00:00Talk to us about the kind of disruption that shipping companies are undergoing right now.
00:03Do you expect that to accelerate in 2026?
00:08Yeah, 2025 was a very, very difficult year for us.
00:14But particularly for the second half of 2025, we observed that the situation was gradually, gradually stabilizing.
00:23So at the moment, our sentiment is relatively optimistic.
00:30About the future in 2026, still lots of things are happening, particularly for the Middle East situation and Ukraine situations and also that lots of the trade tensions between U.S. and other countries.
00:48But so far, we can adjust ourselves.
00:54There are global trade choke points and the Strait of Homers is one of them.
00:58What's your own reading?
01:00Is the risk rising or easing at this stage?
01:03We cannot ignore the risk.
01:05At the moment, all trade, the passing through Homers Strait is OK.
01:11We are managing so many vessels, particularly for tankers and LNG carriers.
01:20It's very important for the global business.
01:23Of course, of course, we have some concern about the political situation in Iran and the action of the U.S., Israel, et cetera.
01:34So far, it should be all right.
01:36People talk about the possibility of a regime change in Iran.
01:40Would that encourage you to invest more?
01:43What would it take for you to do that?
01:44Yeah, very difficult question, but the regime change cannot happen overnight and it will probably create a very confused period, three years, five years or even ten years.
02:00Therefore, to be honest, I do not like the dramatic change at the moment.
02:07So even with the regime change, you may wait ten years before you decide to invest.
02:11Not say ten years, but we really need to find out what will happen after the potential regime change in Iran.
02:22And it's a bit too early to think about anything after the Iran situation.
02:29We're also seeing a rising number of shadow fleet vessels carrying Russian oil and bypassing sanctions.
02:36Is that impacting your business in any way?
02:38Yeah, to be honest, before the Ukraine situation, Russia was one of the very important oil and gas exporters.
02:52And we enjoyed the quite good business opportunities there.
02:58Gradually, gradually, we had to withdraw from that Russian business.
03:02And that so-called shadow fleet, that they are fulfilling our vacancy.
03:11And so that their system and our system are working independently.
03:18So that's a bit disappointing things for us.
03:25But for the time being, that situation will continue.
03:29So you are seeing more shadow fleet out at sea.
03:33Is that a correct assumption to be making?
03:35What are you seeing?
03:36At least the quite sizable shadow fleet will continue their service as long as the sanction regime will continue.
03:47And Russia is very determined to continue the export of their oil and gas, particularly for the emerging markets and China.
03:59Speaking of fleet, you have ambitions to own 150 LNG vessels.
04:05Where are you with that?
04:06Yeah, we are very on the line.
04:10And at the moment, there are so many new LNG projects coming to the market, like many, many U.S. projects.
04:22And also the new projects in Africa or Latin America.
04:30And so that we expect that we can continue that growing that this part of the business in LNG, LPG, and also the sun project.
04:44So that's quite interesting.
04:48Given the optimistic outlook, I'm just wondering whether you may need more than 150 vessels.
04:54Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
04:56Of course, the construction process will require three years, five years.
05:01We cannot achieve it overnight.
05:04But within that quite long period of time, within five years, ten years' time, we will certainly continue to grow our gas-related businesses.
05:17Hashimoto-san, I'm going to talk about the weakening Japanese yen.
05:20How is your company viewing the weakness in the currency?
05:25Some say that it is expected to weaken further and there will be no intervention from the government, from the BOJ, unless it reaches 165, 169.
05:36Yeah, I'm very immature.
05:39But it seems to me that until the Japanese government will change their fiscal policy and try to improve their fiscal deficit, it seems to me that very difficult to see the turning point.
05:59So for the time being that we expect the relatively weak yen will continue.
06:05So at what level do you think the yen will be trading?
06:08What assumptions are you making for the company and the business that you're running?
06:13Is it impacting the company?
06:17Yeah, of course, as a Japanese company, at the end of the day, our bottom line figure is a Japanese yen denominated.
06:25Therefore, on the surface, the weak yen is good for us.
06:31But if you have a big picture, perhaps the weak yen is not very good for the Japanese economy overall and the performance of our company overall.
06:43We're expecting Prime Minister Takaichi to call for a snap election soon.
06:48And of course, the market isn't too happy about that.
06:50They're concerned about the fiscal spending.
06:52Should we be concerned about the fiscal position of Japan?
06:55Yeah, she already declared a snap election.
06:59And for the time being, if she will dramatically win, then her aggressive fiscal policy should continue.
07:12And in theory, it means that the weak yen will also continue.
07:18Do you think the BOJ should intervene, raise rates earlier than anticipated to at least help provide some support for the currency?
07:24Yeah, it depends on the to support the currency is that the government job in Japan.
07:34Therefore, it's a priority issue in the government.
07:40And of course, companies looking at BOJ movements.
07:43When do you think the BOJ will raise rates?
07:46Might it happen in April?
07:47Yeah, once or twice in this year, 0.75% is still very, very low compared to the 3% inflation rate as of today.
08:02So therefore, it is very natural that I expect a series of interest increase by BOJ.
08:23After that today, I Lufti際會IND to hit the bracket, thank you very often for the first,
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