Wallenius Wilhelmsen ASA

OSE:WAWI

Earnings Call Transcript 2022-Q1

[Torbjørn Wist, executive]

Good morning. Welcome, everyone, and thank you for joining us on this presentation of our Q1 results. My name is Torbjorn Wist, and I'm the CFO and acting CEO of the company.

I will share some Q1 highlights before we move into the agenda and practical information. In Q1, we delivered another strong quarter with EBITDA of $309 million. Cash improved by $49 million on the back of the solid EBITDA. We do, however, see signs of margin pressure due to increasing fuel prices and further supply chain issues.

The continuing war in the Ukraine is a tragedy. And our deepest sympathy goes out to the people of Ukraine, and our thoughts are with the millions of people that are affected by this conflict. Wallenius Wilhelmsen has suspended its operations in Russia and Belarus. However, it's fair to say that the war has a limited direct impact on our business. Russia accounted for less than 0.7% of our 2021 revenues, and we have no material operations on the ground.

In April, we issued our first sustainability-linked bond of NOK 1.25 billion. The transaction was highly successful, being more than 2x oversubscribed and priced at the bottom of the range.

Last week, our Annual General Assembly approved the earlier proposed $63.5 million dividend. And further, Hans Åkervall and Yngvil Eriksson Åsheim were appointed to the Board of Directors, replacing Jonas Kleberg and Marianne Lie. And we are, of course, very grateful for Jonas and Marianne's service to the company over many, many years.

Turning to today's agenda. We will start with the business and market updates before turning to the financial update. We will have a Q&A session at the end, facilitated by Anette Orsten, in charge of Global Treasury and IR. If you have any questions, please send it on the Ask a Question button, which you see on this screen. We will, of course, endeavor to answer all your questions either on or after the call.

And as usual, I am joined by Erik Noeklebye and Mike Hynekamp, respective COOs of our Shipping and Logistics segments, who will give you an update of key business and market development from their segments.

And I will now hand over to Erik for an update on the Shipping segment. Erik?

[Erik Noeklebye, executive]

Yes. Thank you, Torbjorn. So this quarter, we launched the Wallenius Wilhelmsen-powered Carbon Compass, and that's a tool that calculates the emissions of our customers by utilizing and visualizing the data from our services. And this gives our customers a quicker and more accurate way to report what is referred to as Scope 3 emissions, i.e., the emissions in their supply chain. By visualizing these data and our performance, it enables better fact-based discussions on how to reduce emissions. And to quote one of our customers, "This is exactly what we need in this area. It will replace the manual extra work we do now, and I look forward to bringing more of our people into the reporting loop to create more transparency and awareness around our supply chain emissions."

Okay. So to move into the volume and market developments for this -- for the last quarter. I am pleased to say that we continue to see strong volumes in most trades despite seasonality and a usually weaker first quarter, with the quarter being up 1%. Q4 is usually a strong quarter due to the end of year sales, et cetera. So it is impressive that we see volumes increasing in this first quarter as well.

Asia's export volumes and activity continued on a strong note, with an improvement in most markets. And as to the European exports, the picture was a little bit more mixed. We -- as you can see from the middle graph at the bottom of the slide, exports out of Europe to Asia decreased by 23%, both quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year, and this is mainly driven by a shift in tonnage allocation, resulting in fewer voyages and not necessarily a sign of weaker markets.

Ships were allocated to other trades, such as the Oceania trade to cover strong exports from both Europe and North America, and the Atlantic trade that also saw a growth of over 20% quarter-on-quarter. As Torbjorn mentioned, the direct operational impact from the ongoing war is limited for us. However, Russia is a large oil-producing nation, mainly selling its crude oil to the European refineries, and the war has triggered a surge in oil prices and also a fear of further supply chain disruptions. The higher fuel prices do impact Wallenius Wilhelmsen, but as emphasized in previous presentations, we have fuel adjustment mechanisms in our customer contracts where a substantial part of the increase in fuel cost is covered.

