Cmb.Tech NV (CMBT) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning, good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to Euronav's decarbonization road, the webinar we have organized to explain what we have done in the past and what we intend to do in the future. Next slide, please. So today's presentation is really an opportunity to showcase what we have done so far. It's the first time that we organized a webinar. Nevertheless, we have done a lot, and I would even claim that we have done a lot since the creation, the very creation of Euronav as a company. Transportation of oil is what we do. We're extremely proud of it. We believe it's essential to do it. And on the right-hand side, you see that our footprint is totally global. We transport oil all over the place, specifically on 2 type of ships called VLCCs and Suezmax. What is essential for us is that we operate safely in what is often very, very harsh condition. You have to imagine the type of ship that we operate in the middle of the ocean, and you will directly understand the kind of skill sets that are required to make sure that this transportation is done in the safest manner. That's why we apply the highest standards possible on all facets of the business. Today, we will obviously focus a little bit more on the environment, our carbon footprint, et cetera. But we believe that a company can only be sustainable when it does that -- when it applies the dual standards on a global basis. Talking about sustainability. It is about delivering and a credible decarbonization story, a decarbonization road map. It's very easy to claim that we will be net zero by 2050. It's a completely different story to demonstrate how we will get there and to demonstrate it in a very credible way. That's what we're going to show you, and we hope that the milestone will show you that this is totally possible. So why don't we ask ourselves the first question that is in the mind of many people today? Next slide. And that is, is this crude oil transportation versus sustainability possible? Is there incompatibility or high compatibility where as far as we are concerned, we don't only believe that it's possible, we believe that it's needed. And we're going to show you how. Next slide. The last 12 months have taught us that the energy transition and the energy security are absolutely not mutually exclusive. In fact, when we talk about a transition, we talk about an evolution and not a revolution. We understand very well and we hope that everyone understands that today, the crude oil and with the right product form an essential part of the energy mix. As a matter of fact, that mix has not evolved dramatically in the last couple of years. If we compare it to 2019, it was exactly the same. Fossil fuels in general, represented 81%. We do recognize and we encourage and we are very happy about the fact that renewables are set to grow significantly. But oil will remain a key part of the energy mix because it's very difficult to replace. When you look at the graph, we even believe that grow will -- sorry, that oil will continue to grow until probably the middle, if not the end, of this decade before reaching appeal and then slowly and gradually be phased out and replace over several decades. Next slide, please. What we do at Euronav, as I said earlier in my comments, is not new. In fact, we chose a tagline that is the ocean is our environment back in 2005. I think the 3 letters, ESG, were not used at that time. Some people were talking about CSR, corporate social responsibility. And we have always embraced our responsibility. Back then, we were a smaller company. Today, we are a much larger company, and we have decided to take leadership on that front. The picture that you see on your screen is the cover of the annual report that we have produced since 2005. And it's a great satisfaction to us that when you go back and they are all on our website and you flip through them, you will find a relatively thick section about what is it that we do above and beyond the transportation of crude oil that is we believe necessary for the society at large. Next slide. At the same time, as we chose the tagline, the ocean is our environment, we rewrote our vision statement that was back in 2005. When you look at it, it's to responsibly lead the global crude tanker industry, responsibly being the key word in the sentence. To seize every opportunity to reshape our industry in an era of unprecedented change. And that is what we continue to do today. We are trying to influence the industry by showing the best behavior possible. So that's a very, very important vision that we have had for the last 17 years. Finally, we promote and support sustainable programs to minimize the environmental impact of ourselves, but also, of course, of our industry. And we always try to apply lobby, positive lobby so that the industry will self-regulate in a positive way that will meet the goal of minimizing the environmental impact. Next slide. That was also translated in our mission statement, again, one that was written in 2005. We believe that we have a role to play for our society. We are delivering something that is essential. The world will not continue to spin if it wasn't for the crude oil that we are transporting. This is not an arrogant statement. This is a statement of fact, but we are very, very happy that we are able to do it in a safe way, minimizing the environmental impact we have on the society. For our clients, it's equally important to rely on someone that can provide high-quality and reliable service. To a certain extent, being a public company is also an advantage because we are more transparent. Because we are proud of doing what we do, we are always trying to show that there is a better way, and that goes with transparency in everything that we do. This is also the reason why we believe we have an essential role in our industry as a public company and not as a private company, which is not under the same regulation than the public companies are. Therefore, it is essential for our shareholders and capital providers in general. And here, I'm thinking about banks, but not only that they can see what is it that we do, and they can compare to other companies and then hopefully decide to invest or to provide capital to us. Last, but by very least -- not least, the employees. The employees are the key assets of the company. You can have the best ships in the world, you can have the best systems in the world. If they are not employed by the best people in the world, chances are, you will not reach your goal. So at Euronav, we have always believed that the employees are the true assets of the company. Next slide, please. Today's presentation, you're going to have a lot of keynote speakers. And in fact, they are just a sample of the people who are involved in our ESG efforts. This is just a demonstration that it is embedded in the DNA of the company. They will explain what they do in their respective department and how is it linked to the ESG efforts. But believe me when I say that they are just the center. Everybody is involved. In fact, everybody is trying to reach the same goal, which is an essential goal and the very existence of this company. So if we move to the next slide, I'm going to pass the floor, the digital floor, the virtual floor to Brian Gallagher, who's going to set the scene for today's presentation. Brian?

