So these are really the considerations around it. I cannot provide a framework because I mean, simply I don’t have one yet. But I think as soon as we have something that we can announce, we will happily do so. This is the idea, after all, we want to have this done sooner than later and behind us in order to move forward.
Ben Nolan: Okay. That’s helpful and appreciating that, you can’t say what you don’t know. So we’ll see. But that framing in is helpful. And then secondly, just curious, obviously, we’ve seen a pretty sizable pullback in LNG spot rates here. Obviously, there’s seasonality and everything else as you guys talked about. But with respect to the new builds that are yet to be contracted, maybe could you talk to the appetite of charters for, they’re obviously going to be world class assets that are high performing and everything else, but in a weaker environment. Has there been a change in the appetite for charters to contract those? And how are you thinking about the timeframe for when you would expect to have employment locked in on those?
Spyros Leoussis: Hi Ben. I’ll take this. This is Spyros. So yes, from our point of view, we see a very strong appetite from charters to charter vessels. Obviously, this is totally uncorrelated to the current market. We are talking about two, three years ahead of time. We don’t have a specific timeline. I mean, we expect to fix before delivery. Let’s say that’s our timeline and this is a strategy that we have implemented in the past and it has been quite successful because we were able to capitalize effectively on the scarcity of slots and ships availability closer to delivery instead of competing with new building slots. In terms of interest, we are seeing interest from all sorts of charters from – either from fleet replacement projects, which I think will be quite significant also going forward. But obviously from new projects that will seek to transport the new LNG that they will be producing.
Ben Nolan: Okay. Have you – I guess just follow on. I know it’s early, but has there been any change in the rate or maybe the tenor of contracts at all, given the current spot weakness? Or is the market – long-term market sort of looking through that, do you think?
Spyros Leoussis: As I told you, I think the long-term market is totally uncorrelated. The correlation – a strong correlation for the long-term market is the building price as you know remains quite robust, and we don’t see any reason for disabling prices to reduce going forward either than I think most likely is to move a bit further upwards rather than downwards. So I think that’s the main – and also, obviously, interest rates is a big element to the price of – to the rate that we are seeing on long-term projects. So actually the trend for long-term projects has been to – for prices to increase. If you see, I think the last – the last one on the year – on the 10-year mark, we are talking about six-digit charters.
Ben Nolan: Okay. I appreciate it. Thank you, guys.
Spyros Leoussis: Thank you.
Operator: Our next question is from Liam Burke with B. Riley Securities. Please proceed with your question.
Liam Burke: Thank you. Hi, Jerry. How are you today?
Jerry Kalogiratos: Hi, Liam I’m well. How are you?
Liam Burke: I’m good, thank you. You sold the Long Beach, you’re beginning to divest of the container vessels. Could you give us a sense as to the cadence? I mean, are you seeing a lot of interest, especially when you’re looking at a container fleet, that’s probably going to have excess capacity for the next couple of years?
Jerry Kalogiratos: That’s a good question, Liam. Actually, we definitely have seen no lack of interest. I don’t forget that container owners and operators alike are coming from two years of an exceptional market. So balance sheet – most balanced are quite loaded and people are seeking quality tonnage like ours. So far we have had approaches for all our vessels. But we are quite opportunistic in the way that we engage. We believe that dogmatic exits have no place in shipping and there have been examples of that. I think you have to make sure that you’re getting proper value as a function of your contracted cash flows, expected cash flows and of course residual value. So in the end, we wouldn’t mind keeping certain assets and just let them generate cash flow if we’re not getting the proper price.
But on the other hand, when we see what we perceive as a good valuation, we will be taking that. Having said that and to answer your first part of your question, I expect that we will be able to announce more in the first half of 2024. But again, I don’t want to commit to a specific time line for divesting from all the assets. This is not the intention.
Liam Burke: That’s certainly fair. And then on the Amore Mio I, you’ve got a period time chart for three years. Are you comfortable with that duration? Or would you prefer to have been longer understanding like rates are short-term, rates are a little softer. Why three years, generally, I think that it would go a little longer.