While impacts from component shortages remain a challenge, port congestions and other operational disruptions added to the supply chain issues this quarter and disruptions like lockdown in Shanghai due to COVID outbreaks, continued impact from stink bug season and also labor shortages in several ports. The port congestions are seen everywhere in the world, and it's not for one specific region. We see them in Belgium, Germany, in Chile, in Australia, in China, Korea, the Panama Canal, et cetera, just to mention a few. An unfortunate consequence of this is obviously further delays for our customers and our ships. And it is our highest priority to mitigate the negative effects of all the operational challenges that we currently face. So we work very hard every day to find the best solution for our customers. We have close dialogue with them. And for example, we try to find alternative ports whenever possible to move the cargo through.

Moving over to net freight rate development for CBM. And as you can see, it has increased from $52.2 per CBM, up from -- increased to $52.2 per CBM, up from $49.7. And this is a result of effects from contract renewals and also improvement in cargo mix with the high & heavy cargo mix being at 31% in the first quarter. Other factors are trade and customer mix and also rates in underlying contracts.

Our ability to negotiate improved rates better reflects the need for the market to pay for services and value offered and also to cater for current and future cost increases. And this is valid for all cargo segments we carry. And as a general rule, and I know we have mentioned this before, for regions where volume and demand are high, we see the ability to improve rates, while in regions with more balance between supply and demand for shipping services, we see more of a flat development at the moment.

Moving then over to fleet development in the first quarter and the tonnage situation. Our fleet remained stable quarter-on-quarter. And at the end of March, we operated 129 vessels, where 124 are controlled by us and 5 are on short-term charters. We also sold 1 vessel from the Government segment in March, reducing owned vessels from 83 to 82. We currently have no further newbuilds on order. And I'm pleased to see that our newest owned ship in the fleet, Nabucco, which was delivered during the fourth quarter, is performing as per our high standard and is now sailing in our around-the-world trade. Further, as communicated in previous presentations, we will share more information on our fleet renewal strategy during 2022.

If I then move over to the market intelligence side, starting with the light vehicle market. Deep-sea volumes dropped 5.9%, in line with the sales of the total market year-on-year, with sales hampered by supply chain pressure, including semiconductor shortage, the zero-COVID policy in China and a more moderate customer sentiment in Europe. Wallenius Wilhelmsen's shipping volumes developed more positively than the global deep-sea auto volumes year-on-year as we were present in more favorable trades and because we had customers performing more positively than the marketplace.

On a quarter-on-quarter basis, global light vehicle sales, as you can see, was down 3%, while deep sea volumes were up 2% -- 2.7%, illustrating that several OEMs continue to prioritize overseas shipments. In North America and Europe, dealers did not have enough vehicles to supply the strong demand, and we also see that the demand -- the consumer confidence started strong in Q1. However, the continued push on supply chain, including semiconductor shortage and higher commodity prices are some of the reasons for central banks to start to bring forward rate increases, and that's going to probably lead to reduced purchasing power.

While the year started on a positive note with solid economic fundamentals built on a strong consumer and business confidence that led to solid GDP expansion globally, our customers are experiencing multiple challenges. The continued supply chain pressure, including the component shortages we have talked about, and that's holding back production, and also inventories are kept at breaking new record lows.

Production of semiconductors is, however, ramping up now, and we assume the situation to stabilize during the second half of this year. We are, at the same time, following the global economic implications of the war in Ukraine. The OECD revised its 2022 global growth forecast down by 1 to 1.5 percentage points and inflation by up to 2.5 percentage points. As mentioned, the direct demand effects are limited as Russia and Ukraine do not import nor export significant deep-sea volumes of light vehicles or high & heavy units. However, the affected countries are significant producers of the noble gases neon and palladium used for the semiconductor production and the global shortage of these raw materials might put additional pressure on the semiconductor production.

Moreover, higher energy costs have more far-reaching effects with oil, gas and coal all at risk if Russian supply is disrupted. So Russia and Ukraine are also powerhouses when it comes to grains and a handful of metals to the -- key to the energy transition, and that's affecting miners and farmers alike. Additionally, rising costs on raw materials and further supply chain disruptions might lead to accelerating inflation, which might force central banks into interest rate hikes that will eat into purchasing power for consumers. Historically, GDP development and light vehicle sales have been highly correlated with this.

