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Eagle Bulk Shipping Inc (EGLE)
Q2Â 2019 Earnings Call
Jul 30, 2019, 8:00 a.m. ET
Contents:
- Prepared Remarks
- Questions and Answers
- Call Participants
Prepared Remarks:
Operator
Greetings and welcome to the Eagle Bulk Shipping Second Quarter 2019 Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions]. Later, we will conduct a question-and-answer session and instructions will follow at that time. [Operator Instructions]
I would now like to turn the call over to Gary Vogel, Chief Executive Officer; and Frank De Costanzo, Chief Financial Officer in Eagle Bulk Shipping. Mr. Vogel, you may begin.
Gary Vogel -- Chief Executive Officer and Director
Thank you and good morning. I'd like to welcome everyone to Eagle Bulk second quarter 2019 earnings call. To supplement our remarks today, I encourage participants to access the slide presentation that is available on our website at eagleships.com. Please note that part of our discussion today will include forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Please refer to our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a more detailed discussion of the risks and uncertainties that may have a direct bearing on our operating results, our performance, and our financial condition.
Our discussion today also includes certain non-GAAP financial measures, including EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA, and TCE. Please refer to the appendix in the presentation and our earnings release filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission for more information concerning non-GAAP financial measures and a reconciliation to the most comparable GAAP financial measures. It's also worth noting that the Baltic Supramax Index, or BSI that we will reference throughout the presentation today his basis the BSI 58 index.
Please turn to Slide 3 for the agenda for today's call. We'll first provide you with a brief overview of our recently completed convertible bond issuance and the acquisition of six Ultramax vessels that we plan to make from the proceeds of that issuance, followed by a discussion on our business performance and fleet scrubber initiative. After that, Frank will provide a detailed review of our second quarter financials. We'll then wrap up the call with a brief review of the rate environment industry fundamentals. This will be followed by Q & A.
Please now turn to slide five, as reported previously, we issued $100 million five- year convertible bond last week. The bond carries a coupon of 5%, a conversion premium of 25% over Eagle's closing price on July 24, 2019. The strike price related to the convert is equal to $562 per share. In addition, and subsequent to the pricing, the customary green shoe was exercised, bringing total gross proceeds to $114.1 million. Proceeds from the bond will be used toward vessel acquisitions and general corporate purposes.
On the acquisition front, we've entered into two agreements which are subject to customary closing conditions to acquire a total of six high-specification SDARI-64 Ultramax vessels for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $122 million. The acquired vessels have an average age of just 3.3 years. Four of the vessels will be delivered to us with exhaust gas cleaning systems or scrubbers, thereby eliminating any off hire time typically associated with retrofits. We intend to install scrubbers on the two remaining vessels utilizing contracts we currently hold. We expect to take delivery of the first four ships by October and anticipate taking delivery of the remaining two vessels sometime between Q3 and Q4. We believe the price we are able to achieve is attractive relative to recent comps and that timing is ideal given current rate developments and the impending onset of IMO 2020.
Please turn to Slide 6 for a review of the transaction benefits. We believe both the capital raise and related acquisitions will provide long term benefits. From a financing perspective, we're incurring unsecured debt, what we believe to be an attractive interest rate, which is significantly below our secured bond cost. In terms of the acquisitions, we believe it's an important step forward for Eagle as we continue to renew and grow our fleet and execute our strategy around IMO 2020.
The acquisitions will meaningfully improve our fleet makeup and operating results on a pro forma basis, as well as provide further capacity for growth. The six vessels increase our fleet size by 13%, bringing the total to 50 vessels and taking into consideration the 1 Suprarmax vessel sold in July. It increases the percentage of our fleet comprised f Ultramax is to 40% with a total count now of 20 vessels. It's worth noting just two and a half years ago when we began our fleet renewal strategy, Eagle owned no Ultramaxes and hadn't acquired a new vessels on over 5 years.
years. It also reduces our fleet average age by 0.6 years, bringing pro forma age down to 8.3. It increases the percentage of the fleet, which is to be fitted with scrubbers to 82%, bringing the total to 41 vessels. It improves earning generation capacity by adding larger, a more fuel efficient vessels. In this regard, we estimate our pro forma fleet will generate an improvement of approximately $150 per day on a pro forma run rate basis, before taking into account any incremental outperformance we may generate, as a result of our larger platform, or through our active management model, as well as any benefits earned by scrubber fitted vessels under the new regulations.