Thank you, Hugo. I'm going to go through my 2 sections relatively quickly. I want to, as Hugo said, set the scene, give the background about the basics of our market, which has both opportunities, but also some challenges in terms of the tanker market as far as our sustainability positioning, and then move on to show our credentials, what we've been doing over the last 10 to 15 years, how we positioned ourselves, and then pass it on to my colleagues who can give you more indications about what we're going to do tomorrow, the day after tomorrow and well into the future in terms of our sustainability journey. But if we move on to the tanker market structure, you can see it has some unique aspects to it. It's a very seasonal business. Going back over the last 30 years in the VLCC market, for instance, you've made -- the industry has made most of its returns in Q1 and Q4. That makes sense for an industry that's very dominated by Northern Hemisphere and the movement of oil to both supply that winter pattern, but also as we move in anticipation of that winter pattern. It's also very cyclical. You can see here that we've had a number of cycles in the last decade or so, both good and bad, and we continue to have that very, very cyclical established trading pattern. But most of all, our industry is faced with a very different structure to most that you see out there in the industrial world. There are very few customers. We only really have 20 to 25 customers as an industry player through the refinery companies, through the national and international oil companies and of course, with the trading companies who are becoming ever more important. But our industry is very fragmented. There are over 100 different owners of the 850 VLCCs that are currently on the world seas. And that brings its own challenges, but also some opportunities for consolidation and therefore, driving a better sustainability message going forward. So that's the background. If we look in terms of what shippings track record is, it's already got a very good one. Shipping sometimes is a little bit shy in putting that track record in front of people. You can see going back over the last 30 years, how it's improved in particular on things which were very high profile in terms of spills, how it's improved a lot of the marine life, how on a very self-regulated way, 20 years ago, it moved from single hull to double hull, which again was a big improvement. And even in the last 5 years, we've seen ballast water treatment regulations become applied universally and mandatory without any hiccups to world trade. And in particular, the IMO 2020, of which there was huge amounts of debate and discussion about how much disruption there was going to be. With the help of a global regulator, some very, very clear rules, the shipping industry has delivered without any hiccups at all to world trading flow, including the tanker markets, and 85% reduction to our CO2 emissions -- sorry, our sulfur emissions. So again, shipping's got a lot to be proud of, and it's got a very track record -- good track record. So we would argue on the following slide, we actually need some more shipping, even more shipping is required. Shipping is by far and away the most efficient transportation means in terms of its emission and carbon footprint. You can see here the numbers are very, very imposing in terms of the -- in comparison with air, rail and other transportation forms. And if we look on the right-hand slide and see what's happened in terms of how the world economy has grown until the recent years with the COVID variant kicking in, you can see world trade grew at an exponential rate, and yet global shipping emissions were relatively in absolute terms actually went down. So shipping has got a very good track record, got a good platform, but we obviously need to do things a little bit better. How can we do things better? On the following slide, you can see that shipping has delivered not only in terms some of the self-help that Alex and some other colleagues will talk about later, but also in terms of the application of new technology. This shows you a constant speed of 13 knot per hour for the ships that have gone through the Euronav family and through the Euronav fleet and how they've improved their emissions via how much they're consuming. Obviously, every ton of fuel that we're consuming a day as a ship is going to have an impact in terms of how much emissions we're putting out. And it's a little bit hard to tell from this chart, but you can see in the last 2 or 3 iterations with that new technology, and particularly since 2013, many of you will hear about the industry talking about ecoships. That's when ecoships have come through. So the run rate has been very impressive of a 25% reduction in terms of emissions due to technology over the last 20 years, but that run rate has actually accelerated over the last decade or so as those ecoships have actually been applied and run out through all shipping sectors, not just the tanker market. Clearly, as a large consumer of fuel, we're a very big player within that emission profile. But it isn't just about the shipping side of things. We'll move on to the next slide. What about the oil side? As Hugo alluded to, we're very firm in the view, and this chart would back it up from an industry regulating reports showing that we would expect oil not to be as important in terms of the growth and the expansion as the world needs to decarbonize and needs clearly and correctly to have other fuel sources going forward and taking on more and more share. But oil still has a very key and very important role to play. A lot of key commentators with a good track record are still forecasting, as we are, that we would expect to see people sometime later this decade followed by a very, very slow and very, very measured reduction. It's that reduction in the management, as we've seen in the last 12 months in particular, of oil within the energy mix, which is going to be crucial. And moving further on to the next slide on where oil is. It impacts on all our lives just in terms of moving us around, whether it be by car, whether it be by sea, whether it be by air. Oil is a key derivative and a key driver of that. And if we move in terms of -- on to the following slide in terms of how oil touches our lives on a daily basis, you can see here from the range of products that oil is essential in terms of the creation and the maintenance of. Oil is a very, very big part of our lives. So far from demonizing the product, and those who transport it and use it, we should be looking to oil to be a central part of that decarbonization and sustainability conversation, and that's where Euronav has tried to be for the last 15 years. We've got a long way to go on our journey, but we intend to be a central part going forward. That's in terms of setting the scene. We now move on and talk about our credentials. We're very proud of what we've been doing, in particular in the last 5 or 6 years in terms of our ESG footprint and our platform, and you can see that from this chart here. We've got the best-in-class, best-in-breed from the tanker market and almost the same for the shipping market in terms of our ratings. So independent regulators and independent bodies looking at our ratings give us the best bill of health that's out there. But we're not satisfied with that. Things like our CDP scoring, where we got a B rating for 2 years now, we're looking to improve that. We're looking to improve the depth and the scope of the scoring and the ratings that we've got because that's a reflection of the industry that we're operating in and a reflection, as Hugo said, of the DNA and the central themes that are running through all -- of all parts of our company. But also if you look in a bit more detail now on the following slide about where that actually sits in terms of the E, I mentioned about the B rating for the Carbon Disclosure Program, which we're very proud of. We continue to get very good ratings from the areas such as sustainability, analytics, but also if we look at the engagement we've got with trade organizations. The last 18 months and the dislocation that Zois and Michail have had to deal with firsthand with regards to the impact from COVID, the restrictions around the world has brought a lot of shipping and the shipping family together, but that's also allowed us -- and we can use our platform for both trade or operations, but also in terms of our sustainability and our sustainability messaging. And then an example of that would be the fact that we've become the first industry member of the Whale Guardian program, a specific program looking in terms of the protection of great whales. And this, again, is an illustration of us trying to illustrate our scale and actually bring some tangible benefits from that. But the E doesn't really mean a lot without the S, and the S often gets overlooked. The Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index is something we've been involved in since its inception 5 years ago. That's a top-to-bottom analysis of our company in terms of our gender metrics, how we're managing those and how we're managing those in different geographies. So that's a real audit that is -- we've continued to improve the scoring in that particular structure. And again, it's something we continue to look to be a forward member of. Again, Lieve and our team on the finance side have been very, very proactive in getting new leadership and new financing in what remains a very capital-intensive industry. And again, we're pleased to see we're continuing to win awards as recognition of that. And in terms of active management of social issues, we've continued to be obviously -- you would expect us to be key players and advocates of things like the Sailors' Society. But again, the very, very innovative setups of these different trade bodies and pressure organizations is something which we're very, very keen and flexible to be part of. But the E and S also mean quite a lot, but sometimes not so much on their own. But Euronav, and it's been central, as Hugo said in his introductory remarks, is driven by the G. It's the governance. It's the glue that holds everything together. Webber Research since 2017 have been holding a survey of the top 50-odd shipping companies that are quoted globally around the world. And we're very proud that last year, we became second out of those 52 that they analyzed. That's a real accreditation to us, and we've always been in the top 10 of that particular survey, driven by the very strong characteristics that we have at our base and as part of our DNA of governance. We've had a Sustainability Committee since 2019. We're the only tanker company to have that and one of the few shipping companies that have one of those. And that reflects one of the key focuses of Euronav. We have a fully independent Supervisory Board. They have complete oversight on the whole company. We have good -- a mixed gender representation there, not because of some sort of forward plan, because that's the right -- correct skills that we have from those particular individuals. And that fully independent Supervisory Board has led the company in the past and will continue to lead the company strongly going forward. What does it all mean? Well, moving on to my final slide, we actually believe it means better pricing. This chart doesn't sort of knock you off your seat, obviously, but you can see here, this is the Webber Research looking at the top quartile share price performances of those shipping companies since they started that index in 2017 against the companies in the bottom quartile. And whilst the performance relative of those top companies against the bottom ones has slightly drifted away in the last year or so, it's been consistent outperformance. So those very, very strong and very, very inbuilt and embedded values that we have as a company, a strong governance, good focus on society and a very, very strong focus on environmental sustainability will and has in the past will continue to drive superior pricing and share price performance. That's just the scene and also gives you some indication of our credentials so far. I'm now going to pass on to our Sustainability Manager, Konstantinos, to give you more about what's going to happen in the future.

