UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 20-F

(Mark One)

OR

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2018

OR

OR

Date of event requiring shell company report                 

For the transition period from                  to                 

Commission file number

001-33311

Navios Maritime Holdings Inc.

(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter)

Not Applicable

(Translation of Registrant’s Name into English)

Republic of Marshall Islands

(Jurisdiction of incorporation or organization)

7 Avenue de Grande Bretagne, Office 11B2

Monte Carlo, MC 98000 Monaco

(Address of principal executive offices)

Mark Hayek

Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP

One New York Plaza

New York, New York 10004

Tel: (212) 859-8000

Fax: (212) 859-4000

(Name, Telephone, E-mail and/or Facsimile number and Address of Company Contact Person)

Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act. None

Securities for which there is a reporting obligation pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Act. None

Indicate the number of outstanding shares of each of the issuer’s classes of capital or common stock as of the close of the period covered by the annual report:

12,843,414 shares of common stock, 14,191 shares of Series G and 28,612 shares of Series H as of December 31, 2018

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.    Yes  ☐    No  ☒

If this report is an annual or transition report, indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15 (d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.    Yes  ☐    No  ☒

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files).    Yes  ☒    No  ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.    Yes  ☒    No  ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or an emerging growth company. See the definition of “accelerated filer” and “large accelerated filer,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. (Check one):

If an emerging growth company that prepares its financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards† provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐

Indicate by check mark which basis of accounting the registrant has used to prepare the financial statements included in this filing:

If “Other” has been checked in response to the previous question, indicate by check mark which financial statement item the registrant has elected to follow.    Item 17  ☐    Item 18  ☐

If this is an annual report, indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).    Yes  ☐    No  ☒

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Please note in this Annual Report, “we”, “us”, “our”, the “Company” and “Navios Holdings” all refer to Navios Maritime Holdings Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries, except as otherwise indicated or where the context otherwise requires.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This Annual Report should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes included in this report.

Navios Maritime Holdings Inc. desires to take advantage of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and is including this cautionary statement in connection with this safe harbor legislation. This document and any other written or oral statements made by us or on our behalf may include forward-looking statements, which reflect our current views with respect to future events and financial performance. The words “may,” “could,” “should,” “would,” “expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “forecast,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “propose,” “potential,” “continue” and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements.

The forward-looking statements in this document and in other written or oral statements we make from time to time are based upon current assumptions, many of which are based, in turn, upon further assumptions, including without limitation, management’s examination of historical operating trends, data contained in our records, and other data available from third parties. Although we believe that these assumptions were reasonable when made, because these assumptions are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies which are difficult or impossible to predict and are beyond our control, we cannot assure you that we will achieve or accomplish these expectations, beliefs or projections.

In addition to these important factors and matters discussed elsewhere herein, important factors that, in our view, could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, the strength of world economies, fluctuations in currencies and interest rates, general market conditions, including fluctuations in charter hire rates and vessel values, changes in demand in the dry cargo shipping industry, changes in the Company’s operating expenses, including bunker prices, drydocking and insurance costs, expectations of dividends and distributions from affiliates, the Company’s ability to maintain compliance with the continued listing standards of the New York Stock Exchange (the “NYSE”), changes in governmental rules and regulations or actions taken by regulatory authorities, potential liability from pending or future litigation, general domestic and international political conditions, potential disruption of shipping routes due to accidents or political events, the value of our publicly traded subsidiaries, and other important factors described from time to time in the reports we file with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). See also “Risk Factors” below.

We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statement or statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date on which such statement is made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as required by law. New factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for us to predict all of these factors. Further, we cannot assess the impact of each such factor on our business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to be materially different from those contained in any forward-looking statement.

PART I

Item 1. Identity of Directors, Senior Management and Advisers

Not Applicable.

Item 2. Offer Statistics and Expected Timetable

Not Applicable.

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Item 3. Key Information

A. Selected Financial Data

Navios Holdings’ selected historical financial information and operating results for the years ended December 31, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015 and 2014 are derived from the consolidated financial statements of Navios Holdings. The selected consolidated statement of comprehensive (loss)/income data for the years ended December 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016 and the selected consolidated balance sheet data as of December 31, 2018 and 2017 have been derived from our audited consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report, adjusted to reflect the Reverse Stock Split (as defined herein) and the adoption of ASU 2016-18, Statement of Cash Flows (Topic 230): Restricted Cash. The selected consolidated financial data should be read in conjunction with “Item 5. Operating and Financial Review and Prospects”, the consolidated financial statements, related notes and other financial information included elsewhere in this Annual Report. The historical data included below and elsewhere in this Annual Report is not necessarily indicative of our future performance.

2

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Adjusted EBITDA has limitations as an analytical tool, and therefore, should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for the analysis of Navios Holdings’ results as reported under U.S. GAAP. Some of these limitations are: (i) Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect changes in, or cash requirements for, working capital needs; (ii) Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect the amounts necessary to service interest or principal payments on our debt and other financing arrangements; and (iii) although depreciation and amortization are non-cash charges, the assets being depreciated and amortized may have to be replaced in the future. Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect any cash requirements for such capital expenditures. Because of these limitations, among others, Adjusted EBITDA should not be considered as a principal indicator of Navios Holdings’ performance. Furthermore, our calculation of Adjusted EBITDA may not be comparable to that reported by other companies due to differences in methods of calculation.