We believe it will reduce OpEx per vessel per day by adding younger and more efficient tonnage to the fleet. We estimate the reduction to be approximately $100 per day on a pro forma run rate basis across the entire fleet. It will reduce G&A per vessel per day with little to no incremental overhead expected. As such, we estimate the reduction to be approximately $200 per day on a pro forma run rate basis. We also expect to generate incremental P&L earnings, and in the current rate environment, believe the transaction will be modestly accretive to EPS.
Finally, it's worth noting that the six vessels are being acquired using the proceeds from the bond offering. Since these vessels will all be unencumbered, they provide us with dry powder and we have the ability to apply some traditional bank debt for further acquisitions if and when appropriate.
Please now turn to Slide 7 for a snapshot of our pro forma liquidity and debt. As you will note from the slide, we estimate our pro forma liquidity comprised of cash and undrawn availability -- under our RCFs to be approximate $135 million after taking into consideration the convert issuance spent on the six acquisitions and proceeds from the one vessel sale. Our pro forma debt increases to approximately $455 million, while our average cost of debt decreases by over 40 basis points to 6.29%.
Please now turn to Slide 8 for a review of our fleet makeup evolution. In addition to the six SDARI-64 vessels the company is acquiring, subsequent to quarter end, we reached an agreement to sell the Kestrel, a 2004 built Supramax for a gross price of $7.3 million. We expect to close on the sale and deliver the vessel to her new owners within the next month. I think it's important to mention that the Kestrel is being sold ahead of a statutory dry dock due in September, saving Eagle approximately $1.5 million in total capex spend related to statutory maintenance and the requisite installation of a ballast water treatment system. Inclusive of these transactions, over the past three years, we have bought and sold a total of 34 vessels, divesting 14 of our smallest, oldest and least efficient Supramaxes, which averaged roughly 13 years of age at sale and acquiring a total of 20 modern Ultramaxes, averaging around three years of age of purchase. Together, we believe these S&P transactions have transformed our fleet makeup and significantly improved earnings generation capability. At the same time, we've managed to keep the average age of the fleet essentially flat over the past three years, between 8 and 9 years of age. We believe this is a sweet spot in terms of fleet average age balancing operating capacity and efficiencies with maximizing yield due to the lower amount of invested capital as compared with all newer ships.
Please turn to Slide 9 for a discussion on our TCE performance. Eagles TCE for the second quarter equated to $9,731 per day, which is somewhat higher than where our Q2 TCE was when we discussed it during our last earnings call. I'm pleased to report that this result equates to beating the adjusted Baltic Supramax Index, or BSI by almost $2,000 per day. The grey bars on the chart on Slide 9 depict our historical third party time charter in business as measured in vessel days. During the second quarter, we had a total of 970 third party vessel days made up of 22 distinct ships we took on charter. We charter on third party ships as part of our active management strategy and order support and supplement our own fleet to cover cargo commitments, as well as to take advantage of arbitrage opportunities and market dislocations. This combined with a dynamic hedging strategy, has enabled us to drive market out performance on a risk managed basis.
I'm very pleased to report that the second quarter marks the tenth consecutive period for which we've been able to outperform the BSI. Over the last 12 months we've achieved an average TCE outperformance of approximately $1,441 per day, equating to almost $24 million in annual value creation based on our current fleet size prior to the announced acquisitions.
The market has strengthened since the second quarter ended and the gross BSI is now averaging around $11,400 per day and the third quarter average is about $10,250 thus far. As of today, we fixed approximately 57% of available days for the third quarter at an average net TCE of $10,285 per day. Should be noted that a significant portion of these days were fixed before the market began to improve in a meaningful way. In addition, we currently have a greater percentage of our fleet trading a weaker Pacific as compared to a normal state as we've been repositioning tonnage for scrubber installations at yards in China. As such, we believe our TCE performance has and will be continued to be affected somewhat for the balance of the year as a result of our scrubber installation program. This of course is an investment we're making today that we expect will positively impact earnings generation of our fleet starting in 2020.
Please turn to Slide 10 for a historical view of our EBITDA performance. EBITDA adjusted for certain non-cash items totaled $10.4 million for the second quarter, or roughly $70 million for the last 12 months. It's worth noting how impactful and important the company's outperformance has been to incremental EBITDA. This is illustrated by the green portion of the columns. For the second quarter our TCE outperformance equated to approximately $7.8 million.
Please turn to slide 11 for a brief update on our Fleet Scrubber Initiative. Inclusive of the four scrubber fitted vessels which we are acquiring, we now expect to have a total of 41 vessels scrubber fitted to comply with IMO 2020. Our target is now to have 38 fitted vessels operational by the end of this year and the balance in the first months of 2020.