Thank you, Brian. In the next couple of slides, you can get acquainted with the methodological framework which we pursued in order to begin our decarbonization strategy. Next slide, please. So our ambition was and still is to build the methodological framework and to build a strategy which is far more ambitious versus the current IMO 2050 decarbonization plan, which stipulates 0 emission shipping operations somewhere around 2080 and 50% less CO2 versus 2008 somewhere around 2050. To this end, we sat together at Euronav cross-functionally with different functions of different teams, operations, ship management and fuel procurement, for instance, to build a powerful, enabling and fuel-agnostic model, which could accommodate all the uncertainties and risks that we have identified due to the lengthy time horizon of that exercise. And of course, we'll be able to utilize the latest and greatest data that we have in our position. Next slide, please. So first, we had to somehow draw the boundaries around our methodological framework. We started with the time frame. So we defined our time frame with the reference year being 2008, which aligns with the IMO reference year as well. The target year has been set in 2050, and the basis year of our data foundation was in 2020. This has been the latest year where we had verified data in Euronav. Next one, we needed to define the emissions coverage. So we wanted to capture the full life cycle of the fuel production and consumption. And therefore, we opted for a well-to-wake approach. And then we opted for Scope 1 emissions, Scope 2 emissions, respectively, the bunkers that we use to burden our vessels and also the electricity and energy that we use for facilities. That -- these were the scope of our exercise. We intentionally left out Scope 3. Scope 3 will be included once we have more precisely measured our Scope 3 emissions once we have also aligned with our suppliers in our extended value chain to be able to set targets -- decarbonization targets specifically for Scope 3 emissions. Next, these are the 4 -- no, the previous slide, please. Next, we have operational assumptions or technical assumptions, the one that we have relied in order to be able to build our strategy. So we take into account the fleet rejuvenation pace, namely the vessels that will be entering and removed from our fleet operationally than the typical -- the usual vessel life cycle, then the future evolution of our fleet size. And finally, a dry dock potential -- future dry dock planning, meaning regarding the existing and the future fleet at the level of capturing the impact -- the positive impact, the CO2 reduction, which comes as a result from dry-docking. Finally, on that slide, we had to indicate what will be the performance tracking indicators that we are going to use, and we opted for greenhouse gases. However, for the moment, we will stick to CO2. And rest, greenhouse gases like methane will be added once we have more insights on the methane emissions and the methane fleet effect. To wrap up, we'll build a fuel-agnostic model, which could accommodate different types of fuel pathways. However, for the sake of this exercise, we opted -- we assumed 5 plus 1: business as usual, an LNG pathway, a biofuel pathway, a methanol pathway and 2 ammonia pathways. One should make a direct transition from HFO to ammonia and to unassuming a dual-fuel vessel existence. Next slide, please. So in the question, okay, but which would be the key lever that we're going to pull in order to deliver the decarbonization strategy and achieve our targets? We have a combination of 5 levers, but we have observed specific ones. Specifically, post-2030, we will rely on -- mainly rely on lower 0 emission fuels, which will hold the lion's share of our transition. Next to that as well, we will have energy efficiency technologies such as wind-assisted propulsion, such as air lubrication and other technical air dynamics and hydrodynamics measures. Next to that also, we have the fleet modernization, which is a natural decarbonization outcome of a fleet rejuvenation pace. And in the end, we also have operational measures such as speed reduction, for instance, in conjunction with digital innovation, where enhanced connectivity between SOR and SIP will facilitate decision-making -- will inform our decision-making in order to optimize our voyages -- our voyage performance. Next slide, please. Now we want to better understand the impact that we are going to deliver, so the savings that we're going to drive now and to the future. And therefore, we captured 2 snapshots from our strategy: an actual one in 2020 and the future one in 2050. By 2020 -- in 2020, we realized that we actually saved almost 1.5 million metric tons of CO2 versus a potential probably do-nothing scenario starting from 2008. This amount of CO2 is equal to the planting of almost 75 million trees. Now if we apply our net 0 target, our net 0 strategy, we expect that in 2015, this 1.5 million will grow and reach the level of 3.9 million metric tons, which is equal to planting and growing almost 200 million trees. This is also equal of saving paper that is used to produce approximately 140 billion standard nautical chart of specific dimensions. And to go back again to another impressive element is that this 3.9 million of CO2 tons equals the absorption of CO2 from the atmosphere by 120,000 great whales. So this is the magnitude of impact that we are ahead of us. Next slide, please. So Euronav has developed and will be developing a fit-for-purpose transition, where human intervention will have a key role. For instance -- when I say human, I mean both onshore and on board. For instance, if we're going to implement immediate CO2 reduction targets like operational loss, like speed reduction, our people on board will secure the implementation -- the successful implementation of those measures. Next to that, our people on board and our people onshore will also help us to design and implement the best energy efficiency technologies with the best impact possible in order to reduce our consumption within our investment plans. And finally, people will build the core of our system platform, which will enable in the long term a switch and scale-up of 0 and low-emission fuel towards our net 0 targets. Next slide, please. I would like to dedicate a couple of seconds on the importance of short-term actions in our decarbonization strategy and also the fact that we believe that those short-term actions are also necessary for the shipping segment per se. So by definition, short-term actions can be treated as speed reduction measures, but also other types of measures like virtual and just-in-time arrival. This serve -- implementation of this serves as an unprecedented opportunity. Why? Because the current market circumstances look to be favorable, especially because of the price, the bunker price increase, but also on the increased resilience, which is required -- which is asked within the supply chain, which allows for less just-in-time operations due to supply chain disruption and, of course, due to internal geopolitical events or COVID restrictions. We see a lot of benefits. We see an immediate economic benefit of reduced costs due to reduction of fuel consumption. But on the other hand, we see some indirect ones, less visible as if, for instance, slow streaming has been implemented right now and which will reduce -- which will result in reduction of CO2, then lower needs for adoption of potentially more expressive, more clean fuels of the future might be needed. So these are the economic ones. We have also strong environmental ones, which can be, for instance, a 10% reduction on average voyage speed may result up to 20% reduction of fuel consumption and CO2 emissions, which has been either substantiated by bibliography and also by empirical case studies. And finally, reducing -- removing CO2 molecules tomorrow due to global warming potential might result -- will result in carbon avoidance for the next 100 years. So that's how powerful are those certain measures. And the next slide, please, which is the last one. Therefore, Euronav is activating a decarbonization strategy, which, let's say, relies on 2 different phases. The first phase is between now and 2030, where we will rely on less energy used on board, which is achieved by investments in energy technologies and other types of energy efficiency measures. And after 2030, provided that the fuel market dynamics will deliver upon its expectations, we expect the switch to cleaner energy used on board and scale -- an immediate scale-up. So we have flagged 6 operational milestones, starting with carbon neutrality at laden voyage, where we expect to have that offered by 2022 through carbon offset mechanisms via our VLCCs anchored TI Pool. Next, we step up to carbon neutrality at rounded both ballast and laden voyage, where we will -- we expect to offer that both via carbon offset mechanisms and also via tested bio blends other types of biofuels which promise lower CO2 emission potential. Then by 2027, we expect to have delivered in our order book the first vessel running on 0 emission fuels. If delivered, that means that it has been ordered 2 or 3 years earlier. In 2030, we will align our strategic approach with a minus 40% lower CO2 intensity at fleet level -- at fleet broad level versus 2008. And then post-2030, we -- and provided, of course, that the fuel market will deliver, we expect a net 0 in sight by 2040, but certainly, a minus 80% CO2 intensity versus the 2008. And finally, net 0 performance by 2050 or earlier under our Scope 1 and Scope 2 and under our control operations. More insights will be circulated by Hugo. And now I pass it on to Rustin for the fuel technologies. Thank you.