The following table reconciles net cash provided by operating activities, as reflected in the consolidated statements of cash flows, to Adjusted EBITDA:

Adjusted EBITDA Reconciliation from Cash from Operations

4

B. Capitalization and Indebtedness

Not applicable.

C. Reasons for the Offer and Use of Proceeds

Not applicable.

D. Risk Factors

Some of the following risks relate principally to the industry in which we operate and our business in general. Other risks relate principally to the securities market and ownership of our common stock. You should carefully consider each of the following risks together with the other information incorporated into this Annual Report when evaluating the Company’s business and its prospects. The risks and uncertainties described below are not the only ones the Company faces. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to the Company or that the Company currently considers immaterial may also impair the Company’s business operations. If any of the following risks relating to our business and operations actually occur, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected and in that case, the trading price of our common stock could decline, and you could lose all or part of your investment.

Risks Associated with the Shipping Industry and Our Operations

The cyclical nature of the shipping industry may lead to decreases in charter rates and lower vessel values, which could adversely affect our and our affiliates’ results of operations and financial condition. In particular, charter rates in the dry cargo market have recently been near historical lows and certain of our vessels may operate below operating cost.

The shipping business, including the dry cargo market, is cyclical in varying degrees, experiencing severe fluctuations in charter rates, profitability and, consequently, vessel values. For example, during the period from January 1, 2017 to December 31, 2018, the Baltic Exchange’s Panamax time charter average daily rates experienced a low of $6,281 and a high of $14,385. Additionally, during the period from January 1, 2017 to December 31, 2018, the Baltic Exchange’s Capesize time charter average (BCI-5TCA) daily rates experienced a low of $4,630 and a high of $30,475 and the Baltic Dry Index (BDI) experienced a low of 685 points and a high of 1,774 points. Those ranges are above the recent all-time lows set in February and March 2016 of $2,260 for the Baltic Exchange’s Panamax time charter average, $1,985 for the Baltic Exchange’s Capesize time charter average and 290 for the BDI. There can be no assurance that the dry bulk charter market will not fluctuate or hit new lows. We anticipate that the future demand for our dry bulk carriers and dry bulk charter rates will be dependent upon demand for imported commodities, economic growth in the emerging markets, including the Asia Pacific region, of which China is particularly important, India, Brazil and Russia and the rest of the world, seasonal and regional changes in demand and changes to the capacity of the world fleet. Adverse economic, political, social or other developments can decrease demand and prospects for growth in the shipping industry and thereby could reduce revenue significantly. A decline in demand for commodities transported in dry bulk carriers (including disruptions due to trade or tariff actions) or an increase in supply of dry bulk vessels could cause a further decline in charter rates, which could materially adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition. If we sell a vessel at a time when the market value of our vessels has fallen, the sale may be at less than the vessel’s carrying amount, resulting in a loss.

Demand for container shipments declined significantly from 2008 to 2009 in the aftermath of the global financial crisis but has increased each year from 2009 to 2017. In 2017, total container trade grew by 5.8%, influenced by strong trade growth worldwide. In 2018, total container trade is estimated to have gained 4.2%, led by strong volumes going to the U.S. in spite of increased tariffs as well as increases in intra-regional trade. Containership supply growth was more than demand growth during 2018 as scrapping was significantly reduced due to trade growth and a marked improvement in time charter rates. For example, short term (6—12 month) time charter rates for 4,400 TEU container ships rose 44% to an average of $11,096 for all of 2018, but have declined during 2019 so far through March due to normal season weakness, trade or tariff actions. Additional orders for large and very large containerships continue to be placed during 2018 and through March 2019, both increasing the expected future supply of larger vessels and having a spillover effect on the market segment for smaller vessels. Ordering of container ships slowed significantly in 2016 and 2017 while scrapping increased to a record volume in 2016 and was the third highest on record in 2017. The recent global economic slowdown and disruptions in the trade and credit markets significantly reduced demand for products shipped in containers and, in turn, containership capacity, which has had an adverse effect on our and our affiliates’ results of operations and financial condition. The ongoing trade war and rising tariffs may have a similar effect.

The continuation of such containership oversupply or any declines in container freight rates could negatively affect the liner companies to which our affiliates seek to charter their containerships.

5

Historically, the tanker markets have been volatile as a result of the many conditions and factors that can affect the price, supply and demand for tanker capacity. Demand for crude oil and product tankers is historically well correlated with the growth or contraction of the world economy. The past several years were marked by a major economic slowdown, which has had, and continues to have, a significant impact on world trade, including the oil trade. Global economic conditions remain unsettled with significant uncertainty with respect to both short and long-term economic growth. Energy prices sharply declined from mid-2014 to the end of March 2016 primarily as a result of increased oil production worldwide. In response to this increased production, demand for tankers to move oil and refined petroleum products increased significantly and average spot and period charter rates for product and crude tankers rose, but have since then declined as more tankers have been delivered. Keys to this demand growth have been steady increases in Chinese and Indian crude oil imports since 2001 and a steady increase in U.S. oil production, which has led to a steady decline in U.S. crude oil imports since 2005. Oil products shipments have increased due to refinery closures in Europe, Japan and Australia with oil products being shipped to those regions from India, the Middle East and the U.S. With the increase in U.S. crude oil production, the U.S. became a net exporter of oil products since 2011 adding to the seaborne movement of oil products. For most of 2018, large inventories of products reduced arbitrage possibilities and resulted in lowered spot rates for product tankers. As inventory levels moderated, rates rose in the last few months of 2018 and into 2019 as fuel suppliers adjust inventories worldwide in advance of the coming IMO 2020 conversion of all shipping fuel to a maximum of 0.5% sulphur content. The additional U.S. oil production is being exported, particularly on long haul voyages, which has helped raise VLCC rates earlier in 2019, although they have declined since the refinery maintenance season started in March as the refiners gear up for IMO 2020. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (“OPEC”) is currently producing and shipping oil at very high levels, even after it announced the continued production cuts. Should OPEC significantly reduce oil production or should there be significant declines in non-OPEC oil production or should China or other emerging market countries suffer significant economic slowdowns or raise trade barriers, that may result in a protracted period of reduced oil shipments and a decreased demand for our affiliated tanker vessels and lower charter rates, which could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition.