As we've stated previously, we believe early adopters and scrubbers will derive the maximum benefit as we expect fuel spreads will likely be widest during the period just after implementation of IMO 2020 in January before moderating over time.
Nine scrubbers have been installed today with riding crews now onboard completing installation work while the vessels continue to trade. One scrubber is being commissioned as we speak. Basis recent experience, our timing for scrubber work has been between 11 and 12 days, which is within our budgeted of higher estimates. By the end of September, we expect to have nine scrubbers commissioned and operational and 16 additional installed with riding teams onboard completing the installations for commissioning. This is in addition to the four vessels being acquired.
With that, I'd like to turn the call over to Frank, who will review our financial performance.
Frank De Costanzo -- Chief Financial Officer
Thank you, Gary. Please turn to slide 13 for a summary of our second quarter 2019 financial results. Revenue net of commissions for the second quarter was 69.4 million, a decrease of 10% from prior quarter. The decrease reflects a change in the revenue mix between time and voice charters. As compared to the same quarter in 2018, we saw a decrease in revenue of 7%. The decrease is a result of the decrease in the TCE and owned available days, offset by an increase in chartered-in days.
Revenue net of commissions, voyage and charter hire expenses came in at $37.3 million in Q2, a decrease of 7% from prior quarter. The decrease was primarily due to fewer available days resulting from dry dock and scrubber related offhire days in part offset by marginally higher TCE. We believe that revenue net of commissions, voyage and charter hire expenses best reflects core top line company performance.
Revenue net of commissions, voyage and charter hire expenses was 22% lower than the same quarter in 2018. The decrease was driven by fewer owned available days in a decrease in the TCE.
Total operating expenses for the second quarter of 2019 were 68.9 million, a decrease of 3% from the prior quarter. The decrease in Q2 versus prior quarter was primarily driven by lower voyage expenses as a result of a change in the revenue mix, lower G&A in part offset by a lower gain on sale of vessels. Total operating expenses as compared to the same quarter in 2018 increased by 4%. The increase resulted from higher charter hire and voyage expenses. Offset by a decrease in stock based comp, in an increase in gain on vessel sales. The company reported a net loss of $6 million for the second quarter as compared to a net income of $29, 000 in the prior quarter. In a net income of approximately $3.4 million in the same quarter in 2018.
Basic and diluted earnings per share or EPS in the second quarter of 2019 was a basic loss of $0.08 versus 0 in Q1 of 2019 and an earnings per share of $0.05 in Q2 2018. Adjusted EBITDA came in at $10.4 million for the second quarter as compared to $15.4 million from the prior quarter and $21 million from the same quarter in the prior year. The lower TCE was the primary driver in the decline from Q2 2018. In the appendix of our presentation, you will find a walk from net income or loss to adjusted EBITDA, both EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA are non-GAAP measurements. You can also find additional information on non-GAAP measurements in the appendix.
Let's now turn to slide 14 for an overview of our balance sheet and liquidity. The company had total cash and cash equivalents including restricted cash of $65.5 million as of June 30, 2019. A decrease of approximately $14.5 million from the end of the first quarter. The decrease was primarily driven by $2 million spent on dry docks, $10.1 million on interest paid, $12.6 million on scrubber and ballast water treatment installations, $5 million on a principal payment for the Ultraco Debt Facility and $4 million for a principal payment on Norwegian bond, along with $3.4 million of cash used in operating activities. All in part offset by proceeds from the sale of the Thrasher. The company's total liquidity as of June 30, 2019, was $135.5 million and is made up of cash, including restricted cash and undrawn revolving credit facilities totaling $70 million . As indicated earlier by Gary, post transaction pro forma total liquidity is essentially unchanged from Q2 with proceeds from the sale of the KESTREL essentially offsetting the cash required to close on the 6 Ultramaxes being acquired. Total debt as of June 30th was $340.4 million and is comprised of the $192 million Shipco Norwegian bonds and the $148.4 million new Ultraco Debt Facility.
Net debt over adjusted EBITDA came in at 4 turns, up from 3.3 turns in the prior quarter. The lower trailing 12-month EBITDA number that largely resulted from the lower charter rates in the first half of 2019 was the primary driver in the tick up in leverage. The recent improvement in chartering rates, which picked up momentum earlier in the month, will likely drive improved profitability in cap the modest increase in leverage.
Please turn to Slide 15 for a view of cash flow from operations. During the second quarter, net cash used in operating activities was $3.5 million, down from a positive $11.9 million in Q1 and a positive $9.9 million in the second quarter of 2018. The dip in cash flows was mainly due to the negative $9 million change in working capital. Excluding the working capital change as reflected in the light blue bar, cash flows from operations was positive $6 million in the current quarter.