Thank you, Konstantinos. Good afternoon and good morning to you all. The road map to decarbonization, next slide, please, is something that's been laid out by a lot of -- by the IMO, and there are some different dates which are of note, which need to be looked at in order to understand how we as an industry will need to transition from our current fuel mix into the requirements of the 2050 of 70% carbon reduction versus the 2008 baseline. Currently, in the environment we're in right now, we are burning petroleum-based fuels which have carbon emissions of 3.1 to 3.2 metric tons of CO2 versus every ton of fuel that is consumed on the ship. And as we move forward on the time line, the next big step that's coming into play as in 2030 is the implementation of the EU ETS scheme for the maritime industry. This is going to adjust how vessel operators and owners reallocate their vessel resources into the EU and out of the EU as well as adjust the relationship between the charterer and the charteree in the vessel because of the cost of the carbon emissions coverage going into the EU will numb those changes. As we move forward further, we had the adaptation of the Med ECA zone, which is coming into play, which will basically reduce the sulfur oxide emissions going from the Suez Canal to Gibraltar, which would help greatly reduce SO2 content in the Mediterranean atmosphere. And then we'll reach the first step going into 2030, which is the cut of 40% of the 2008 baseline against CO2 emissions. Then we have, what I call, the R&D gap, which gets us from 2030 to 2050, which is the 70% reduction of the 2008 baseline or potentially even 100% reduction of the 2008 baseline. But this gap, in order to cover that, is going to require a tremendous amount of development and investment in new technologies as well as rethink of logistics supply chains and moving fuel around the world to supply the needs of the maritime industry. Next slide, please. So when we look at bridging the R&D gap, there are many routes and vessels that -- vessel development can take in order to meet this. So again, as we have today, we have the current fuel petroleum mix that we're burning on board ships, 0.5 high-sulfur fuel oil and gas oils. And we've seen a lot of work done in the industry. Euronav has done it as well, where we're making the adaptation of bio blended fuels in order to start moving down the carbon emission chain to become better carbon emitter or -- lower carbon emitters. As the adaptation of bio blends move forward, then you have different routes you can go along in this tree in order to find different emission solutions. You have the liquid to gas fuels, which is your LNGs, your ammonia, your green hydrogen, which all will require development around infrastructure investments, logistic distribution chains as well as production. You have what I call the liquid fuel route, which is the implementation of full bio blends into the mix, which, if you look at bio -- if the world maritime fleet went into a full biofuel blend, it would be roughly 90 million tonnes of biofuel per year that would have to be produced to equate to a B30 blend of the entire maritime fleet. Biofuel mixes are also on the liquid side as well as moving into methanol and then green biomethanol at the end of the 2050 period. At the end -- on the engineering solutions side, you have kites and rotor sails, which are part of the -- in the development phase and being implemented on different ships around the world to help reduce fuel emissions and make more higher fuel efficiencies. And then you have onboard abatement and storage technologies, which are being developed to help capture CO2 onboard the ships and keeping it for disposal on onshore. So jumping to that 20-year gap will require investments in the new production facilities, logistics facilities, storage facilities. And as an industry, to meet the 2050 requirements by the loss of efficiency and transportation that our customers have come to expect, this would be not only more production of biofuels, but also creation of green ammonia production, bio LNG production as well as hydrogen production and storage on the industrialized scale with the associated distribution channels to achieve the necessary energy targets and overcome the energy density shortfalls to maintain the flow of international trade. Next slide. So technology will carry us along this voyage to decarbonization. Developments are forthcoming on new engine designs and vessel designs to accommodate new fuels and handling characteristics. Mechanical abatement technologies are being explored even with sequestering and storage of CO2, as mentioned earlier. And with the development of new fuels, new production will be needed in order to meet the forward requirements of demand. Recent events in Europe showed that the status quo, a single-point supplier that puts the majority of the fuel into the marketplace, is not efficient and could be dangerous for the energy transition and solutions. We as an industry need to develop a diversified portfolio of production, supply and logistics to maintain the energy security for the maritime industry. Private and government alignment is key to ensure that the investments can be made and resources can be allocated in order to transition from petroleum-based fossil fuels to the fuels of the future. Next slide, please. Euronav is -- what we've done to date and part of our voyage of decarbonization, along with other companies, we've worked on the first steps with bio blended fuel oils and bio blended distillates in order to test the longevity and handling characteristics as well as the operational stability of these fuels. It's the first step along the pathway and is not the only solution, but it's one that's worth looking at. With the use of these bio blends, we have been able to understand how to handle and use these fuels in the operation of the vessels. We have shown that the vessel can handle the fuels with no degradations in the machinery and the operational readiness of the vessel. We've also looked at the longer-term handling of these fuels. We have stored bio blends on board for a period of time to reflect how the vessel is currently handling petroleum-based fuels that are used in port. This is namely with the B50 blend that we use with gasoline. As with -- testing had shown, when we got to our port and operational conditions on the vessel allowed, we used the gasoline mix and tested it, and it worked perfectly well with no incident to the vessel, and the vessel was able to maintain its operational readiness while it was in the port. Further to this on the use of bio blends, we've also looked at the construction and shifts of the optionality around fuel that can be used in the future. The ships that will be built will utilize standard petroleum fuel as the initial fuel for consumption, but then have the option for the retrofit into using LNG or ammonia fuels as the infrastructure and technology develops around these lower carbon fuels. Now I'll hand over to Alex Staring, our Chief Operating Officer.