Then we move over to the high & heavy side. In this segment, we continue to observe strong demand, and we expect to see a strong momentum in the near term as the machinery makers carry with them significant order backlogs after underproducing demand the last 12 to 18 months. And the negative demand effects from the war are small as most of our customers derive a limited share of their revenues from these markets, nor do they have significant production facilities in the region. The overall fundamentals remain intact, but we are keeping a close eye on how inflation is affecting machinery buyers. We see the mining companies as big beneficiaries in the current inflationary environment and expect their record-breaking profits to translate into further increases in CapEx.

The farm sector is also enjoying the highest prices on record for their products. But accelerating costs, for example, for fertilizers are now putting farmer margins under tough pressure in many regions.

For the construction sector, it is, of course, also facing cost pressure, but we see that -- we see this as an issue mostly confined to the Europe at the moment. And we continue to expect positive contributions from the massive stimulus packages in both Europe and U.S. But it's fair to say, though, that the visibility on both the supply and demand side for high & heavy has become more mixed during this last quarter.

If I end the market intelligence part with some comments around the global fleet. The demand recovery and trade imbalances has led to a tight tonnage situation. We have seen this over time, and it continues. Recovering from the pandemic, there is also a further need for more capacity, and the situation is mirrored in the global fleet figures. There is still a substantial number of required recycling candidates available. And while the order book is increasing, it remains at a moderate level. It stood at 51 vessels in early April, and this contributes to expectations of a continued tight supply and demand balance. Only 2 vessels are up for delivery in 2022 and then further 9 vessels in 2023. And new orders currently have a lead time of 3 to 4 years.

The time charter market remains tight, and the rates have continued to increase during the quarter as well. Supply chain inefficiencies, like port congestion and pandemic-related challenges, eased somewhat during the second half of 2021, however, grew again into Q1. And the supply chain volatility and congestion are expected to continue to be strong for the remainder of 2022. And markets are forecasted to be beneficial, and the utilization rate is increased to 94% for this year for the global fleet. And considering -- or the global fleet utilization around 85% to 90% is actually considered to be already a high utilized fleet. So those numbers are very high at the moment.

Okay. This concludes the business and market update from Shipping segment. And then I would like to hand over to Mike to hear more about the Logistics segment. Please, Mike.

[Michael Hynekamp, executive]

Great. Thank you, Erik, and thanks to all of you for joining today.

The photo you're about to see is that of our terminal expansion at the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, which has now started operations. In the first quarter, a shipment of nearly 3,000 Polestar Volvos and MG SAIC vehicles were among the first cargo unloaded at our new terminal site in Zeebrugge. From there, they were transported via short sea and in own connections to new owners all over Europe. And Zeebrugge's central location and unmatched connectivity will make it a cornerstone of the electric car revolution that we're all seeing now in Europe.

Currently, there isn't enough terminal space in Europe to meet the growing demand of these types of vehicles when considered in addition to demand for high & heavy machinery as well as project cargo. And that's why we're investing in this expansion. There has been strong interest from OEMs. So in addition to Polestar and MG SAIC, we are in ongoing discussions with many customers about the opportunities here.

We fast-track construction of this first phase of the project due to the demand that Erik talked about from our customers. Capacity will gradually increase until the project is completed in 2027, and once completed, it will sensibly double our footprint at Zeebrugge port. The expansion will be carbon-neutral, combining several green technologies like wind mills, solar panels, electric machinery on the port itself as well as shore power. It will also be equipped with infrastructure for electric vehicles, so we can import and process them at scale. In June, we will open the terminal's dedicated road and gate and which will increase the efficiency of the trucking within the terminal itself.

Further in Q1, and as a testament to our strategic commitment to end-to-end services or end-to-end logistics, we acquired the remaining 40% of Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics Abnormal Load Services Holdings or ALS. The company itself provides innovative logistics solutions for oversized, exceptional and heavy-lift cargo, including transportation, port handling, storage and customs clearance. Wallenius has a 10-year history with ALS since purchasing 60% of the business in 2012. And with the decades of experience in specialized abnormal cargo at ALS, coupled with our Wallenius Wilhelmsen's global network, customers will benefit from optimal product delivery across the supply chain through our integrated solutions in the future.