Please turn to Slide 16 for additional color on cash flows. At the top of the slide, let's look at the changes in the company's cash balance in Q2 2019. As I've noted in prior calls, I believe this chart clearly lays out the large themes driving our results. The two large bars on the left, revenue and operating expenditures are a simple look at the operations. The net of the two bars is positive $10 million, which comes in very close to our Q2 adjusted EBITDA number. To the right, you will find the bars covering $12.6 million we paid for scrubber and ballast water installations. The $9 million we paid in principal payments and the $10.1 million we paid in interest payments, offset in part by the $9.8 million we received for the sale of the Thrasher. The chart at the bottom of the slide covers cash movements year to date 2019.
Let's now review Slide 17 for our cash breakeven per vessel per day. Cash breakeven per ship per day in Q2 2019 was $10,437, $907 higher than Q1 2019. The lower operating breakeven was more than offset by the increase in debt principal payments or amortization. Q2 OpEx came in at $4,787, $43 lower than Q1 2019 and $62 higher than full year 2018. dry docking was $475 per ship per day. $133 lower than Q1 and essentially unchanged from the full-year 2018 number. Q2 cash G&A came in at $1634 per ship per day, down $40 from Q1 and marginally higher than full-year 2018 number. It is worth noting that in Q2 we chartered-in 22 different vessels. If we were to include the chartered-in days in our calculation, Q2 G&A per ship per day would have been $1326 or $308 lower. Q2 cash interest expense is $1371 per ship per day, down $29, while debt principal payment increased by $1152 both when compared to Q1.
Debt principal payments are higher on the Ultraco Bank Facility amortization payments which started in the quarter. This concludes my review of the financials. I will now turn the call back to Gary, who will continue with discussion of the business and provide context around industry fundamentals.
Gary Vogel -- CEO
Thank you, Frank. Please turn to slide 19, Supramax , Ultramax rates were fairly range bound during the second quarter, with the gross BSI averaging $8485 per day, up 7 % from the prior period. The Atlantic BSI market averaged $8937 per day during the second quarter, up 11% quarter-on-quarter, while the Pacific BSI market decreased by 5% during the same period to average $7596 per day.
Although the broader index was generally stable during the quarter, the Pacific market experienced some volatility to the downside, driven primarily by choppiness surrounding Chinese coal imports. The overall dry bulk market has posted a strong recovery since mid-June on the back of a material pickup in Brazilian iron ore exports. This has primarily benefited Capes, but has also led to positive demand and sentiment for Panamax and Supramax, Ultramax segments as well.
In addition, we've seen a meaningful pickup in grain exports out of South America and the Black Sea. We believe some of the incremental demand is a result of the drought in Australia, primarily impacting wheat volumes. These factors have helped the BSI reach over 11,000 per day, an increase of over 35% from the lows experienced in Q2.
Please turn to slide 20 for a brief update on vessel supply, dry bulk new building deliveries totalled roughly 9.3 million deadweight tons or approximately 99 vessels during the second quarter representing an increase of 1% quarter-on-quarter. Demolition of older tonnage amounted to 2 million deadweight tons during the quarter or 22 vessels representing a decrease of 4% over the prior quarter. But notably up almost 70% year-on-year basis. vessel count, as you will note from the light-blue dotted line on the graph. Net Fleet Growth is historically low for dry bulk overall with expected net growth of 2.5% in '19. But is even more favorable when drilling down to the Supramax and Ultramax segment or Net Fleet Growth as depicted by the darker blue dotted line is expected to be just 2.3% of the on-the-water fleet. Please turn to slide 21 for a look at new building ordering. In terms of forward supply growth, new building orders totaled approximately 4.3 million deadweight tons or 26 ships in the second quarter, down 62% over the prior quarter basis vessel count. As of the latest information, we have no Ultramaxes were ordered during the quarter.
As we've indicated previously, given a number of factors including the increase in new building prices as a result of two or three regulations, as well as uncertainty on future regulatory requirements. We remain cautiously optimistic, we will not see a material increase in ordering unless we also see both rates and second-hand values increased significantly from current levels. Unchanged from last quarter's call, the order book as a percentage of the on-the-water fleet stands at 12% basis deadweight tons. The Cape size segment has the highest order book at over 16%, almost importantly to Eagle, the Supramax and Ultramax order book stands at just 8% of the on-the-water fleet, which is around a 20-year low.
Looking ahead, we continue to believe supply side fundamentals remain favorable, given the low order book and the increasing number of older vessels which are becoming less commercially viable due to regulations coming into effect.