Thank you, Rustin, and good afternoon. My name is Alex Staring. I'm the Chief Operating Officer at Euronav, and I will now cover how we are managing our fleet and our intentions and investments in decarbonization at Euronav. Next slide, please. We are operating in a highly regulated industry. And before I go into details on our plans, it is important how regulated this industry is. Below 2 slides, you can clearly see that next to the regulated regulations we have in place, it is also commercial and cost regulation. On the left-hand side, on the cost regulation, you can see the cost overview over the, I would say, life of a vessel, which is 20 to 25 years. That every ship after 5 years until the 15th year anniversary will have to go dry dock. This entails a cost in the beginning of the first 5 years. This cost is quite small, roughly $1.5 million. It goes up to $2 million, $2.5 million towards the third special survey. And then after the 15-year age of the vessel, every 30 months after that, the vessel has to go back into dry dock, where the cost goes up quite dramatically, where here, you can clearly see that the cost to maintain an older ship and to go to that regulation is becoming quite expensive. On the right-hand side of the slide, you can see that also from a commercial perspective, very much in relation to the vetting criteria, which is something that is governed by our customers, that they prefer ships to be younger than 15 years of age to charter. And then you can clearly see in that graph that after 15 years of age, the ton mile that the ship is performing drops down quite dramatically. So in the end, all the tonnage comes under a sustained and real commercial pressure because of the regulatory structure of our industry, which is a positive driver on the road to decarbonization, as the following slides will show. Next, please. It is for the first time now that we're going to have a very strict time regulations with emissions at their core. This is a regulation which comes out of IMO and is in relation to MARPOL Annex VI. As from the 1st of January 2023, the vessels that are floating will have to show what is their attained EEXI. EEXI stands for energy efficiency for existing ships. And then there is also a required EEXI, which is set by this MARPOL Annex VI regulation how much gram of CO2 per tonne mile you can actually emit. As long as you fall within these parameters, i.e., if your attained EEXI is less than the required EEXI, you're going to be okay. You will have a technical file on board that will be verified by classification societies, and you can continue to sail at a certain speed that you used to sail at. The bigger problem stems when you do not meet the required EEXI. That means that at a certain instance, you will need to start limitation your power. You can do this on very different -- in very different kinds. So EPL stands for existing power limitation -- engine power limitation. You can do this by optimize your propulsion by energy-saving devices, for example, a [indiscernible]. And therefore, there's a computation of fluid dynamics, which can give you a bit of [indiscernible], whereby you will go at a higher speed but by a reduction in consumption. A bit more -- a bit bigger effect is, of course, the engine optimization or the rating, where you really need to limit power on the engine. And this will then evolve also that you need to make a renewed technical file on your remittance of NOx. And then, of course, there is another alternative in order to meet that goal, either by pulling out kites or by using a different fuel on your main engine. And that, of course, help them to be endorsed by the classification society as well as the flag society. This makes a key operational advantage for tanker owners, therefore, to have a young fleet possible, not just for commercial leases but also for sustainable reasons and, of course, to meet our decarbonization objectives. Next slide. This slide shows you a comparison between a vessel that was built in 2012, the Suezmax here, the Cap Maria, and one of our brand new ships recently delivered in January 2002. On the left-hand side, you see the parameters of the ship. There is the EEDI, which is very similar to the EEXI. But as of 2013, almost all newbuilding vessels need to have, when they are delivered, an EEDI, which stands for Energy Efficiency Design Index. It's a parameter whereby this is defined by a formula, which is in relation to how much your vessel consumes at 75% of the maximum continuous power it has and also the consumption for the auxilliary engines divided by, in fact, your carrying capacity and the speed that you can do at the 75%. This gives you a kind of gram per ton mile that your vessel will consume. You can clearly see the difference here between the Cedar, which is 2.8, versus the Cap Maria at 3.25. For the speed, how is that being obtained? This reduction, of course, is that -- for the ships 2013 and '14 onwards, the engines have been limited in power. And by optimizing the life, they still make good speed, albeit a bit less. But definitely, the power is much less. Hence, the consumption is also quite less. And here, you can see that for the 2022 vessel, we consume around 40 tons per day at the maximum continuous rating where it was 67 tons a day on the 2012 ship. This is a 30% decrease in consumption, which is huge, especially if you know that 1 ton of fuel that you consume is equivalent to 1.3 tons of CO2 emittance. So roughly, this means that the younger your fleet becomes -- or that ship, 2022, will emit 40% less CO2 than a vessel built in 2012. Next slide, please. Cost remains key, and that's why we can here see the difference of -- it compares since 2019 the price per barrel of crude with the cost of LNG from Japan expressed in the same unit per dollar equivalent of crude. Until, I would say, 12, 14 months, LNG was quite cheaper than conventional fuel. But since the current geopolitical developments, LNG has gone up quite high in price. This has resulted that, today, dual-fuel LNG ships are rather running on conventional bunkers rather than on LNG. This is, for me, a reminder that the energy transition is not static but dynamic and will always pivot to whatever the cheapest fuel source is. I will now turn to investments in new technology. Next slide, please. This graph gives you an overview, as already discussed with Rustin, of the different fuels that are there and they're well to propel emissions reduction in percentage compared to conventional fuel today. So for LPG/LNG, this is roughly a 25% reduction. On green methanol, this is roughly 84% reduction. And ammonia, 93% reduction. So as we said already, there will likely be a range of different fuels for propulsion systems, for VLCC and Suezmax vessels going forward. The potential gains, especially from ammonia, are very large when we compare it to sails, still a fossil fuel like LNG. This technology is not yet fully available for ships, i.e., the fuel itself, but it will come. So we are expressing our hopes very much on ammonia as a fuel going forward in the future. Next slide, please. And to show this commitment, especially for the 6 vessels we have on order as a newbuilding, we are working very closely together with the biggest shipyard in the world, Hyundai, and with the major classification societies, Lloyd's Register and DNV, to work towards probably ordering a dual-fuel ship on ammonia by '24, '25 for having a delivery in 2027. Already now, some of the ships, we are in the phase of building. We are strengthening the deck. We made additional space grouping, these deck tanks. And we have the fleet equipment ready for the new fuel to come into the engine room. What we are still waiting for is for the engine manufacturer to make the big engine available for the VLCC and the Suezmax, and we estimate that this will become available by 2025. Thank you very much for listening, and I now give the floor to my colleague, Lieve Logghe, our CFO. Thank you.

Alex, thank you. Good morning, good afternoon wherever you are. There seems to be an echo. Now this is over, yes. Thank you. My name is Lieve Logghe, as Alex mentioned, CFO at Euronav, and I will now look at how financing of shipping is adjusting to the challenges of decarbonizing. I make you a promise. I only will limit or show you 3 slides, and there is just 1 number to remember. So let us start with the first slide. The challenges facing the financing of shipping have increased in scale and become more -- or have become more complex in the recent years. Our industry remains capital-intensive, as already explained, and highly cyclical. And with on top, we noticed that there is an increasing regulation and additional capital requirements to invest in new technologies and cost to meet these new regulations. And what we see is that despite this traditional bank financing, and this is the blue block on the right-hand chart, has fallen, and this is not a number that you have to remember, but by 30% since 2015. And we noticed that the capital value of the global VLCC and Suezmax fleet in that same period has increased by 50%. So what I want to explain is that, in short, financing shipping has become more challenging with capital intensity and environmental regulations increasing, but traditional funding sources becoming more restricted. Ship lending or funding has, however, responded proactively to these challenges, as we will show in the next slide. Shipping's response has been what we call the Poseidon Principles. Euronav was a core partner in drafting these principles in 2019. Essentially, it brings together the majority of banks engaged in lending money to shipping and drives common standards on decarbonization, sustainability and ESG in return for incentivized financing. This is fairly rare to have such coordinated action amongst banks as it's pleasing to report that, as the left-hand chart on the slide shows, over 70% of banks in shipping have signed up to the Poseidon Principles. A key factor behind the principles is to encourage decarbonization and emission reductions in the short term. Poseidon is committed to reduce shipping CO2 emissions by 40% by 2030 and offers incentives of lowered interest rates for companies meeting or beating this trajectory every year between now and 2030. The right-hand chart illustrates Euronav is on track to beat that target with our current fleet. We have currently an incentive of 5 basis points. So what do I mean with this? If we meet the target, interest amount to be paid is reduced by 5 basis points. In case we don't meet the target, we have to pay 5 basis points extra. Even if we could say that the incentive is small, we have a strong belief that the gap between traditional funding and sustainability-linked financing will further widen. And turning now to the last slide to Euronav specifically and how we are financing ourselves. As I covered in my first slide, the number of banks lending to shipping is continuing to decrease, so Euronav has been looking to diversify its funding sources as well as driving decarbonization within our financing structure. Last year, we delivered on diversifying with our $200 million Nordic bond, but also with a euro-based financing facility for an amount of EUR 80 million. What makes this loss-flexible finance critical is the diversification we have been able to get from adding governmental infrastructure funding to the consortium of banks for this facility. The Flemish government has supported into this facility, which has the standard emission reduction requirements and incentives. And I'm already at my conclusion. What I wanted to demonstrate with those slides is that financing at Euronav has become more diverse and sophisticated over the recent years as we have adjusted to the challenges of decarbonization, our business and plan for the future. We have made solid progress in sustainability-linked financing as -- by integrating the sustainability-linked feature for more than integrating in our loans. And here is the only number you have to remember, is that the -- we already have this sustainability-linked feature in our lending portfolio for more than 40%. And we expect to increase our initiatives going forward. I will now hand over to our General Manager, Captain Michail Malliaros, and Zois Dagkaris to run through our approach to sustainability and operations. Michail, the floor is yours.