So I'd like to just turn over now to some of the goings and happenings inside of Q4 itself. As we saw in Q4, volumes continued to improve in Q1 as shortage in semiconductor chips improved, particularly for the America autos business. However, in an effort for our customers to deliver their products as quickly as possible and meet the demand that they were facing, what we call a strip-and-ship strategy seems to have taken place and has been implemented by many OEMs, decreasing our higher-margin accessorization revenue.

Our strategy, however, to maintain our highly trained staff in anticipation of volumes of returning has proven valuable as labor shortages continue to be a challenge for the Logistics business overall. Solutions Americas saw a 10% increase in volume due to seasonality as Q1 is historically stronger for American autos. However, 70% of the increase in revenue over the prior quarter is related to receiving revenue, which is in lower margin ever than the accessorization activities that we experienced previously. We did see a steady increase in volume month-over-month in the quarter itself, which was positive.

For EMEA and APAC, the volume increased in Europe for inland transportation and increased auto volumes for South Africa, but they were partially offset by lower volumes in European technical services, although the overall volume and revenue increased in the quarter and the volumes were associated again with a lower margin mix of business.

The Terminals business experienced a 10% volume increase, particularly seen in our ports in Zeebrugge, Belgium, in MIRRAT or in Melbourne, Australia as well as in that in Baltimore U.S. Mainly, all our large terminals experienced vessel delays in December were pushed into the Q1 time frame. Additionally, MIRRAT had increased volumes due to diversion of cargo from other ports, unfortunately, due to flooding at various Australian ports. In addition, due to the end of the BMSB season, fumigation activities did show decreases in the quarter for Terminals.

The high & heavy activity increased in Solutions America, primarily due to an increase in inland transportation or trucking. Profit margins decreased due to the mix of generally lower margins in the inland business and the volatility of increased fuel prices not fully recoverable through surcharges to our customers in the quarter itself.

I'll now move on to a short update on the overall market developments more specific to the Logistics segment. Once again, on this slide, we look at all light vehicle flows in our 2 main Logistics regions of North America and Europe. This includes all product flows, meaning light vehicle production, both for domestic sales and export abroad plus imports. In these regions, sales and production developed as follows: in North America, in Q1, the semiconductor shortage continued and clearly held back sales. Semiconductor shortages are expected to ease as auto OEMs expected and to get a higher share of global chips in 2022, particularly in the second half before new production capacity really comes online in 2023. We also feel that higher inflation might have taken some of the steam out of the market demand itself.

Dealer inventories, however, still lack various models and trims, and we see that OEMs continue to prioritize the most profitable models in their lineups. Inventories still remain very low with 35 days supply. On the positive side, demand still remains positive with excellent job figures and, for the moment, relatively low interest rates as well as solid consumer confidence.

Higher average retail prices continue to support strong OEM and dealer profits for the vehicles available for sale. And in the U.S., we see increased focus on low emission vehicles, including the current administration has done by the goal of 50% EV sales by 2030 and the OEMs' focus on new low-emission vehicles. OEMs are now reporting consumers are quicker than expected in filling up their order books for electric vehicles.

For Europe, the region is affected by the war as well as consumer sentiment, and light vehicle production has dropped towards the end of Q1. The immediate effect of the war in Ukraine includes issues with sourcing of wire harnesses to autos, which is expected to be resolved during Q2. The challenging situation around semiconductors continued as well as -- as well and has led to longer waiting period starving the demand recovery that we've been seeing. Inventories as well in Europe continue to be at lows of only 40 days supply.

Most government incentives have continued and are still related to low-emission vehicles and stricter CO2 regulations, creating upward pressure on purchase prices, and we do see increasing imports from China to Europe, particularly related to low-emission vehicles. So all in all, inflation pressures to high energy and overall prices reduces the expected rebound that we had expected. However, as the semiconductor situation gradually does improve, we still believe sales will climb back to pre-COVID levels.

This concludes the update for the Logistics segment, and I'd like to hand over to Torbjorn for an update on our financial performance.