Please turn to slide 22 for a summary on demand. From a macro perspective, global growth expectations as forecasted by the IMF have been revised down somewhat since our last earnings call. Global GDP growth is now forecasted at 3.2% for '19, down 10 basis points. Downside risks to global growth remain due to a number of factors which we've highlighted on previous calls, including slowing Chinese and year-over-year[Phonetic] growth. Uncertainty around both Brexit and continued trade tensions. Dry bulk demand growth, as calculated from a bottom up fundamental perspective is now expected to reach roughly 1.3%, down about 50 basis points since our last earnings call. The downward revision is due to low expectations from major bulks.
Within the 1.3% real demand growth, major bulks, which are comprised of iron ore, coal and grains, are expected to be flat in 2019, where negative growth in iron ore, driven primarily by the effects of Valley's [Phonetic] production cuts, is effectively offsetting growth in grain and coal trades. Demand for coal, which typically represents about 15% to 20% of the cargoes we carry, is expected to grow by 0.6% this year to total 1.27 billion tonnes, a marginal decrease or approximately 10 million since our last earnings call. Demand for grains, which represents anywhere from 10% to 20% of the cargoes we we typically carry in a quarter is expected to grow by about 1.3 percent this year to around 477 million tons. Most importantly to us, minor bulks as denoted on the last line of the table and which typically makes up about two thirds of the cargo Eagle carries are expected to once again surpass overall dry bulk is forecasted to increase by almost 4% in 2019. Conversely to the major bulks, this numbers up from the time of our last earnings call when growth was forecasted at 3.5%. The growth represents roughly 80 million metric tons of incremental demand has been driven by improvements in trade such as fertilizer, nickel ore, manganese ore, forest products, agro bulks, and bauxite. We believe a demand picture which remains favorite toward the minor bulks combined with the Supramax, Ultramax's historically low order book as a percentage of the existing fleet creates a dynamic that is particularly favorable for Eagle given our fleet makeup.
With that, I would now like to turn the call over to the operator and answer any questions you may have. Operator?
Questions and Answers:
Operator
Thank you. [Operator Instructions]. And our first question comes from Amit Mehrotra with Deutsche Bank. Your line is open.
Amit Mehrotra -- Deutsche Bank -- Analyst
Thanks, operator. Hi, Gary. Hi, team. Thanks for taking the question. I guess just maybe to start with, I just wanted to ask, obviously about the convert, the drivers of the decision to pursue that route. If I fully understand, obviously, it's a much more flexible piece of capital but it's also, you know, in the context a very low leverage profile already -- partly related to the restructuring that you had to do kind of back in 2016. So if you can just help us think through that -- and also related to that, I guess with respect to the prospective financing opportunities related to the unencumbered vessels that you mentioned, Gary, can you just help us with the thinking there in terms of how you think about the magnitude of the dry powder? Yeah, I would just think the convert path was partly chosen due to pro forma leverage considerations. So if you can just talk about that as well. Thanks.
Gary Vogel -- Chief Executive Officer and Director
Yeah. Thanks, Amit. Absolutely. So, you know, we -- of course, we considered the broad spectrum of potential ways to support this. I mean, first of all, this was a decision based on the commercial aspects. All the benefits I mentioned about the scale, Ultramax as efficient vessels, four of them being scrubber fit and what have you and then solving for the capital structure. From, you know, on one hand straight equity to something like lease financing. And we felt that this was in the sweet spot. I think we've shown where we're open to different kinds of financing, obviously we have bank there, we have a Norwegian bond. And in this regard, we felt that the combination between the unsecured debt and higher higher obviously, conversion price and straight equity was a good balance. Also, I think while I'm confident we could have raised straight equity, the quantum would have been less, and this sets us up, as you mentioned and talks about for more than just these six ships if that's where we feel it's appropriate and want to go. You know, in that regard, we have an accordion feature on our Ultraco Facility, where we can draw 55% on new vessels. And I'm not saying we will go there, but we have that opportunity.
So, as mentioned in the call earlier, we effectively can cover this with the proceeds itself. But clearly we have a view that, at the right time, that kind of leverage could be appropriate, although I will say, and I've said this before, we're constructive on the market but this is a volatile industry. And I think Q1, if anything, showed that you need to be prepared for periods of weakness. And so there's a difference between constructive and sure at any given time. I don't ever want to think we want to put this company in a position where the market has to do something on a given day. And I think that the convert here has struck that balance well for Eagle.