Thank you, Lieve. So my name is Michail Malliaros, General Manager of Euronav Ship Management Hellas. And with my colleague, Zois Dagkaris, Deputy General Manager, we'll run through how operations are rising to the sustainability and decarbonization channels, what we have done now and future plans. Euronav [indiscernible] embracing industry management operations and ship establishment. The ship management culture of Euronav and partnerships focused on 3 main aspects: increased efficiency with $40 million of resources, including improvements and upgrades; maintain high-quality standards with establishment and implementation of [indiscernible] policies; maintain close control of all operating expenses, including [indiscernible] reduced, development opportunities for transport, et cetera. Moving to the next slide. As I said at the start of the section, it's important for operations in corporate to dovetail for structures which we can [indiscernible] decarbonation initiatives. At Euronav, we have established maintaining the [indiscernible] financing system covering all onboard operations by addressing health, safety, quality and environmental policies, procedures and practice. This includes IMO certification and adaptation of the highest standards on the management of safety, environmental and energy aspects. Safety means [indiscernible] operating in the [indiscernible] transportation sector, and Euronav demonstrates its commitment to safety with a series of actions, including [indiscernible] active level to [indiscernible] and association of leaders in the shipping industry to improve safety performance. This takes you on the next slide, short- and long-term targets. And on the reduction of our ecological footprint, my colleague, Zois, will provide some additional details to complement previous figures regarding Euronav's decarbonization pathway. On the occupational work-related health and safety, we wanted to observe as a KPI, which is an ultimate long-term target of 0 incidents and accidents. In fact, when combining the efforts of the entire Euronav team on board and on shore, the health and safety performance of the company is amongst the best in the industry. Regarding our people, we aim to provide equal opportunities for all, improve development systems, applying objective performance criteria, targeting to provide a clear [indiscernible] paths for our people. In general, we aim to make a positive impact through our business practices. Moving on to the next slide. The transportation of [indiscernible] that we provide as service to people at each car. We need to ensure we care for our staff and provide a safe and secure environment for them, and one in which they can grow and develop their career. This has been proven to be more important than ever. And for this reason, we are constantly reviewing and adjusting our practices and purchases to maintain a safe and attractive working environment. And I will now pass on to Zois, our Head of Procurement and Technology, to give more color on how operations have been and will continue to deliver on sustainability and decarbonization. Zois?

Thank you, Michail. In the next couple of minutes, I will go through some of the recent initiatives we have undertaken as a team from a procurement perspective as well digital and technological retrofits on our fleet. Next slide. So we have made great progress in the past 18 months in improving our sustainability interface with our suppliers, and we have implemented the rate of recycling requirements on our supply chain. In terms of some tangible targets, we expect to eliminate single use of plastics by 2024 and apply sustainability criteria across our procurement programs. Now we buy 45% of our volume through certified ISO 14001 suppliers, but we have also been busy directly on our vessels, and next slide shows. Next slide. Thank you. As Alex pointed out earlier in his presentation, our sector is highly regulated. So all of our ships, we have regular surveys, and this gives us the opportunity to retrofit and take remedial action where we need to. Over the past 5 years, Euronav has invested USD 40 million on a range of retrofits and upgrade projects across our fleet. This has incorporated a large number of initiatives. For instance, we have taken the opportunity during dry-docking vessels to add advanced antifouling following coatings. This low-tech, relatively low-capital investment has been highly effective in reducing foul friction on ships and therefore, reducing emissions. Large-scale investments and programs of emission reduction are very high-profile. But as we saw, the smaller incremental enterprises can all adapt to make a substantial improvement in emissions performance. Overall, these initiatives, along with fleet renewal program, have contributed to a reduction in our carbon intensity by 25% when assessed versus a baseline of 2008. Next slide. In the same theme as the previous slide, engineering and energy saving-focused projects can derive outsized gains from the path of decarbonization and improve sustainability by installing variable frequency drives to control various pump speed or by engineering hull improvement devices. Our analysis suggests this, too, can yield substantial improvements. Looking forward, as an example, we are investigating wind propulsion system. And as Rustin talked earlier, we have applied for a number of grants from the European Union and other bodies to assess this further. But we have also improved our operation output via technology investment, as depicted on the next slide. Euronav by constant has been in the forefront of shipping digitalization, introducing now a fleet platform called FAST based on vessel sensor data collection that improve fleet performance and fuel efficiency, but also acts as centralized platform for our operations and therefore, provide insights for taking actions for reducing emissions. I will now hand over to our CEO, Hugo De Stoop, to run through final conclusions.