The percentage of the total tanker fleet on order as a percent of the total fleet declined from 18% at the end of 2015 to 10% at the beginning of April 2019. An over-supply of tanker capacity may result in a reduction of charter hire rates. If a reduction in charter rates occurs, our affiliates may only be able to charter their tanker vessels at unprofitable rates or may not be able to charter these vessels at all, which could lead to a material adverse effect on our results of operations.

The demand for dry cargo vessels, containerships and tanker capacity has generally been influenced by, among other factors:

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The supply of vessel capacity has generally been influenced by, among other factors:

Our growth depends on continued growth in demand for dry bulk commodities and the shipping of dry bulk cargoes.

Our growth strategy focuses on expansion in the dry bulk shipping sector. Accordingly, our growth depends on continued growth in worldwide and regional demand for dry bulk commodities and the shipping of dry bulk cargoes, which could be negatively affected by a number of factors, such as declines in prices for dry bulk commodities, or general political and economic conditions.

Reduced demand for dry bulk commodities and the shipping of dry bulk cargoes would have a material adverse effect on our future growth and could harm our business, results of operations and financial condition. In particular, Asian economies, of which China is especially important, and India have been the main driving force behind the current increase in seaborne dry bulk trade and the demand for dry bulk carriers. A negative change in economic conditions in any Asian country, but particularly in China, Korea, Japan or India, may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations, as well as our future prospects, by reducing demand and resultant charter rates.

7

Weak economic conditions throughout the world, particularly the Asia Pacific region, renewed terrorist activity, the growing refugee crises and protectionist policies which could affect advanced economies, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

The global economy remains relatively weak, especially when compared to the period prior to the 2008-2009 financial crisis. The current global recovery is proceeding at varying speeds across regions and is still subject to downside economic risks stemming from factors like fiscal fragility in advanced economies, high sovereign and private debt levels, highly accommodative macroeconomic policies, the significant fall in the price of crude oil and other commodities and persistent difficulties in access to credit and equity financing as well as political risks such as the continuing war in Syria, renewed terrorist attacks around the world and the emergence of populist and protectionist political movements in advanced economies.

Concerns regarding new terrorist threats from groups in Europe and the growing refugee crisis may advance protectionist policies and may negatively impact globalization and global economic growth, which could disrupt financial markets, and may lead to weaker consumer demand in the EU, the U.S., and other parts of the world which could have a material adverse effect on our business.

In recent years, China has been one of the world’s fastest growing economies in terms of gross domestic product, which has had a significant impact on shipping demand. However, if China’s growth in gross domestic product declines and other countries in the Asia Pacific region experience slower or negative economic growth in the future, this may negatively affect the fragile recovery of the economies of the U.S. and the EU, and thus, may negatively impact shipping demand. For example, the possibility of the introduction of impediments to trade within the EU member countries in response to increasing terrorist activities, and the possibility of market reforms to float the Chinese renminbi, either of which development could weaken the Euro against the Chinese renminbi, could adversely affect consumer demand in the EU. Moreover, the revaluation of the renminbi may negatively impact the U.S.’ demand for imported goods, many of which are shipped from China. Any moves by either the U.S. or the EU to levy additional tariffs on imported goods carried in containers as part of protectionist measures or otherwise could decrease shipping demand. Such weak economic conditions or protectionist measures could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition, as well as our cash flows.

Disruptions in global financial markets from terrorist attacks, regional armed conflicts, general political unrest and the resulting governmental action could have a material adverse impact our ability to obtain financing required to acquire vessels or new businesses. Furthermore, such a disruption would adversely affect our results of operations, financial condition and cash flows and could cause the market price of our shares to decline.

Terrorist attacks in certain parts of the world, such as the attacks on the U.S. on September 11, 2001 or more recently in Paris and London, and the continuing response of the U.S. and other countries to these attacks, as well as the threat of future terrorist attacks, continue to cause uncertainty and volatility in the world financial markets and may affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. In addition, global financial markets and economic conditions have been severely disrupted and volatile in recent years and remain subject to significant vulnerabilities, such as the deterioration of fiscal balances and the rapid accumulation of public debt, continued deleveraging in the banking sector and a limited supply of credit. Credit markets as well as the debt and equity capital markets were exceedingly distressed during 2008 and 2009 and have been volatile since that time. The continuing refugee crisis in the EU, the continuing war in Syria and advances of ISIS and other terrorist organizations in the Middle East, conflicts in Iraq, general political unrest in Ukraine, and political tension or conflicts in the Asia Pacific Region such as in the South China Sea and North Korea have led to increased volatility in global credit and equity markets. The resulting uncertainty and volatility in the global financial markets may accordingly affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. These uncertainties, as well as future hostilities or other political instability in regions where our vessels trade, could also affect trade volumes and patterns and adversely affect our operations, and otherwise have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition, as well as our cash flows.

