forward. CMB.TECH is well positioned with our large fleet of Capesizes, Newcastlemaxes and Panamaxes. I want to talk about Euronav and the crude oil markets and probably where most of you have a lot of questions on our view of what is happening in the world. Let me first start with a quick overview of what our fleet has done. After the sales of our VLCCs, we are down to six VLCCs: four are on the water, two will be delivered during the course of this year and in January 2027. We achieved very good rates in Q1 and even better rates for the bookings that we have done in Q2. We have rates booked at around $180,000 for 80% of our days. Of course, we only have six VLCCs left, but nevertheless, this will contribute positively to our profits going forward. The sale of the eight ships we communicated already delivered a nice capital gain in total of $360 million on the sale of these older VLCCs, which have been reflected in our Q1 results and will partly be reflected in Q2. We have 18 Suezmaxes on the water. We recently took delivery of the Cap Grace and Cap Joseph. We achieved spot market rates of $91,000 in Q1 and $122,000 for most of our days in Q2. Again, excellent rates in the current circumstances. We have sold one of our older Suezmaxes, the Sienna, which is a 19-year-old Suezmax, which will deliver in Q2 and will give us a capital gain of $30 million. You can see on the right side all the indicators. These figures need to be taken with a big pinch of salt because the real impact is influenced a lot by what's happening at sea with the situation in the Middle East and the Strait of Hormuz. Before we talk about that, I wanted to show you the slide on the order book and the supply of ships and the age of the vessels. The order book has really shot up. We are now looking at a combined 500 VLCCs and Suezmaxes on order, which we believe is a lot of ships, skewed towards the second half of 2027 and 2028. In 2028, already more than 200 VLCCs and Suezmaxes are on order. Even though theoretically the age profile of the fleet would be able to absorb these vessels—i.e., older vessels should be scrapped and the newbuildings could replace them—we are a little concerned going forward looking at the order book. But in the short term, not that many vessels are coming on stream, and this is translated into good freight markets. Average age of the fleet is getting to historical highs—we are at about 13 to 13.5 years. Again, this is positive as and when we would need to scrap some vessels. I want to talk about the Strait of Hormuz situation, Operation Epic Fury and the impact on shipping in general and on oil supply. On the left side, you can see the number of transits through the Strait of Hormuz on a daily basis. We are talking anywhere between 110 and 150 ships a day historically. We are down now to between five and twenty transits a day. In terms of tankers, we see that 115 VLCCs and 24 Suezmaxes are still trapped in the Persian Gulf. Of that fleet, 40% are dark fleet vessels, not vessels we would compete with, but it's still a significant number of ships trapped there. On the supply side of oil, my colleague Joris Daman has made a very interesting analysis on the right side of the slide, so I will hand it over to him to explain what he is seeing in the numbers.
Yes. Happy to run through it. The right-hand side graph really starts by showing the baseline. The baseline was 15 million barrels per day of crude oil. This is only crude oil traversing the Strait of Hormuz, so being exported out of the Persian Gulf. Now that's effectively closed. So we made the assumption that's lost. Then we looked at what the actual impact on crude tanker flows would be. We have a selective passage of 1.2 million barrels per day—that's the actual passage over the last two months divided by 60 days. That's about one Suezmax a day or every second day one VLCC. Then we have some pipeline capacity upstream, which is today roughly around 5.5 million barrels per day—Yanbu, Fujairah and the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline. We also had a temporary effect of floating storage release or reversal of floating storage and some Russian sanctions being lifted, which added volumes back to the tanker market. The real interesting part is the export growth out of the U.S., which is a combination of additional volumes and SPR releases, roughly 1.4 million barrels per day, and other countries stepping up: for example, Brazil, Guyana, Canada, Angola, additionally bringing about 1 million barrels per day capacity to the market. If you go from 15 million and take all those steps, we end up with a loss of 5.3 million barrels per day capacity lost to be transported on crude tankers. Now it's important to see that we are actually increasing longer-mile transportation. We get a ton-mile kicker because exports out of the U.S. and Brazil, Guyana are further away than a typical Middle Eastern-to-China transportation; it can be 2 to 2.5x more. If you take that multiplier and compare it to the 5.3 million barrels, we are actually quite balanced from a ton-mile perspective. That's the reason why utilization of tankers remains healthy and why U.S. Gulf–China transportation remains quite active. If you look one step further at the potential impact on barrel prices, it's important to understand we started Operation Epic Fury in a global situation where there was a large oversupply. There was a bigger supply of crude oil to the market than demand—an oversupply of 2.6 million barrels per day—meaning that today's market is only undersupplied by approximately 2.7 million barrels per day of crude, which will have an impact on demand destruction or other mechanisms to rebalance the market.