Thank you very much, Zois, and thank you, everyone. This was very insightful, and I hope that the audience has been able to see that we take those matters very seriously at Euronav. And as I said, this is in our DNA. Everybody is involved. This is a sample of what we are doing, and we are very proud of that. Let's try to summarize the most important message of today by looking at the next slide, please. So as we have declared today, and that was in the section handled by Konstantinos Papoutsis, our Sustainability Manager, we have divided in different steps over a time horizon. The first part of the time horizon, and it's very important, is about reducing but also making the right investment for the future. Reducing our carbon footprint mostly by reducing our consumption. Whatever we can save today will not end up in the atmosphere. Whatever with technology that is helping us reducing the consumption today will be very, very useful for when we consume those new fuels, which hopefully will be green, but unfortunately, are likely to be more expensive. So everything that we can do today has really to impact today, but also a great impact in the future. To go a little bit more into details, and many of you are already aware of that, we are, through the TI Pool, where we operate our VLCCs, the very first company to offer carbon offsets. We totally understand that this is not the ultimate solution. But we also understand that, as far as today is concerned, it is something that is good for the brand. And the scheme that we are offering is by planting trees, which is obviously very essential. Moving on to 2024. We hope to achieve the first carbon-neutral voyage on board one of our vessels. So Rustin explained that we have tested B30 and B50, which basically contains 30% biofuel and 50% biofuel. And we hope to be in a position to perform a voyage with a B100, which would mean that 100% of the fuel that we are using onboard for that voyage will be coming from biofuel sources and will therefore be a completely neutral voyage in terms of carbon emissions. Now we also understand that this is probably not the ultimate solution, but we are there to help the industry in general and certainly, some part of the industry probably on smaller ships to test those biofuel, making sure that they are not impacting the operation in a negative way. We also believe that biofuel will be necessary for us, the larger ships, for when we adopt the green fuels because often, we need a pilot fuel, pilot being the fuel that you are using to start the engine until the time you can switch to the greenfield itself. So those are very necessary steps in order to progress on our journey. By 2027, again, as we mentioned earlier in this presentation, we want to have ordered the first ship that is capable of running on one or many -- sorry, not biofuel, green fuels that we have yet to identify. We have different fuels that exist today. The industry is working still on some of them. It's certainly the case for ammonia, where we hope and we are definitely helping the development of the first ammonia engine in our partnership that we have with the largest shipyard in the world, namely Hyundai, but also with the engine manufacturers and the classification society to make sure that this is a safe operation. So we want to be in that position ahead of 2030. Because as of 2030, on the next slide, we will start the journey to switch and -- switch, sorry, to vessels that are capable of burning green fuels. This is a very important step because when you think about the longevity of a vessel, and Alex spoke about the fact that in our market, there are about 20 years, potentially 22, 23 years, but let's say, on average, 20 years, this is definitely the indication that we can fully decarbonize by 2050 as there is exactly 20 years between 2030 and 2050. In the meantime, we make a promise that we will not only meet the IMO target of 40% lower CO2 intensity onboard our fleet by 2030. That's an obvious one. Brian already showed you that -- and Lieve already showed you that we are ahead of the curve and we have the ambition to continue to be ahead of the curve. And every time we will make progress, we will update you. So that's 40% lower carbon emission by 2030. By 2040, we set the bar at 80% in order to finally arrive at a complete net 0 carbon emissions by 2050. We know that this is possible, but we also know that we cannot do that on our own. For instance, we are taking the responsibility for the shipping part, for the ships, but we need to be part of a coalition when it comes to the engine manufacturer, when it comes to the safety onboard the ships, working with classification society. We also understand that the production of the fuel is a very important element because pretty much all the fuel that we are contemplating today are not produced in a green way today. So we will find ways and we will partner with others to make sure that those fuels are available by the time we do have the ships that are capable of burning such fuels. I think that over the years, Euronav has been a good partner. We have demonstrated that we are definitely there in the leadership part of the shipping. We are a founding member of the Getting to Zero, which is probably the largest coalition involved in the maritime space, to make sure that as an industry, we arrive as quickly as possible to reduce our carbon emissions. We will continue to be there, and we are very proud of what we have done. Moving on to the next slide. This is the full picture. It's a picture that we hope to update over the years, but definitely very happy to have designed this and to demonstrate that we can get to our goal, which is 2050. And as a reminder to everyone, we are the first tank company to commit to that, and this is well ahead of the IMO regulation. I suspect, and we all suspect at Euronav, that the IMO will also get to this goal, but it's always better and good to be ahead of the regulation and demonstrate that the leadership is coming from the industry and does not wait for the regulator to inform us what we can already do on our own. Moving on to the next slide. This is a little bit of a summary of what we are trying to message today. The oil is still a critical -- has still a critical role to play in the energy transition. We have repeated that many, many times in the past and will probably repeat it in the future. If you want to have a chaotic transition, then you try to make a revolution, you stop investing in companies such as Euronav, and you part those assets in the hands of the people who are less transparent. This is not the best journey to a full decarbonization of the world in general. We believe that every industry should have leaders that believe in decarbonization, that believe in a smooth transition, an orderly transition that makes it possible. Let's not forget that the more expensive fossil fuel will be during the journey, the more chaotic and probably the longer the journey to decarbonization will be. Secondly, and that was very well explained by Brian, the shipping sector holds a very important position in the energy transition. First of all, as you've seen, this is the best means to transport any goods over certain distance. Instead of less shipping, we need more shipping, but we need shipping to replace some of the other traditional means of transportation such as trucks, trains or planes. So let's not be naive about the fact that shipping is essential. Today, shipping is essential. Tomorrow, and quite frankly, when it comes to decarbonization, shipping is probably a better solution than any other means, unlike what people traditionally say about shipping. The third very important point is that Euronav has built, over the years and over its entire existence, a sustainability credential that demonstrates that we can deliver on the promise that we are making today because we have delivered on all the promises that we have made over the last few decades of our existence. It's part of our DNA and the collection of speakers that participate to the way we are today is demonstrating that every single department at Euronav has an impact on this journey that we have embarked already some time ago. Finally, and not that I wish to repeat myself, there are some key milestones which will be met. 40% decarbonization by 2030 is almost a given. The intermediary and self-imposed test of 80% by 2040 is achievable. And net 0 by 2050 is totally, totally achievable provided that we put the elements in the right order and we start investing or continue to invest in. Today, we'll start investing in 0 emission ship at the very latest date of 2030. This concludes our presentation. We will now open the floor for Q&A. So give us a minute to assemble some of the questions that have been asked by the audience or that have been asked today. And I'm looking at them.

So has Euronav yet achieved any savings from the sustainable loan? And if not, when does Euronav think it will achieve that? Well, that's a very good question. As we have said, we are ahead of the curve. So the Poseidon Principle, where we were an initial contributor -- we cannot be part of it because we are not a bank, of course. But the Poseidon Principle has designed a curve that is more ambitious than the IMO. And when we plot where Euronav is, and it was the case last year and it is the case this year, we are ahead of the curve. So we're benefiting from the 5 basis points that Lieve mentioned. Now of course, 5 basis points is not a loss, but we believe that, that spread will widen and that banks will need to incentivize their clients in a different way, in a bigger way if they want them to behave, and it's definitely on the agenda. I know that because we're still part of that coalition from a partnership perspective. So will we invest in 0 emission fuels like green ammonia? That's another very good question. As I said, I think that Euronav is there to be part of coalition. It's always the problem of the chicken and the egg. Do you produce the fuel but you don't -- you're not sure that you can have clients? Do you order the ships but you're not sure that the fuel will be there? I think as far as we are concerned, we are primarily responsible for the ships. That's for sure. That's our primary responsibility. And the good thing about the chicken and egg problem is that in shipping, and at Euronav in particular, we can order the ship. Yes, they cost a little bit more, but we can order the ship which can run on dual fuel. Dual fuel means that they can run on the traditional fuel that we are using today, but also on the future fuel when they are being produced in a green way. Because, by the way, using them, if they're not produced in green way, does not really have the purpose. In 2 survey studies, we demonstrate that they are even more polluting. So are we going to produce green ammonia? I don't think that we're going to produce green ammonia directly, but I do believe that we can be part of a coalition. We can solve partly this chicken and egg problem and probably be enough taker of what is produced and therefore, allowing people to start investing in those supplies, be it ammonia. And by the