[Torbjørn Wist, executive]

Thank you very much, Mike. First, let's take a look at our key financial metrics, which reflect our strong performance. On the left-hand side of the chart, you can see that the total revenue for the group was about $1.15 billion, up 7% quarter-on-quarter. Adjusted EBITDA was $301 million, down 1% quarter-on-quarter and more than doubled year-on-year. The EBITDA was $309 million, which includes an $8 million gain on a sale of a vessel.

Shipping was the main contributor to the increase in revenue in Q1 but flat on EBITDA. In Logistics, revenue have been slightly increasing quarter-on-quarter, but reduced margins led to a slightly lower EBITDA. In Government, revenues slightly down Q-on-Q, while adjusted EBITDA marginally increased from Q4.

In the middle, you can see that the group posted a net profit of $177 million in Q1. Adjusted EBITDA margins decreased to 26.2% though remains solid. And we will get more into the key drivers behind the margins on the next slide. The cash increased over the quarter from $710 million to $759 million, and the net debt was reduced to some $3.3 billion.

On the right side, you can see that the last 12-month return on capital employed was 7.8%, up from 5.7% in Q4 due to the sharp LTM uptick in EBITDA. And note also from our report that we are now just reporting LTM ratios rather than annualized quarterly figures because to call it from more of a trend perspective makes more sense. The equity ratio is up to 37.4%. And the net debt to adjusted EBITDA improved to 3.2, down from 4x in Q4.

Now breaking down the Q1 EBITDA performance segment by segment. The Shipping segment delivered yet another very strong quarter, with adjusted EBITDA stable Q-on-Q in absolute terms. In relative terms, we saw margins come down from an all-time high of 32.3% in Q4 to a still solid 29.9% this quarter. Revenues increased on positive development in net rates and fuel surcharges, but the revenue increase was offset by operational challenges and increased fuel prices. Year-on-year EBITDA was again significantly up on a strong market rebound driving volumes and rates.

The Logistics segment saw a negative margin development from the previous quarter. We saw revenues pick up, but the growth was heavily driven by lower-margin services, such as our inland transportation business, including trucking and brokerage services. This side of the business also felt the effects of rising fuel prices, including a lag effect in passing on cost increases through surcharges to our customers. Year-on-year development was muted by lower auto volumes due to supply chain constraints, particularly in North America.

Government services EBITDA was boosted by the sale of a vessel to the U.S. government in Q1. And when we adjust for this, the Q-on-Q EBITDA growth was 10%, driven mainly by solid charter out activity. Year-on-year, margins dropped, negatively impacted by the significant hike in fuel prices.

Looking at Q-on-Q revenue and EBITDA development for the group as a whole. Our revenues grew $71 million to $1,149 million Q-on-Q. This was primarily driven by 3 factors. The volume effect was -- the effect was positive, both for Shipping and Logistics. Revenue per CBM was the biggest growth driver, explaining $38 million of the revenue increase. Several effects contributed to this, including favorable cargo mix development and a positive effect from long-term contract renewals. Fuel surcharges, earned under fuel adjustment clauses in shipping contracts, increased by $22 million from Q4, reflecting a significant increase in fuel prices over the previous period.

Adjusted EBITDA, on the other hand, was slightly down by $5 million Q-on-Q. And as you can see from the graph, the positive revenue effect is countered by cost pressure across the business. Cargo voyage costs increased for Shipping during the quarter in absolute terms and per CBM due to operational disruptions and port congestions as well as increased space charter costs, mainly from ex Europe trade, which more than offset cost efficiencies due to good fleet utilization. Fuel costs increased by $40 million on rising oil prices, more than outweighing the increase in surcharges for the quarter.

As Erik mentioned previously, most of the net negative effect is expected to be recovered as surcharge revenue in subsequent quarters. Vessel OpEx for shipping reduced $9 million Q-on-Q, partially due to a net reduction in owned fleet following vessel sale. Charter expenses were up on increased charter rates for the Shipping segment despite lower charter activity. SG&A was up on general wage and price inflation. And other Logistics, which includes manufacturing costs and operating expenses for the Logistics segment, also saw inflationary effects as the volume-driven cost increased.