Amit Mehrotra -- Deutsche Bank -- Analyst
Yes, that makes sense. And just related to that, I guess, it would be safe to say that you want to see kind of how the market progresses over the next 12 months or so, maybe get that -- hopefully get that net debt number down before you want to pull some levers on the unencumbered vessels to get more dry powder to maybe further grow the fleet, is that kind of the right way to think about the cadence, or would you maybe want to do that now because asset values are still low? I would imagine you want to be more prudent on that front.
Gary Vogel -- Chief Executive Officer and Director
Yes. I think it's a decision that you walk through the door every day and you need to evaluate where you are. I think, in general, this is a large acquisition for us, six vessels. The last time we did something this large was Greenship, which was nine ships. Now, 2.5 years ago, I think that all things -- I wouldn't say a year, but I do like to approach IMO 2020 and see how things develop. But I'm not saying we wouldn't do anything but, in general, yes, we'll do this, we'll take a pause, erring on the side of caution and see where we are and then look to do something. And also, as I mentioned, we're also looking at -- we always look at potential other M&A activity, and this gives you more capacity on the balance sheet as well. So, what comes around in the future will determine how we act. But I think your initial look at we'll do this and take a pause is appropriate.
Amit Mehrotra -- Deutsche Bank -- Analyst
Okay, that makes sense. Let me just ask one operating question, if I could. Specifically, with respect to IMO 2020, is there -- you guys obviously have a good history of actively managing the fleet and you talk about -- show that chart relative to the index. Does that get impacted at all would the need to maybe reposition the fleet either to source hustle [Phonetic] for Fuel Oil or to install scrubbers. Can you just talk about what you're doing on the active fleet side that may be different in the back half of the year with respect to kind of the January 1, 2020 deadline?
Gary Vogel -- Chief Executive Officer and Director
Yeah, absolutely. You know, I touched on it and clearly you feel that, positioning vessels for a scrubber in a retrofit is impacting our decision. If you think about it, when you have a free hand and you make whatever decisions you can to maximize revenue on a risk managed basis, you're going to have the best numbers. And anytime, you have to make a determination that, that ship has to go left instead of right and it's not just about numbers it's going to have an impact. So, if Bo, our Chief Commercial Officer was here with me, he'd say, you're tying my hands, because I've got to get 34 ships -- in our case 32 ships out to China and back and that's not helpful. So I think it is impactful having said that compared to where we think the benefits will be, it's just part of the business and needs to be seen as part of the total package of investing for IMO in our strategy around IMO 2020. So we've been able to obviously have good performance and I think we will continue to do so, but it would be wrong to say it's not impactful.
As we look forward to IMO 2020, no one knows exactly how this will play out and so, will it impact our trading methodology? Absolutely and some things will be more challenging, but I also think it's going to open up some really amazing opportunities. We only expect 10% of the fleet, the Supra, Ultra fleet, to be scrubber fitted by the end of 2020 and because of that, you're really going to be competing with a very small number of vessels that are looking for effectively trades, which are very long haul because ships which are most efficient want to spend the most time at sea relative to the time in port. So you'll be looking for a long haul business, but you're only competing with effectively 10% of the fleet. And in that 10%, obviously Eagle has a decent percentage to that. So in that regard, that will be beneficial. Of course, we have to plan for where we pick up fuel. If you told me that 40%, 50% of the Supra Ultra fleet would have scrubbers fitted, I'd be more concerned about competing for that and having to carry additional fuel to secondary, tertiary ports. But because it's fairly limited, we're confident we'll be able to to trade around that. And as I said, spending more time on long haul trades is something that I think scrubber fitted ships will naturally end up doing. For my whole career, we've always talked about how many tons per day a ship burns in terms of fuel, but starting January 1, it's not how many tons a day you burn, it's how many dollars a day you spend. Right, because it's the first time that we're gonna have ships burning fuels that we believe will have very significant differences in terms of fuel costs. So hopefully that.
Amit Mehrotra -- Deutsche Bank -- Analyst
-- thanks a lot and congrats on the on the acquisition. Appreciate it.
Gary Vogel -- Chief Executive Officer and Director
Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. Our next question comes from John Chappelle with Evercore. Your line is open.
John Chappelle -- Evercore
Thank you. Good Morning guys.
Gary Vogel -- Chief Executive Officer and Director
Good Morning, John.
John Chappelle -- Evercore
I'm following up on your efficiency point in kind of tracking the other side of the S&P equation. Post the Kestrel and the Thrasher. Now you're down to 8 ships that are over 12 years old. Do you feel that those are a natural sell candidates to continue to kind of modernize the fleet, and then second, I think the Kestrel, if we kind of look at the transactions holistically, you can say that that kind of covered the cash component that the convert fell short on. How would you think about use of proceeds from continue to modernize the fleet through sales. The stock's obviously taking a big hit lately would that be something that could be attributed to a buyback, would accelerate the payback or the paid on a debt?