Further, as a result of the ongoing political and economic turmoil in Greece resulting from the sovereign debt crisis and the related austerity measures implemented by the Greek government, the operations of our managers located in Greece may be subjected to new regulations and potential shift in government policies that may require us to incur new or additional compliance or other administrative costs and may require the payment of new taxes or other fees. We also face the risk that strikes, work stoppages, civil unrest and violence within Greece may disrupt the shoreside operations of our managers located in Greece.

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Specifically, these issues, along with the re-pricing of credit risk and the difficulties currently experienced by financial institutions, have made, and will likely continue to make, it difficult to obtain financing. As a result of the disruptions in the credit markets and higher capital requirements, many lenders have increased margins on lending rates, enacted tighter lending standards, required more restrictive terms (including higher collateral ratios for advances, shorter maturities and smaller loan amounts), or have refused to refinance existing debt at all. Furthermore, certain banks that have historically been significant lenders to the shipping industry have reduced or ceased lending activities in the shipping industry. Additional tightening of capital requirements and the resulting policies adopted by lenders, could further reduce lending activities. We may experience difficulties obtaining financing commitments or be unable to fully draw on the capacity under our committed term loans in the future, if our lenders are unwilling to extend financing to us or unable to meet their funding obligations due to their own liquidity, capital or solvency issues. We cannot be certain that financing will be available on acceptable terms or at all. If financing is not available when needed, or is available only on unfavorable terms, we may be unable to meet our future obligations as they come due. Our failure to obtain such funds could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition, as well as our cash flows. In the absence of available financing, we also may be unable to take advantage of business opportunities or respond to competitive pressures.

A decrease in the level of China’s imports of raw materials or a decrease in trade globally could have a material adverse impact on our charterers’ business and, in turn, could cause a material adverse impact on our results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.

China imports significant quantities of raw materials. For example, in 2018, China imported 1.047 billion tons of iron out of a total of 1.476 billion tons shipped globally accounting for about 71% of the global seaborne iron ore trade. While it only accounted for about 19% of seaborne coal movements of coal in 2018 according to current estimates (236 million tons imported compared to 1.262 billion tons of seaborne coal traded globally), that is a decline from over 22% in 2013 (264 million tons imported compared to 1.182 billion tons of seaborne coal traded globally). Our dry bulk vessels are deployed by our charterers on routes involving dry bulk trade in and out of emerging markets, and our charterers’ dry bulk shipping and business revenue may be derived from the shipment of goods within and to the Asia Pacific region from various overseas export markets. Any reduction in or hindrance to China-based importers could have a material adverse effect on the growth rate of China’s imports and on our charterers’ business. For instance, the government of China has implemented economic policies aimed at reducing pollution, increasing consumption of domestically produced Chinese coal, promoting the export of such coal or raising tariffs on imported bulk cargoes from certain countries including the United States. This may have the effect of reducing the demand for imported raw materials and may, in turn, result in a decrease in demand for dry bulk shipping. Additionally, though in China there is an increasing level of autonomy and a gradual shift in emphasis to a “market economy” and enterprise reform, many of the reforms, particularly some limited price reforms that result in the prices for certain commodities being principally determined by market forces, are unprecedented or experimental and may be subject to revision, change or abolition. The level of imports to and exports from China could be adversely affected by changes to these economic reforms by the Chinese government, as well as by changes in political, economic and social conditions or other relevant policies of the Chinese government.

For example, China imposes a new tax for non-resident international transportation enterprises engaged in the provision of services of passengers or cargo, among other items, in and out of China using their own, chartered or leased vessels, including any stevedore, warehousing and other services connected with the transportation. The regulation broadens the range of international transportation companies who may find themselves liable for Chinese enterprise income tax on profits generated from international transportation services passing through Chinese ports. This tax or similar regulations, such as the recently promoted environmental taxes on coal or tariffs on imports of U.S. soybeans, by China may result in an increase in the cost of raw materials imported to China and the risks associated with importing raw materials to China, as well as a decrease in the quantity of raw materials to be shipped from our charterers to China or a decrease in the distance bulk materials travel to get to China. This could have an adverse impact on our charterers’ business, operating results and financial condition and could thereby affect their ability to make timely charter hire payments to us and to renew and increase the number of their time charters with us.

Our operations expose us to the risk that increased trade protectionism from China or other nations will adversely affect our business. If the global recovery is undermined by downside risks and the recent economic downturn returns, governments may turn to trade barriers to protect their domestic industries against foreign imports, thereby depressing the demand for shipping. Specifically, increasing trade protectionism in the markets that our charterers serve may cause (i) a decrease in cargoes available to our charterers in favor of local charterers and local owned ships and (ii) an increase in the risks associated with importing goods to China. Any increased trade barriers or restrictions on trade, especially trade with China, would have an adverse impact on our charterers’ business, operating results and financial condition and could thereby affect their ability to make timely charter hire payments to us and to renew and increase the number of their time charters with us. This could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and our ability to pay cash distributions to our stockholders.