Turning to our liquidity development. In the quarter, total cash increased by $49 million to $759 million due to higher cash flow from operations and low net investing cash flows. On the other hand, our undrawn credit facilities decreased by $20 million to $329 million due to a refinancing. When looking in further detail at the cash flows in the quarter, the cash flow from operations at $270 million is explained by adjusted EBITDA of $301 million, being offset mainly by $26 million paid in customer settlement and fines, and those payments significantly reduced the remaining antitrust liabilities, which is around $50 million and provisions, which is around $44 million set aside in the balance sheet. And taxes paid were about $7 million.

The investment cash flows of [ $5 million ] mainly consists of $21 million received from the sale of a vessel from government services to the U.S. government, as mentioned, $10 million paid for dry docking, $7 million paid in other maintenance CapEx and $10 million paid for investment in subsidiaries, the ALS that Mike referred to. The financing outflows were higher in Q1 than in Q4. We had a prepayment of $49 million of deferred installments granted during the onset of the pandemic in 2020. And as you all know, this prepayment opened the way for payment of dividends, which was now approved at the AGM.

The $6 million of bonds were repaid at maturity in Q1. A EUKOR $30 million RCF has been refinanced into a $20 million term loan and a $10 million RCF, explaining the reduction in the group total undrawn credit facilities. A debt balloon of $34 million relating to intercompany sale of 2 vessels. Other regular bank installments amounted to $53 million and regular lease payments to $69 million, and there were some $44 million of interest paid.

Turning to the balance sheet. We maintain a solid balance sheet and a comfortable liquidity position. Total assets increased to $7.9 billion, mainly due to the increase in cash and current assets. Book equity is at $3 billion, increased on the positive result. Net debt is $3.3 billion, a decrease of $124 million in Q1. As mentioned, cash increased by $49 million, and the debt repayment of $211 million in the quarter have exceeded the modest debt uptake and increase in lease liability. And as mentioned, within the debt repayment, we fully repaid the deferred debt.

The group's 2022 debt maturities are deemed manageable, and we have already or will refinance them during the year. $128 million relate to bond maturities in Q4. These maturities are fully covered by the $144 million 5-year sustainability-linked bond we did now in April. $117 million relates to secured debt balloons, and $40 million relates to a revolving credit facility, which are in the process of being refinanced with banks. And regular installments on leases and bank loans will be covered by cash flow from operations.

In Q1, we, as mentioned, published our sustainability-linked financing framework to allow us to link our sustainability track record and targets with future financings. Our framework target implies a 52% reduction in carbon intensity from 2008 to 2030. And this will exceed IMO's 2030 ambition for global shipping, which is to cut carbon intensity by 40% in the same time frame. On the back of this framework, we successfully issued our first sustainability-linked bond in April, and the transaction was, as mentioned, well received by investors with 2x oversubscription. And the pricing of the bond will be linked to the achievement of the framework CO2 intensity target.

With that, we conclude the financial update and turn to the prospects. We continue to expect the supply-demand balance in shipping to remain favorable over the midterm due to the overall global fleet situation. Logistics volumes will benefit from gradual improvement of the automotive semiconductor chip supply expected during the latter part of '22. And this is expected to allow us to further consolidate financial flexibility and help drive shareholder value creation in the absence of further volatility in the market. The current disruptions to the global supply chains negatively impact the group and its customers, and this contributes to margin pressure and operational complexity.

The potential risks that we have observed and lived with now for some time and also some new ones include further disruptions to the global supply chains; operational impact from further COVID-19 outbreaks, as we see in Shanghai, this is still clearly an issue; fuel supply disruption; and labor cost and availability, which is a global issue; of course, then, with the further escalation of the war in Ukraine and consequential negative global economic developments being risks that, of course, is getting a lot of attention in the market. And clearly, the inflationary pressure and the interest rate hike that we see perhaps combined with lower economic growth is not good for the global economic development.

And that concludes the presentation we had planned for today. We will have a Q&A session, and Anette will read the questions. So please send -- and I guess I will hand over to you, Anette to facilitate the Q&A.

[Anette Orsten, executive]

Thank you very much, Torbjorn. So everyone, please keep sending in your questions and with the Ask a Question button on the screen.