Gary Vogel -- Chief Executive Officer and Director
Yeah, so first of all, I mean, it happens that the Kestrel quantum match the whole if you will, but of course, cash is fungible. Clearly, the 8 ships, the older ships, if you look at our actions, I'm a big believer, actions speak louder than words. If you look at what we've done so far. Yeah. Those 8 ships are clearly vessels that we will in the future look to monetize as we kind of look to renew the fleet and keep our average age in that area I was talking about.
Right. Because if we do nothing, obviously, the fleet gets a year older every year, just like us. So in that regard, I think that what we do with that capital is effectively, it's a decision, again, that we take every day. We don't comment on short-term share price development and, it's only a few days after the convert. So I think it's a little early to talk about what we might do relative to share price in terms of a buyback obviously haven't done that in the past and as I said, I think it's just a little early for that, but as we sell older, older, less efficient vessels, we clearly will look to continue to acquire.
It's not necessarily, it can't be a one-to-one and given the price for an older vessel versus new one. But it's not even a dollar-for-dollar. We see selling these vessels as a strategic to continue to renew the fleet and keep the age young and then acquiring newer vessels as is to grow it. So obviously they're connected, but it's not a one-to-one or two-to-one.
John Chappelle -- Evercore
That makes sense. And then on the IMO 2020 opportunities, I mean, you said no one knows how it's going to play out and I completely agree with that. However, there is a significant amount of and I think the 11 to 12 days of off your time with the stuff you're not doing, it seems is pretty low on the totem pole of our times. But there's clearly a short term operational disruption, as you mentioned, by shifting some of the ships out of the preferred regions. So maybe the cost is a little bit greater than just the monetary spend, now with nine ships fitted are you seeing any price, in the way charters are approaching those ships. Or do you view the opportunity is just going to be your ability to be more flexible with the fleet as opposed to locking in kind of a spread by having those more efficient ships with the scrubbers?
Gary Vogel -- Chief Executive Officer and Director
Yes, a few things I think to unpack there. First of all, the 11, 12 days that we're spending, whether we did a full in yard installation of 25 to 30 days or to 12 days, the ship still has to get to the yard in China and then we will ultimately reposition it back to where we want, so that doesn't change. And while the riding crew is on board, the ship is not hindered at all in terms of its commercial. So I think those are the same.
Just to be clear, our first scrubber is being commissioned right now. So the nine -- I think the number was nine, our tower is installed, so the yard portion is done, but there's riding crews on board, finishing piping, electrical work, things like that and those will be commissioned over the next couple of months. At the moment, having a scrubber fitted ship will have some benefit when you are trading in eco zones. Our scrubbers have the ability to scrub down 3.5 fuel down to 0.1, so in that sense when you're trading around, for instance, coastal United States, US Gulf, and in European areas where scrubbers are allowed, you'll be able to burn 3.80 instead of 0.1. The majority of that time will be import where our ships burn roughly two tons a day and you'll save by being able to burn 3.5 versus 0.1. But that's obviously not where the lion's share comes from, which will be at sea once IMO 2020 kicks in.
In terms of charters, we've had some discussions. I think it's fair to say that, charters at the moment in my opinion aren't willing to pay for full value, what we think the scrubber benefit will be. And we also think, given our active management model, we're best positioned to maximize that revenue stream. I've talked about before that we get paid a $1 per ton basis to carry cargo, when we do things on voyage basis, which we prefer and in that regard, fuel price becomes an internal cost. So if you're paying less for fuel, every dollar of that save goes straight to the bottom line.
So, I'm not saying we won't reload ships at the right time if people pay us where we deemed to be full value. But as you know, we don't do a lot of long term reloads because of the optionality you need to give away in terms of redelivering and things like that. So today we haven't chartered out any of our scrubber fitted tonnage and I don't really see that changing over the next few months but we'll have to see how it develops.
John Chappelle -- Evercore
Okay, I understand. Thanks for the thoughtful answer, Gary.
Gary Vogel -- Chief Executive Officer and Director
Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. [Operator Instructions] And our next question comes from Liam Burke with B Riley FBR. Your line is open.
Liam D. Burke -- B Riley FBR -- Analyst
Thank you. Good morning, Gary; good morning, Frank.
Gary Vogel -- Chief Executive Officer and Director
Hi, Liam.
Frank De Costanzo -- Chief Financial Officer
Hi, Liam.