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When our contracts expire, we may not be able to successfully replace them, or we may not choose to enter into long-term contracts at levels that are at or below operating costs.

The process for concluding contracts and longer term time charters generally involves a lengthy and intensive screening and vetting process and the submission of competitive bids. In addition to the quality and suitability of the vessel, medium and longer term shipping contracts tend to be awarded based upon a variety of other factors relating to the vessel operator, including:

It is likely that we will face substantial competition for long-term charter business from a number of experienced companies. We may not be able to compete profitably as we expand our business into new geographic regions or provide new services. New markets may require different skills, knowledge or strategies than we use in our current markets. Many of these competitors have significantly greater financial resources than we do. It is also likely that we will face increased numbers of competitors entering into our transportation sectors, including in the containership and drybulk sector. Many of these competitors have strong reputations and extensive resources and experience. Increased competition may cause greater price competition, especially for long-term charters.

As a result of these factors, when our contracts including our long-term charters expire, we cannot assure you that we will be able to replace them promptly or at all or at rates sufficient to allow us to operate our business profitably, to meet our obligations, including payment of debt service to our lenders, or to pay dividends. Our ability to renew the charter contracts on our vessels on the expiration or termination of our current charters, or, on vessels that we may acquire in the future, the charter rates payable under any replacement charter contracts, will depend upon, among other things, economic conditions in the sectors in which our vessels operate at that time, changes in the supply and demand for vessel capacity and changes in the supply and demand for the transportation of commodities. During periods of market distress when long-term charters may be renewed at rates at or below operating costs, we may not choose to charter our vessels for longer terms particularly if doing so would create an ongoing negative cash flow during the period of the charter. We may instead choose or be forced to idle our vessels or lay them up or scrap them depending on market conditions and outlook at the time those vessels become available for charter.

However, if we are successful in employing our vessels under longer-term time charters, our vessels will not be available for trading in the spot market during an upturn in the market cycle, when spot trading may be more profitable. If we cannot successfully employ our vessels in profitable charter contracts, our results of operations and operating cash flow could be materially adversely affected.

10

We may employ vessels on the spot market and thus expose ourselves to risk of losses based on short-term decreases in shipping rates.

We periodically employ some of our vessels on a spot basis. The spot charter market is highly competitive and freight rates within this market are highly volatile, while longer-term charter contracts provide income at pre-determined rates over more extended periods of time. We cannot assure you that we will be successful in keeping our vessels fully employed in these short-term markets, or that future spot rates will be sufficient to enable such vessels to be operated profitably. A significant decrease in spot market rates or our inability to fully employ our vessels by taking advantage of the spot market would result in a reduction of the incremental revenue received from spot chartering and adversely affect our results of operations, including our profitability and cash flows, with the result that our ability to pay debt service and dividends could be impaired.

Additionally, if spot market rates or short-term time charter rates become significantly lower than the time charter equivalent rates that some of our charterers are obligated to pay us under our existing charters, the charterers may have incentive to default under that charter or attempt to renegotiate the charter. If our charterers fail to pay their obligations, we would have to attempt to re-charter our vessels at lower charter rates, which would affect our ability to comply with our loan covenants and operate our vessels profitably. If we are not able to comply with our loan covenants and our lenders choose to accelerate our indebtedness and foreclose their liens, we could be required to sell vessels in our fleet and our ability to continue to conduct our business would be impaired.

We depend upon significant customers for part of our revenues. The loss of one or more of these customers or a decline in the financial capability of our customers could materially adversely affect our financial performance.

We derive a significant part of our revenue from a small number of charterers. During the years ended December 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016, we derived approximately 35.9%, 31.1%, and 41.1%, respectively, of our gross revenues from four customers. For the year ended December 31, 2018, two customers accounted for 12.8% and 11.4%, respectively, of the Company’s revenue. For the year ended December 31, 2017, no customers accounted for more than 10% of the Company’s revenue. For the year ended December 31, 2016, two customers accounted for 14.7% and 13.1%, respectively, of the Company’s revenue.

We could lose a customer or the benefits of a time charter if, among other things:

Furthermore, a number of our charters are at above-market rates, such that any loss of such charter may require us to recharter the vessel at lower rates. Additionally, our charterers from time to time have sought to renegotiate their charter rates with us. We no longer maintain insurance against the risk of default by our customers.

If one or more of our customers is unable to perform under one or more charters with us and we are not able to find a replacement charter, or if a charterer exercises certain rights to terminate the charter, or if a charterer is unable to make its charter payments in whole or in part, we could suffer a loss of revenues that could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We are subject to certain credit risks with respect to our counterparties on contracts, and the failure of such counterparties to meet their obligations could cause us to suffer losses on such contracts and thereby decrease revenues.

We charter-out our vessels to other parties who pay us a daily rate of hire. We also enter into contracts of affreightment (“COAs”) pursuant to which we agree to carry cargoes, typically for industrial customers, who export or import dry bulk cargoes. We also enter into spot market voyage contracts, where we are paid a rate per ton to carry a specified cargo on a specified route. These contracts and arrangements subject us to counterparty credit risks at various levels. If the counterparties fail to meet their obligations, we could suffer losses on such contracts, which could materially adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations. In addition, if a charterer defaults on a time charter, we may only be able to enter into new contracts at lower rates. It is also possible that we would be unable to secure a charter at all. If we re-charter the vessel at lower rates or not at all, our financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected.