We've received a few questions so far. And the first ones are related to Erik and the Shipping business. So I'll read them both in one go, and Erik, you can prepare your answers. So the questions are related to rates and how much of our business is contracted.

Firstly, from Anders Karlsen, we have a question. Your average rate per CBM keeps improving. Can you quantify how much of the change that relates to higher contract rates for auto and how much is linked to high & heavy growth volumes?

And the second question for you, Erik, is from Lars Bastian Østereng. With regards to net freight, what share of volumes have fixed net freight for the remainder of the year?

[Erik Noeklebye, executive]

Yes. Thank you, Anette, and thanks for the questions. So I think we can maybe start off with -- the largest effect of net freight improvements will always be a cargo and trade mix. So when we have trades with higher profitability levels and also seeing better cargo mixes, that's going to then affect the net CBM write-up. At the same time, and I'm not going to comment on specific cargo segments as such, but I can say that all our cargo segments have seen improved the contract rates as well, and these are significant for all cargo segments. So I think I will leave it at that in terms of commenting specifically on that question.

And also when it comes then to net freight and the share of volume that have a fixed net freight for the remainder of the year, we have talked about this before. In terms of the majority of the volume base we have and the customer base, we have our own contracts. And those are usually then longer-term contracts from 1 year and up towards 3 years plus. So usually then when we contract and we get improvements in terms, that's going to them to stay with us for then a year and upwards. So I think I can say that towards that question.

[Anette Orsten, executive]

Very good, Erik. Thank you. And we've also received some questions relating to what outlook we have on volumes or on results. And I would just like to repeat that, as a rule, we do not guide the market on our outlook. And we would like to refer to the prospect statement that Torbjorn went through on the last slide.

We've now received one further question relating to our fuel cost and the fuel adjustment factor. So Erik, can you please cover the following? From [indiscernible], we received a question. What percentage of the fuel hike is covered by your contract mechanisms? And is there a time lag on the adjusted mechanisms?

[Erik Noeklebye, executive]

Yes. Thank you. The first question -- first part of that question, I think I'll refer back to my comments earlier in that a significant caution of the additional cost is recouped at a later stage. So I'm not going to go into percentages -- specific percentages, but there is a significant portion of the additional fuel costs which recovered.

As to the second question in terms of time lag, we have a lot of different types of mechanisms in contracts. But in general, you would see a recouping. The increased cost in 1 quarter will then usually be recouped in the next quarter. I think I can go to that level of detail. But beyond that, we do have a lot of different types of contracts and mechanisms.

I think I will leave it at that, Anette.

[Anette Orsten, executive]

Thank you. And we've also received now a question from [indiscernible]. Are you directly affected by closure of Shanghai and potentially Beijing? If so, are you able to redirect the volumes to other ports? And I think, Erik, this question belongs most naturally to you, relating to the congestion impact on our business.

[Erik Noeklebye, executive]

Yes. Thank you. Yes, absolutely, we are directly impacted. We -- so there are a couple of different volume flows then. So maybe we start with imports to China, especially out of Europe but also North America. And here, we are redirecting volumes as much as we can. So -- and then we have other parts, both in north and south of China. We can then redirect those volumes, too. And then, of course, we work with the customers on the export side, but of course, also more importantly, with then the importer side of the customer to try and work as good as possible in this to both to try and get their car then get their cargo through the market but also then limit the delays on our vessels.

When it comes to exports, it's improved. The situation in Shanghai is currently improving, but there are still challenges both linked to the component shortage in China itself but also then the lockdowns in Shanghai and lack of labor, lack of cargo moving in and out of the port, et cetera. And it is -- this has definitely led to volume falldowns now in April, partly in March, now in April, and we expect going into May for the same picture. So that's definitely there.

And on the export side, we are then trying to limit a number of calls we're making to Shanghai and rather maybe bring one vessel in and fill it up and clear it and maybe then reorder or reship the volume, for example, in another port in Korea. And then we can -- so at least we can maintain a volume. We can maintain a number of sailings to the customers, but we can also then limit the delays to our vessels.