Thank you very much, Joris. After that analysis, what we want to add is that the closure of the Strait of Hormuz has led to many more ballastings towards the Atlantic to pick up oil where it is still available, and this has an impact on rates. You can see the rate from the Middle East to China, which we think is more of a theoretical rate because not many ships are being fixed there at those levels. The more interesting one is the TD22 route, where rates were very high and then gradually started going down as more ballast tonnage came toward the U.S. Gulf to pick up oil. By gradually going down, I mean we are still at a level around $100,000 a day, which is very healthy for our market, but it shows the disruption the closure has on vessel positioning. I'd like to finish with our three slightly smaller divisions: Delphis, Bochem and Windcat. On Delphis, we can be relatively short. All our ships are fixed on long-term time charters. We still have one newbuilding coming this year, delivering in October, which has been fixed on a 15-year contract. On the container market: the order book is very high. We still see a huge TEU-mile disturbance with the de facto closure of the Red Sea. If no container ships pass there, it's basically a 12% demand kicker. If that falls away, including the big wave of new container vessels coming on stream in the next couple of years, the market should continue to deteriorate. Short term, we've seen a little uptick because of the disturbance around the Strait of Hormuz, and rates on the spot and time charter markets have gone up a little in recent days and weeks. But fundamentally, we expect a downward trend as things resolve and the order book delivers. Chemical tankers are slightly softer; that is reflected in the spot pool. Most of our vessels are fixed on time charters, so we're not heavily affected. Chemical tanker markets are less volatile; even with softening, our spot market numbers of $21,500 compare to about $25,000 last year—still healthy. Finishing with Windcat: exciting times. We have taken delivery of our third CSOV, a large offshore energy supply vessel. We still have three more that will be delivered plus one larger CSOV and an MP‑ASV. So we have four ships on order. We have seen very healthy rates for our CSOVs—an average of $65,000 a day in Q1 and Q2 already fully fixed at $62,000 a day. We have further vessels delivering and are in talks with customers for both short-term and longer-term employment. Our CTVs are doing well as well. After the traditionally slow winter period, we are now entering the peak spring and summer season. Utilization is above 90%, and we are earning good rates averaging $3,400 a day. We expect the offshore wind market and offshore oil and gas market to remain supported in the coming months. This wraps up the market update, and I will now hand it over to Enya for the Q&A.
Operator: We will now start with the first question, coming from Frode Morkedal.
Questions and answers
This is Frode at Clarksons. My first question is on capital allocation. You basically reached the 50% net loan-to-value target, so you've been deleveraging the balance sheet. You have plenty of liquidity and the newbuild program looks fully funded. How should we think about capital allocation from here? Specifically on the dividend: you raised it from $0.16 to $0.20 on the interim dividend. Is this a level you would like to maintain? Or should we think about dividends as variable quarter-to-quarter?