11

Trading and complementary hedging activities in freight and tonnage subject us to trading risks, and we may suffer trading losses, which could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.

Due to dry bulk shipping market volatility, success in this shipping industry requires constant adjustment of the balance between chartering-out vessels for long periods of time and trading them on a spot basis. A long-term contract to charter a vessel might lock us into a profitable or unprofitable situation depending on the direction of freight rates over the term of the contract. We may seek to manage and mitigate that risk through trading and complementary hedging activities in freight and tonnage. There can be no assurance that we will be able at all times to successfully protect ourselves from volatility in the shipping market. We may not successfully mitigate our risks, leaving us exposed to unprofitable contracts, and may suffer trading losses resulting from these hedging activities.

We are subject to certain operating risks, including vessel breakdowns or accidents, that could result in a loss of revenue from the chartered-in vessels and which in turn could have an adverse effect on our results of operations or financial condition.

Our exposure to operating risks of vessel breakdown and accidents mainly arises in the context of our owned vessels. The rest of our core fleet is chartered-in under time charters and, as a result, most operating risks relating to these time chartered vessels remain with their owners. If we pay hire on a chartered-in vessel at a lower rate than the rate of hire it receives from a sub-charterer to whom we have chartered out the vessel, a breakdown or loss of the vessel due to an operating risk suffered by the owner will, in all likelihood, result in our loss of the positive spread between the two rates of hire. Although we maintain insurance policies (subject to deductibles and exclusions) to cover us against the loss of such spread through the sinking or other loss of a chartered-in vessel, we cannot assure you that we will be covered under all circumstances or that such policies will be available in the future on commercially reasonable terms. Breakdowns or accidents involving our vessels and losses relating to chartered vessels, which are not covered by insurance, would result in a loss of revenue from the affected vessels adversely affecting our financial condition and results of operations.

Risks inherent in the operation of ocean-going vessels could affect our business and reputation, which could adversely affect our expenses, net income, cash flow and the price of our common stock.

The operation of ocean-going vessels entails certain inherent risks that may materially adversely affect our business and reputation, including:

Such occurrences could result in death or injury to persons, loss of property or environmental damage, delays in the delivery of cargo, loss of revenues from or termination of charter contracts, governmental fines, penalties or restrictions on conducting business, litigation with our employees, customers or third parties, higher insurance rates, and damage to our reputation and customer relationships generally. Although we maintain hull and machinery and war risks insurance, as well as protection and indemnity insurance, which may cover certain risks of loss resulting from such occurrences, our insurance coverage may be subject to caps or not cover such losses and any of these circumstances or events could increase our costs or lower our revenues. The involvement of our vessels in an environmental disaster may harm our reputation as a safe and reliable vessel owner and operator. Any of these results could have a material adverse effect on business, results of operations and financial condition, as well as our cash flows.

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We are subject to various laws, regulations and conventions, including environmental and safety laws that could require significant expenditures both to maintain compliance with such laws and to pay for any uninsured environmental liabilities including any resulting from a spill or other environmental incident.

The shipping business and vessel operation are materially affected by government regulation in the form of international conventions, national, state and local laws, and regulations in force in the jurisdictions in which vessels operate, as well as in the country or countries of their registration, such as the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, the International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships’ Ballast Water and Sediments, the International Convention for Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage, the International Convention on Civil Liability for Bunker Oil Pollution Damage, the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, and The Offshore Petroleum Licensing (Offshore Safety Directive) Regulations 2015. Governmental regulations, safety or other equipment standards, as well as compliance with standards imposed by maritime self-regulatory organizations and customer requirements or competition, may require us to make capital and other expenditures. Because such conventions, laws and regulations are often revised, we cannot predict the ultimate cost of complying with such conventions, laws and regulations, or the impact thereof on the fair market price or useful life of our vessels. In order to satisfy any such requirements, we may be required to take any of our vessels out of service for extended periods of time, with corresponding losses of revenues. In the future, market conditions may not justify these expenditures or enable us to operate our vessels, particularly older vessels, profitably during the remainder of their economic lives. This could lead to significant asset write downs. In addition, violations of environmental and safety regulations can result in substantial penalties and, in certain instances, seizure or detention of our vessels.

Additional conventions, laws and regulations may be adopted that could limit our ability to do business, require capital expenditures or otherwise increase our cost of doing business, which may materially adversely affect our operations, as well as the shipping industry generally. In various jurisdictions legislation has been enacted, or is under consideration, that would impose more stringent requirements on air pollution and effluent discharges from our vessels.

Certain jurisdictions have adopted more stringent requirements. For instance, California has adopted more stringent low sulfur fuel requirements within California regulated waters. Compliance with new emissions standards could require modifications to vessels or the use of more expensive fuel. While it is unclear how new emissions standards will affect the employment of our vessels, over time it is possible that ships not retrofitted to comply with new standards may become less competitive.

In addition, the IMO, the U.S. and states within the U.S. have proposed or implemented requirements relating to the management of ballast water to prevent the harmful effects of foreign invasive species. These ballast water proposals and requirements are discussed below in the risk factor relating to ballast water.

