Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Imperial Petroleum Third Quarter and Nine Months Financial and Operating Results Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. Please be advised that this conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Harry Vafias, CEO of Imperial Petroleum. Please go ahead.
Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us for our third quarter and nine months '24 conference call. I'm Harry Vafias, the CEO of Imperial Petroleum. Today, Fenia Sakellari will discuss our financial performance. Before we begin, we encourage everyone to review the Safe Harbor disclaimer on Slide 2, which highlights that this presentation may include forward-looking statements as defined by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. We want to remind our investors that these forward-looking statements are based on our current beliefs and expectations, and they are subject to risks and uncertainties that could lead actual results to differ significantly from these predictions. Additionally, during this call, all monetary amounts are quoted in US dollars unless stated otherwise. Turning to Slide 3, we are summarizing our operational and financial highlights for the third quarter and nine months '24.
This quarter proved satisfactory in terms of profit, especially considering the market's decline compared to the first half of the year. Rates for both product and Suezmax tankers decreased in Q3 '24, mainly due to seasonal changes and geopolitical uncertainties, resulting in a less favorable market environment. The market's weakness is reflected in our operational utilization, which stood at 65.6%, further impacted by the drydocking of a product tanker and a minor incident involving our product tanker, the Magic Wand, which was idle throughout the quarter. Despite the declining rates, we managed to achieve nearly $11 million in profit by the end of the quarter. Our daily time charter equivalent was $22,000, a 37% decrease from the previous quarter but consistent with the same period last year. When excluding non-cash items, our profitability improved by $6.4 million compared to Q3 '23, marking a 142% increase.
Notably, we ended the quarter with approximately $200 million in cash, while our operating cash flow for the nine-month period in '24 reached $68 million. Our zero debt position reduces our breakeven point and helps maintain profitability even as the market weakens further. On Slide 4, we summarize our current fleet employment. Nearly half of our fleet is engaged under time charter arrangements. Our three handysize bulk carriers are under short time charters, and two of our product tankers have short time employment until January '25 and August '27, respectively. Overall, in the market, spot rates for product tankers have dropped compared to the first half of '24. This typical seasonal decline in rates has been compounded this year by uncertainties around demand, refinery operations, the US elections, and OPEC decisions. By the end of Q3 '24, market spot rates for product tankers were down by 57% from Q2 '24, while Suezmax spot rates decreased by about 30% compared to the previous quarter.
Currently, we are noticing a cautious rise in product tanker rates as we see increased cargo flows entering the winter season. On Slide 5, we discuss the tanker market. Following a strong performance in the first half of the year, tanker rates have declined since the beginning of Q3 due to seasonal factors. Global oil demand growth has slowed in Q3 compared to Q2 '24, and global tanker ton-mile demand fell by 4.8% this quarter. Factors influencing the third quarter include a significant drop in Chinese oil imports, which decreased by 730,000 barrels per day due to the property crisis in China and a shift towards non-oil transport fuels. We also experienced low crude exports from the Middle East due to high domestic consumption and reduced refinery operations in the region. Additionally, the dark fleet has become larger and more efficient than last year, leading to decreased Russian premiums, while some major owners previously involved in Russian business have scaled back their activities.
This has increased pressure on freights in the traditional market. In Q4 '24, we have not observed any significant improvement in rates. Nevertheless, it is expected that the seasonal effects and the conclusion of the refinery maintenance season will eventually bolster the market this winter, though we do not anticipate reaching the same rates as last year. Looking ahead, OPEC has committed to proceeding with the voluntary cut unwind, anticipated to increase cargo flows by 3 million barrels per day in '25, thereby boosting tanker rates. On Slide 6, we focus on tanker market fundamentals. The tanker fleet is witnessing a record low growth rate in '24, with rising deliveries expected in '25 and '26. It's important to note that new building additions in the coming years are less than the long-run average growth rate of approximately 6.5%. Both MRs and Suezmaxes have aging fleets, with around 20% of the product tanker fleet expected to be over 20 years old by '26, while 15% of Suezmaxes will be over 15 years old.