[Anette Orsten, executive]

Very good. We've also received a couple of questions relating to -- further questions relating to our fuel adjustment factor, and I can cover those. I see from Petter Haugen. How should we think about the fuel adjustment factor adjustment and received surcharges for Q2? How does that compare to the change in the bunker cost?

And I think I will only refer back to Erik's answer just now as well as the comments during the webcast that there are many various factors impacting that and the contracts are varied and how they are done. So we will not guide any more on what the effect on Q2 will be.

And we've also received a question from [indiscernible] relating to fuel. Fuel costs seem to have increased less than expected by analysts. Are fuel costs in Q1 representative for what we should expect in the future with similar fuel prices?

And I will cover that as well. I think it's important to note that for accounting reasons, we do not necessarily see any fuel price effect immediately in the same quarter where prices are increasing. So I would not read too much out of the Q1 fuel cost side.

And then we have a question for Torbjorn relating to cash. And from Pål Holdø Dahl, we received the following question. Your net cash flow generation is strong these days. How should we think about your priority use of cash flow during 2022 and 2023? Torbjorn?

[Torbjørn Wist, executive]

Yes. No, look, we are obviously in a position right now where the cash flow generation is good, which is, of course, welcomed. We have a priority to remunerate our shareholders. We have a priority to reinvest in our business. We have said that we will revert with insights into our fleet strategy later in the year. And we, of course, have our Landbased business. So the cash generation that we have will be prioritized accordingly, the balancing, the need to remunerate shareholders in line with policy as well as reinvest it in our business.

[Anette Orsten, executive]

Very good. So far, there's one question left. So I would like to repeat that if you have any questions, please make sure to enter them into our system now.

The next question will be for both Mike and for Erik, and it's relating to labor. So [indiscernible] asks, you mentioned in the prospect section labor cost and availability as potential key risks. Have you seen some of these risks ease in the recent weeks/months? And Mike, can you please start relating to the Logistics side impact?

[Michael Hynekamp, executive]

Yes, certainly, it's a great question. I would say that in regards to timing, we certainly don't see anything in the latest weeks in terms of ease in both availability of labor or the cost challenges of that. I think we continue to foresee that, that will be a challenge for us given the macroeconomic indications that both Erik and I have provided, whether that be in our terminal locations or in our vehicle processing or equipment processing areas. Clearly, there are different levels of that based on geography, North America being one of the more highly concentrated ones of both our labor force and inflationary pressures, but we certainly see that challenge across most of our geographies from Australia, Asia, Europe and into North America.

[Anette Orsten, executive]

And I will then hand over to you, Erik, to answer the question more. Considering the crewing side, it could be useful to also think about the impact of any Russian, Ukrainian and then how you see that.

[Erik Noeklebye, executive]

Yes. For us specifically, that doesn't have that specific impact at the moment. We covered the war specifically, and it's more on the oil price side. In terms of shipping, though, and Mike covered, I think, the labor cost well, and that applies for Shipping as well. In terms of the labor shortage risk, we continue to see a challenge in terms of the availability of people working in terminals to load and discharge vessels. So that's one of the challenges that has been and will continue to be. And when it comes to the crew side, as you said, we -- crew challenge is less linked to access to actual competence and skilled levels. It's more linked to the challenges around COVID. There is still a challenge to travel. There is still a lot of testing to be done, vessels getting then maybe quarantined for a while if we have cases on board, et cetera. This is starting to ease, but it's still there. And it's still one of the many, many elements that brings the supply chain sort of in -- not chaos, but it certainly challenges operation. So I think I will stop there.

[Anette Orsten, executive]

Very good. We now have no further questions so far. So if you have any question, we will have some 30 seconds extra wait here as there is a slight delay to the webcast compared to us. So please go ahead and enter any final questions. And then if no arrive, we will be concluding.

No further questions today. So I would like to hand it back over to you, Torbjorn.

[Torbjørn Wist, executive]

Thank you, Anette, and thank you to everyone for tuning into our Q1 presentation this morning and also for your interest and engagement in the Q&A. Should you have any questions following the call, please reach out to Anette directly, and we will do what we can to address your questions. So thank you, and have a wonderful day. Bye.