The operation of vessels is also affected by the requirements set forth in the International Safety Management (“ISM”) Code. The ISM Code requires shipowners and bareboat charterers to develop and maintain an extensive Safety Management System (the “SMS”) that includes the adoption of a safety and environmental protection policy setting forth instructions and procedures for safe vessel operation and describing procedures for dealing with emergencies. Further to this, the IMO has introduced the first ever mandatory measures for an international greenhouse gas reduction regime for a global industry sector. These energy efficiency measures took effect on January 1, 2013 and apply to all ships of 400 gross tonnage and above. They include the development of a ship energy efficiency management plan (“SEEMP”) which is akin to a safety management plan, with which the industry will have to comply. The failure of a ship owner or bareboat charterer to comply with the ISM Code and IMO measures may subject such party to withdrawal of the permit to operate or manage the vessels, increased liability, decreased available insurance coverage for the affected vessels, and may result in a denial of access to, or detention in, certain ports.

We operate a fleet of vessels that are subject to national and international laws governing pollution from such vessels. Several international conventions impose and limit pollution liability from vessels. An owner of a tanker vessel carrying a cargo of “persistent oil” as defined by the International Convention for Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage (the “CLC”) is subject under the convention to strict liability for any pollution damage caused in a contracting state by an escape or discharge from cargo or bunker tanks. This liability is subject to a financial limit calculated by reference to the tonnage of the ship, and the right to limit liability may be lost if the spill is caused by the shipowner’s intentional or reckless conduct. Liability may also be incurred under the CLC for a bunker spill from the vessel even when she is not carrying such cargo, but is in ballast.

When a tanker is carrying clean oil products that do not constitute “persistent oil” that would be covered under the CLC, liability for any pollution damage will generally fall outside the CLC and will depend on other international conventions or domestic laws in the jurisdiction where the spillage occurs. The same principle applies to any pollution from the vessel in a jurisdiction, which is not a party to the CLC. The CLC applies in over 100 jurisdictions around the world, but it does not apply in the U.S., where the corresponding liability laws such as the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (the “OPA 90”) discussed below, are particularly stringent.

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For vessel operations not covered by the CLC, including those operated under our fleet, international liability for oil pollution is governed by the International Convention on Civil Liability for Bunker Oil Pollution Damage (the “Bunker Convention”). In 2001, the IMO adopted the Bunker Convention, which imposes strict liability on shipowners for pollution damage and response costs incurred in contracting states caused by discharges, or threatened discharges, of bunker oil from all classes of ships not covered by the CLC. The Bunker Convention also requires registered owners of ships over a certain size to maintain insurance to cover their liability for pollution damage in an amount equal to the limits of liability under the applicable national or international limitation regime, including liability limits calculated in accordance with the Convention on Limitation of Liability for Maritime Claims 1976, as amended (the “1976 Convention”), discussed in more detail in the following paragraph. The Bunker Convention became effective in contracting states on November 21, 2008 and as of February 7, 2017, had 83 contracting states. In non-contracting states, liability for such bunker oil pollution typically is determined by the national or other domestic laws in the jurisdiction where the spillage occurs.

The CLC and Bunker Convention also provide vessel owners a right to limit their liability, depending on the applicable national or international regime. The CLC includes its own liability limits. The 1976 Convention is the most widely applicable international regime limiting maritime pollution liability. Rights to limit liability under the 1976 Convention are forfeited where a spill is caused by a shipowner’s intentional or reckless conduct. Certain jurisdictions have ratified the IMO’s Protocol of 1996 to the 1976 Convention, referred to herein as the “Protocol of 1996.” The Protocol of 1996 provides for substantially higher liability limits in those jurisdictions than the limits set forth in the 1976 Convention. Finally, some jurisdictions, such as the U.S., are not a party to either the 1976 Convention or the Protocol of 1996, and, therefore, a shipowner’s rights to limit liability for maritime pollution in such jurisdictions may be uncertain.

Environmental legislation in the U.S. merits particular mention as it is in many respects more onerous than international laws, representing a high-water mark of regulation with which ship owners and operators must comply, and of liability likely to be incurred in the event of non-compliance or an incident causing pollution. Though it has been eight years since the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico (the “Deepwater Horizon incident”), such regulation may become even stricter because of the incident’s impact. In the U.S., the OPA90 establishes an extensive regulatory and liability regime for the protection and cleanup of the environment from cargo and bunker oil spills from vessels, including tankers. The OPA 90 covers all owners and operators whose vessels trade in the U.S., its territories and possessions or whose vessels operate in U.S. waters, which includes the U.S.’s territorial sea and its 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone. Under the OPA 90, vessel owners, operators and bareboat charterers are “responsible parties” and are jointly, severally and strictly liable (unless the spill results solely from the act or omission of a third party, an act of God or an act of war) for all containment and clean-up costs and other damages arising from discharges or substantial threats of discharges, of oil from their vessels. The U.S. Congress has in the past considered bills to strengthen certain requirements of the OPA 90; similar legislation may be introduced in the future. Further, under the federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (“CERCLA”) and similar state laws, investigation and cleanup requirements for threatened or actual releases of hazardous substances may be imposed upon owners and operators of vessels, on a joint and several basis, regardless of fault or the legality of the original activity that resulted in the release of hazardous substances.