Yes, Frode, let me take this one. We are working on all sides: deleveraging the balance sheet, especially with the bridge loan that was quite expensive. We were able to repay that fully, and we reduced our margins on most of our financings with our banks. That was visible in the net finance expenses. The CapEx program is coming to an end. On the dividend: as every quarter the Board decides what to do—whether to accelerate debt repayments, pursue potential M&A or distribute to shareholders. Once leverage targets are more in play like they are today, we can start allocating more of the free cash to shareholders. We have a fully discretionary dividend policy. Historically, we've paid between 50% and 60% of net profit to shareholders. After announcing the 50% distribution on the vessel sales in December, the Board decided to pay 50% on the whole profit of Q1. Going forward, this will be considered every quarter. The less leverage and CapEx we have, the more opportunity to distribute. Regarding the change from $0.16 to $0.20, we actually announced $0.64 per share: $0.20 interim dividend and $0.44 out of share premium, which is a fiscal-optimized way to reduce withholding tax for many shareholders. We will continue to analyze distributions to shareholders with full focus.
Okay. So 60% looks reasonable, that's what I heard from you? Next question: the Golden Ocean acquisition looks well timed now. Dry bulk asset values have moved higher. Do you have any sense of how much you are up on that investment so far?
Frode, can you not do the calculation for us?
Based on the acquisition price and the financing structure—yes, we've made a semi-levered buyout where 50% was paid with shares and 50% with financing—the returns on paper today look good. But you have to ride the cycle fully before claiming victory. The market has picked up faster than we expected on the medium term. The spot strategy we pursued is setting us up to reap benefits in the short term.
I did the calculation; I think you're up at least 20%, but I could be wrong.
Only 20%, Frode? Oh, you are selling up front.
Given where asset values are today, do you still see value in further investments? Or is this becoming more a market to sell further assets?
Everything is pricey today. Let's be clear: newbuilding and secondhand prices have gone up. There will always be opportunities; we will analyze them. Right now, having sold most of our older vessels, we still might sell some ships of older vintage if we see a very good price. But what we want now is to ride the cycle on dry bulk and see what comes after this high cycle, because for us the story doesn't end when the cycle turns—that's when the story begins.
The next question is coming from Climent Molins.
I wanted to follow up on your finance expenses, which declined significantly as you reduced debt and refinanced some facilities. Did the $82 million expense for the quarter include any one-offs due to refinancing? Secondly, is the G&A for Q1 a good proxy for the remainder of the year?
Two great questions, Climent. On net finance expenses, in the $82 million there were maybe $3 million of one-offs, so that's insignificant. This reflects the current optimized debt situation but does not yet take into account some margin reductions we're executing on roughly $2 billion of financing, which will only come into play at the end of Q2. So there's more room to reduce net finance expenses. On SG&A: with $51 million in Q4 compared to $27 million in Q1, Q4 was exceptional. Q1 is more representative, but we continue to optimize. Integrating companies is often harder than expected, but we're on the way to reach our SG&A targets.
Could you talk about whether you've had any impact on the operations of the two FSOs contracted with Qatar Energy because of the conflict?
We have had some operational disturbances, but we are trying to get everything back on track. The safety of our people on board is the most important thing, and we are working closely with our customer to make sure we can restart operations in a safe way.
You recorded $12 million profit from equity-accounted investees. What does that refer to specifically?
That reflects our proportionate share of profits from small participations. About half of it is one-offs from these companies. It's a diverse set of small participations—from ammonia logistics to Japanese joint ventures—some smaller companies that deliver profit quarter-on-quarter. So there will likely be some of that in coming quarters.
The next question is from Petter Haugen.
I would like to put some emphasis on the analysis on Slide 25. The slide showing the shortfall and the partial refillment of what was lost is a very instructive way to think about this. One question in this context: adjusted for distances—ton-miles—would that still be in negative territory, or is it in positive territory?
Joris can take that question.
It's fairly balanced, and that was the main message: if you not only look at tons, but at ton-miles, the situation is actually balanced up to today. The lost volumes are being balanced by the additional distance. That only holds as long as U.S. exports keep the same levels and other countries like Brazil, Guyana, Angola keep higher volumes than earlier in the year. That's the big assumption of this slide.
Okay. So very balanced ton-mile wise. One further question: in Q3 you ordered CSOVs and had options for five more. Is there any progress on those options in terms of striking them or letting them lapse?