Depending on how geopolitical tensions and supply cuts impact the market long-term, strong fundamentals suggest the tanker upcycle could persist for the coming years, as capacity remains constrained. Additionally, considering the high prices of new builds, it is expected that new tanker orders will remain limited. In the dry bulk market, Q3 '24 earnings for handysize bulkers remained relatively stable, largely influenced by the slowdown of the Chinese economy, with Chinese steel production shrinking by 8% year-on-year in Q3 '24. However, Chinese steel exports grew by 18% year-on-year. Looking ahead, two main risks to dry bulk demand include the unwinding of extra ton miles and a potential slowdown in the Chinese economy, exacerbated by US tariffs. I will now turn it over to Ms. Sakellari to summarize our financial performance.
Hello. Let us discuss our financial performance in Q3 '24 compared to the same period of last year. As mentioned earlier, we marked sound profitability amidst an unfavorable and uncertain market environment. Looking at our income statement for Q3 '24 on Slide 7. Revenues came in at $33 million in Q3 '24 compared to $29.4 million, a 12.2% increase compared to Q3 '23 due to an increase of our average fleet by 1.3 vessels and better performance of our product tanker as three of our product tankers underwent drydocking in the third quarter of 2023, thus incurring significant idle time due to technical reasons. As mentioned earlier, our idle time was hindered by the drydocking of one of our product tankers, along with a minor incident of another product tanker, both events adding to idle time and undermining revenue. Voyage costs amounted to $13 million, increased by $0.4 million compared to the same period of last year due to expenses incurred in connection with the EU emission allowances in order to meet our obligations arising from the CO2 emissions as a result of the new EU regulations entered into force starting from January 1st, 2024.
Running costs amounted to $7.2 million, increased by $1.1 million due to the increase of our fleet. EBITDA for the third quarter of 2024 came in at $12.2 million while net income at $10.1 million, corresponding to an EPS of $0.29. On an adjusting basis, that is, excluding non-cash items, our adjusted net income for the period was $10.9 million, marking a 142% increase compared to Q3 '23. For nine months, EBITDA came in at $52.8 million and adjusted net income excluding non-cash items at $15.6 million. Moving on to Slide 8, let us take a look at our balance sheet for the nine months of 2024, we enjoyed high liquidity. As of September 30, 2024, our cash, including time deposits was in the order of $200 million. The majority of available cash is currently placed under time deposits yielding interest income. For the nine months '24 period, income from time deposits amounted to about $4.5 million, $2.1 million earned only in Q3 '24.
We also enjoy a flexible capital structure governed by high liquidity, zero debt, and minimum liabilities, placing us in an advantageous position to weather any market conditions. Proceeding to Slide 9, we provide a snapshot of our strong fundamentals such as dynamic profitability as our net profit margin is in excess of 30%. We have robust cash flow generation. In the nine months of 2024, we generated close to $68 million of operating cash flow. Going forward, the key considerations are the future of geopolitical tensions and the impact they will have on the tanker and broader shipping market overall. Concluding our presentation with Slide 10, we summarize yet once more Imperial Petroleum's strengths. We feel that our strong financial performance in recurring profitable quarters is solid proof of our argumentation as to why we believe Imperial Petroleum is worth investing in.
At this stage, our CEO, Mr. Harry Vafias will summarize our concluding remarks for the period examined. In spite of an unexciting and seasonally weak quarter, Imperial Petroleum was yet again profitable. Our adjusted net income this quarter was up 141% compared to Q3 '23 and our costs increased by about 60% compared to the end of the same quarter last year. Since the beginning of the year, we have generated a net profit of close to $46 million, with a fleet of only 10 vessels. Apart from our ongoing profitability, our financial strength is shown by our cash of about $200 million in conjunction with zero leverage. The market was volatile and weak during Q3 and still remains unknown how future geopolitical tensions will affect the tanker and broader shipping markets overall. We would like to thank you for joining us today at our conference call and for your interest and trust in our company. And we look forward to having you with us again at our next conference call for our fourth quarter results. Thank you very much.
This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now all disconnect. Have a nice day.