Liam D. Burke -- B Riley FBR -- Analyst
Gary, if we're looking at scrubber installation and more efficient fleets at the higher end, do you think that over time they will force faster scrapping and further help the supply side of the order book?
Gary Vogel -- CEO
So I think a lot will be dependent on rate development as well as fuel spreads. So wider fuel spreads will simply make less efficient ships, even more inefficient relative to ecoships and more efficient ones and in particularly scrubber fitted ships. For the wider the fuel spread, the more the answer to that I think would be yes. Having said that, if ships slowed down because of higher fuel costs and rates go up then there's less of an impetus for people to scrap, obviously on an older vessel.
Cash flow has become more robust and people are willing to take a discount to the market and still be making money. So there's a number of variable inputs into that. But in general, I think IMO 2020 I think is a positive catalyst for scrapping, scrapping this year is expected to be about a little over 9 million tons, which has doubled last year, which I think is obvious. Obviously, we see that as positive. And I think there's more capacity for that to increase. On the back of IMO 2020, but as I said before, we need to see how it plays out in terms of fuel spreads and rate development.
Liam D. Burke -- B Riley FBR -- Analyst
And your cash breakeven prior to debt service was better this quarter than the previous quarter. How much of that is just working the individual vessel versus your overall fleet management?
Gary Vogel -- Chief Executive Officer and Director
Yeah, I mean, it's obviously each individual ship goes into that. We're working to maximize efficiencies in terms of OpEx everyday on every ship. But as we said before, these numbers tend to be choppy based on when expenses come in. We also look at this in a long term basis. Hitting an OpEx number is something you can do on a given quarter, but it's the same as you can pay me now or you can pay me later. We also have been -- we took one ship out of service last, during the quarter to put on a very high specification silicone-based paint, which we think will pay for itself, clearly pay for itself over the period. And as a business case made a lot of sense. But it hit our OpEx. I think the number was about $120 per day across our fleet, which there's no visibility to that inside. So we could have easily just gone and had the bottom cleaned for $10,000 and moved on. But our view is we're going to make the right business decision. So, we're always looking to improve [Indecipherable] but sometimes you don't see it in the numbers based on whether it goes in OpEx or it goes in efficiency.
Liam D. Burke -- B Riley FBR -- Analyst
Great. Thank you Gary.
Gary Vogel -- CEO
Okay. Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. And we have a question. A question from Espen Landmark with Fearnley. Your line is open.
Espen Landmark -- Fearnley Securities
Hey, good morning, guys. Just a question on the transaction. I guess this is about the first time we see a vessel fitted with scrubbers changing hands in the second-hand market, I was just curious, did you pay any premium on the replacement costs for those scrubber fitter vessels?
Gary Vogel -- CEO
No, I would say that the scrubber component, if you will, was very much in line with our cost, about $2 million. So we didn't have to pay a premium for that relative to the market on the other ships.
Espen Landmark -- Fearnley Securities
And, going forward, if you were to do another acquisitions with vessels with scrubber, would you potentially open up for paying beyond the capex part of it?
Gary Vogel -- CEO
It's a great question. I think we have access to scrubbers. Obviously, we have relationships with existing manufacturers. It really would come. I think that would come down more to, what kind of -- what the president value was. In other words, how long would it take to get a scrubber manufactured and installed on a ship versus getting a ship immediately and how much benefit you would get out of it?
So I think for us, it would be fairly limited, given that we feel confident, we could acquire one and install it. But that's, I think, more of a math question. And I think you have to be inside of kind of an imminent IMO 2020 with significant spreads to justify that in my mind. I think we're comfortable with our position right now. And I don't in the near term, I wouldn't see us paying up for a scrubber.
Espen Landmark -- Fearnley Securities
Fair enough, thank you very much --.
Gary Vogel -- Chief Executive Officer and Director
Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. And I'm showing no further questions at this time, I'd like to turn it back to Mr. Gary Vogel for any further remarks.
Gary Vogel -- Chief Executive Officer and Director
Thank you, operator. We have no further remarks, but I'd like to thank everyone for joining us today for our quarterly earnings call and wish everyone a great day.Thank you.
Operator
[Operator Closing Remarks]
Duration: 46 minutes
Call participants:
Gary Vogel -- Chief Executive Officer and Director
Frank De Costanzo -- Chief Financial Officer
Gary Vogel -- CEO
Amit Mehrotra -- Deutsche Bank -- Analyst
John Chappelle -- Evercore
Liam D. Burke -- B Riley FBR -- Analyst
Espen Landmark -- Fearnley Securities