way, that would be synthetic energy, all synthetic methanol. What is important is that it's produced in a green way. Moving on to the next question. To what respect is Euronav a forerunner as compared to the overall shipping industry? Are there other ship types or ship size which are moving faster and can be used as a reference to learn lessons from? Yes, absolutely. And I think we have to recognize the sector in which we are embedded. I mean we transport crude oil, and it wouldn't be fair enough to say that our clients may be a little bit slower in adopting or pushing their shipping partners and part of the supply chain into green areas. So I'm going to give you a very simple example. There are a coalition of people using container ships, for instance who are already insisting to make sure that their goods are being moved on ships operating today or tomorrow, but signing contract today, and minimizing their environmental impact either entirely or partly. So this is normal. Those people are exposed to the retail market where people are making judgment. And for instance, one of the partner in those coalition is Nike, the shoe manufacturer. And they want to put a label on some of the shoes they are producing that this pair of shoes was produced entirely in a green way, including the transport of those shoes into the U.S. or into Europe when they are produced in the Far East. So we totally understand and respect the fact that the different shipping segments will evolve at a different pace. Our responsibility is to be there when the clients will ask us to do the job that we do in a greener way or in a totally green way. That is definitely our responsibility. And we believe that despite the fact that most of our clients, if not all of our clients, have invested heavily in fossil fuel, they will nevertheless be interested in moving those fossil fuels onboard ships that are low emitters simply because the Scope 3 will, at some point, impact them, and they will feel the pressure and therefore, will be very much interested in decarbonizing the Scope 3 as well, of which we are part of. Next question is, to be able to fuel vessels with green fuel, you need infrastructure. Are you looking at investing in this part of the business? That's a very good question. It's probably a question that can be answered in the -- yes, but let's not do that too early. Today, obviously, this is not part of the core business of Euronav. And I think when you're thinking about infrastructure, I think that we are very much thinking about the transportation of the fuel. Some of them are liquids, some of them are gases. I think that the core business of Euronav is to transport liquids and petrol. And so crude oil and petroleum products are liquids. That's the area of expertise that we have. And from there on, we can jump to the next generation of energy products, but probably those who are liquid. And yes, when the time comes and when I think about the franchise, think about the opportunity comes, we would be very interested in transporting those new energy sources. Again, let's make sure that we continue to do what we do in the best way possible. And in order to do that, we need experience before being called an expert, and that's a part of the strategy of Euronav. What kind of percentage fuel volume savings can be achieved when Euronav starts to manage the Frontline fee? I mean that's not a question I was expecting today. I'm not sure what you mean by managing the Frontline fee, to be honest, because the companies are going to be combined. Every fleet is managed by different ship managers. And our own ship management part of our fleet is already in the hands of external ship manager. They have themselves 4 different managers. And for us, it's much more a question of finding the right balance between what you do internally and what you do externally, but also making sure that whoever you chose as your ship manager becomes a partner in your journey. There's a lot of things that we have presented today that are much more difficult to achieve if you outsource completely and let it done by other people. But we also know and recognize that there are many external ship managers who are very interested in helping the industry and their clients to decarbonize. So this is more of a partnership. Brian advises to give the last -- I'm sorry. That's not a question. But -- so sorry. So what kind of percentage fuel volume savings can be achieve on Euronav? Yes, I think we have answered that one. I don't know if Rustin wants to add anything to that one.

Well, I can add economy of scale is something that you achieve when you're doubling your size of your fleet. So there would be some savings in economy of scale. But then as we look at forward future investments, having a larger footprint of vessels does give an advantage to adapt it in developing other fuels, such as green ammonia, green methanol, green hydrogen because now we have a larger mass and a larger footprint, which they can help a supplier create a coalition with infrastructure around a shared footprint with a fairly similar bunkering port. So I can see how there could be a lot of savings achieved once the Frontline merger comes to a conclusion and things look up for the size of the ship footprint that we would have going forward.

Very good answer, Rustin. Probably better than mine, where I was a little bit more focused on the potential integration. Let's not forget that before we have a larger fleet, we need to go through the motion of a true merger, and that is far from done at the moment at Euronav. This is a long journey ahead. There's another question which is, what will be your strategy for goal 5, gender equality, and goal 10, reducing inequalities? I suppose that we are talking about SDG. And indeed, if you flip to our annual report, there are -- we have picked some of those goals where we take more responsibility for it. It's very funny because you may have seen in various reports that, and Brian talked about that, our Board is composed of -- majority are female. And it happens, I would say, by accident or by design. What I mean by accident is that we simply picked the best people that we could find for the relevant skill set that we needed. So it was not by design that we have picked a man or a woman because we wanted to be on that percentage or this percentage or because the regulator forced us to have a certain percentage of this or that type in the Board. It's simply because, again, it's in our DNA. We don't really make the difference. We offer exactly the same salary, exactly the same opportunity to all kinds of genders. And it's not something that we need to think about. Now I understand that this is not the case for all the companies in the world. So we are in a luxury position. And nevertheless, what we can do to help gender equality is, I think, demonstrated that even in a company that is, quite frankly, embedded in an industry that is more male-oriented, we are qualified, and Brian showed you that we have -- we are being included in many index, and particularly the Bloomberg index, which is probably the most reputable for being recognized as a company that treats always people equal. On the goal 10, reducing inequalities, I think as you all know, we do a very good job, but I would like maybe to speak about the industry and certainly the people behaving well in the industry. I think that the shipping industry is offering a lot of opportunities for people coming, indeed, from places where there's still a lot of inequality. I mean when you compare the salaries of the seafarers that are coming on board our vessels, but I do believe on board many of other companies', this is truly an opportunity for them to improve their living standards and not only for them, but also for their families. So one more time, I hear very often a lot of negative things about the shipping industry. But quite frankly, if you dare to take the time and analyze what we do beyond the core business, with what we do for society at large, I think we should all be extremely proud of what we do, and we should hope that many other types of industry are doing the same. And again, I only speak about the good players, but there are a collection of good players in our industry. So the next question is, we will -- will we invest, sorry, in any additional technologies such as sails, kites, which does not contradict our strategy to ammonia in order to accelerate our vessels' energy efficiency? I just would like to make the point that we are fuel-agnostic in our journey to decarbonize. It's true that we're putting a lot more efforts on to the ammonia side at the moment simply because that is a technology that is not yet mature. And this is an area where we believe we can help accelerating the development of those engine, being able to test, being able to work in partnership with the classification society to make sure that if this fuel is the right one to be used onboard large ships, it is done in a very safe way. So above and beyond that, sails and kites, that's probably part of the first section of our journey to decarbonization. This is until 2030, where we are trying to reduce as much as possible the consumption of the ships. I'm not naive enough -- and this may be unfortunate, but I'm not naive enough to believe that a tanker certainly of the size of VLCCs and Suezmax will one day be able to run only on sails or on kites, but I do believe that they could help propel the ships. And therefore, they could help reduce our dependence on fossil fuel. This is the reason why, at the moment, we are engaged in 2 projects. They are very -- at a very immature stage, very initial stage. The good news is that we're cooperating with flagship companies, one of them being Airbus. And the other good thing is that because we are European-based, we can even benefit from subsidies, which are helping reduce the cost of testing all those materials. By the way, and I think that's also very important, those subsidies and the schemes that are available at the European level as well as the country level, they are available for large companies. And people like to invest in fairly large projects. So having a bigger platform is definitely the right approach for the journey that we talked about because some of the R&D that we will need to do will depend on subsidies that we are receiving. And if we depend on those subsidies, we need to be equipped, we need to have the experience and the expertise inside the house on how to get those subsidies and how to make sure that they are properly used inside the company. I don't see any more questions. And if that's the case, then I just would like to thank you all one more time. Thank you to the speakers. I think that they've done an excellent job. And we are all available to answer questions should you have any other questions after this session. And of course, thank you, everybody, who were in the audience, for listening to us, listening to our story and hopefully be as enthusiastic as we are about the future, about the impact that we can have going forward knowing what we have done in the past. Thank you so much, and see you soon for some of you.