We still have time to lift the next option. Right now it looks interesting because there's good demand for these assets. But as long as we don't need to lift the option, we will wait. The market can still change. It is a segment we are watching closely for potential newbuildings because we see value, and the option prices are interesting.
Could you elaborate on what sort of employment you would potentially do on a newbuild order and the delivery schedule for those options?
Deliveries would be in 2028 and we would most probably lift the option without any employment attached. For the CSOVs we decided to operate in the spot market. If we see long-term business at attractive rates, we could go for long-term charters. That's what we did with the first two ships. It will be a mix of spot and longer-term employment if it makes sense. In this offshore wind market, if you order CSOVs with a charter attached the returns are usually low. So if we lift the options, it will most probably be without any employment; we might find customers before lifting the option, but typically we'd seek spot employment first.
To add: the spot market today for both international wind and regional oil and gas is very good. For us to enter long-term charters, it really has to be at great rates. Otherwise we stay in the spot market and enjoy the current rates we've shown on the slides.
Understood. Regarding the options, could you elaborate on when those lapses occur? I think the first one is at the end of the summer, and the following ones have a couple of months interval.
We received some questions in the web Q&A. I will go to those questions now.
The premium of Newcastlemaxes to Capes in Q1 seems quite low. Any particular reason for this? What premium would you expect over time?
I'll take this from a financial point of view. We were delivering quite a bit out of the yards, and there was a lot of repositioning with ships ballasting to Brazil, for instance. So on an IFRS look-to-discharge basis it looked lower. If you look on a discharge-to-discharge basis for Newcastlemaxes, the premium would have been higher, but the higher repositioning of ballast tonnage affected the results.
Operationally, the premium depends on the height of the market, but you would expect anywhere between 15% and 30% depending on the market and fuel prices.
Do you have any plans for the 25 million treasury shares you hold—reissued to outside holders as dividends, used for acquisitions, retired? I assume they do not receive the dividend.
Treasury shares do not receive dividends and cannot vote. Our company has 290.2 million shares outstanding; that's the number to look at. Retiring them is part of authorized capital and at the Board's discretion to use them for dividends, M&A or other purposes. Today we don't have any plans. We bought them relatively inexpensively over the last years and they are a good long-term investment, but no immediate plans.
With cost per ship much increased, when the cycle turns, the recently purchased ships will have a much higher breakeven level. If rates come down, will there be a lot of for-sale signs at much lower prices?
If the market comes down and owners are under duress, they may have to sell ships at lower prices. The breakeven of the fleet has gone up due to higher newbuilding and secondhand prices, so it will be interesting to see when the cycle turns how distressed sales might come to market.
Could you clarify whether any CMB.TECH vessels are currently blocked in the Persian Gulf? If so, how many and what types of vessels are involved?
A couple of ships are indeed in the Persian Gulf right now. We do not disclose vessel details or names for safety concerns for our crew on board.
What is the ambition with respect to your green ammonia terminal project in Namibia? What is the latest status, timelines and CapEx requirements?
No final investment decision has been taken on that project yet. We are assembling necessary information and hope to say more in the next quarterly call when we have a better view. Please have a bit of patience; we will provide an update next quarter.
Referring to Slide 25 (the Euronav slide): How much crude oil, if any, is coming onto the world market from Venezuela?
Venezuela crude oil for April was roughly 1.2 million barrels per day, an increase of 150,000 barrels compared to March because of political changes in the country. The increase is notable, but what's more interesting is those barrels are now being transported on compliant vessels and no longer on dark or gray fleet vessels, which is a net positive for crude tankers.
Can you explain what the $20 million in other operating income booked in Q1 is?
That's a series of smaller items: claims won from lawsuits or vessel claims, liquidated damages related to shipyard deliveries, and revaluations of some investments we hold in smaller companies. Roughly half is revaluation of small investments, so it's mostly one-offs but nevertheless positive to report.
I think that concludes the questions.
Thank you very much, Enya. Thank you all for joining this quarterly call. I'm looking forward to talking to you either at our general assembly on Thursday or on the next call we organize during the summer. Thank you. Bye-bye.
Bye-bye.