In addition to potential liability under the federal OPA 90, vessel owners may in some instances incur liability on an even more stringent basis under state law in the particular state where the spillage occurred. For example, California regulations prohibit the discharge of oil, require an oil contingency plan be filed with the state, require that the ship owner contract with an oil response organization and require a valid certificate of financial responsibility, all prior to the vessel entering state waters.

In recent years, the EU has become increasingly active in the field of regulation of maritime safety and protection of the environment. In some areas of regulation, the EU has introduced new laws without attempting to procure a corresponding amendment to international law. Notably, the EU adopted in 2005 a directive, as amended in 2009, on ship-source pollution, imposing criminal sanctions for pollution not only where pollution is caused by intent or recklessness (which would be an offence under MARPOL), but also where it is caused by “serious negligence.” The concept of “serious negligence” may be interpreted in practice to be little more than ordinary negligence. The directive could therefore result in criminal liability being incurred in circumstances where it would not be incurred under international law.

The EU has also issued Directive 2013/30/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of June 12, 2013 on safety of offshore oil and gas operations. The objective of this Directive is to reduce as much as possible the occurrence of major accidents relating to offshore oil and gas operations and to limit their consequences, thus increasing the protection of the marine environment and coastal economies against pollution, establishing minimum conditions for safe offshore exploration and exploitation of oil and gas and limiting possible disruptions to EU indigenous energy production, and to improve the response mechanisms in case of an accident. The Directive was implemented on July 19, 2015. As far as the environment is concerned, the U.K. has various new or amended regulations such as: the Offshore Petroleum Activities (Offshore Safety Directive) (Environmental Functions) Regulations 2015 (OSDEF), the 2015 amendments to the Merchant Shipping (Oil Pollution Preparedness, Response and Cooperation Convention) Regulations 1998 (OPRC 1998) and other environmental Directive requirements, specifically the Environmental Management System. The Offshore Petroleum Licensing (Offshore Safety Directive) Regulations 2015 will implement the licensing Directive requirements.

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Criminal liability for a pollution incident could not only result in us incurring substantial penalties or fines, but may also, in some jurisdictions, facilitate civil liability claims for greater compensation than would otherwise have been payable.

We maintain insurance coverage for each owned vessel in our fleet against pollution liability risks in the amount of $1.0 billion in the aggregate for any one event. The insured risks include penalties and fines as well as civil liabilities and expenses resulting from accidental pollution. However, this insurance coverage is subject to exclusions, deductibles and other terms and conditions. If any liabilities or expenses fall within an exclusion from coverage, or if damages from a catastrophic incident exceed the aggregate liability of $1.0 billion for any one event, our cash flow, profitability and financial position would be adversely impacted.

We may be required to make significant investments in ballast water management, which may have a material adverse effect on our future performance, results of operations, and financial position.

As discussed above, the International Convention for the Control and Management of Vessels’ Ballast Water and Sediments (the “BWM Convention”) which was adopted in February 2004 aims to prevent the spread of harmful aquatic organisms from one region to another, by establishing standards and procedures for the management and control of ships’ ballast water and sediments. The BWM Convention’s implementing regulations call for a phased introduction of mandatory ballast water exchange requirements, to be replaced in time with mandatory concentration limits, as well as other obligations, including recordkeeping requirements and implementation of a Ballast Water and Sediments Management Plan. The BWM Convention stipulates that it will enter into force twelve months after it has been adopted by at least 30 states, the combined merchant fleets of which represent at least 35% of the gross tonnage of the world’s merchant shipping. With Finland’s accession to the Agreement on September 8, 2016, the 35% threshold was reached, and the BWM Convention entered into force on September 8, 2017. Thereafter, on October 19, 2016, Panama also acceded to the BWM Convention, adding its 18.02% of world gross tonnage. As of September 8, 2017, the BWM Convention had 69 contracting states for 75.11% of world gross tonnage. Although new ships constructed after September 8, 2017 must comply on delivery with the BWM Convention, implementation of the BWM Convention has been delayed for existing vessels (constructed prior to September 8, 2017) for a further two years. For such existing vessels, installation of ballast water management systems must take place at the first renewal survey following September 8, 2017 (the date the BWM Convention entered into force). The BWM Convention requires ships to manage ballast water in a manner that removes, renders harmless or avoids the update or discharge of aquatic organisms and pathogens within ballast water and sediment. Recently updated Ballast Water and Sediment Management Plan guidance includes more robust testing and performance specifications. The entry of the BWM Convention and revised guidance, as well as similar ballast water treatment requirements in certain jurisdictions (such as the U.S. and states within the U.S.), will likely result in compliance costs relating to the installation of equipment on our vessels to treat ballast water before it is discharged and other additional ballast water management and reporting requirements. Investments in ballast water treatment may have a material adverse effect on our future performance, results of operations, cash flows and financial position.

Climate change and government laws and regulations related to climate change could negatively impact our financial condition.

We are and will be, directly and indirectly, subject to the effects of climate change and may, directly or indirectly, be affected by government laws and regulations related to climate change. A number of countries have adopted or are considering the adoption of, regulatory frameworks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In the U.S., the United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) has declared greenhouse gases to be dangerous pollutants and has issued greenhouse gas reporting requirements for emissions sources in certain industries (which does not include the shipping industry). EPA does require owners of vessels subject to MARPOL Annex VI to maintain records for nitrogen oxides standards and in-use fuel specifications. In addition, while the emissions of greenhouse gases from international shipping are not subject to the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change(the “UNFCCC”), which requires adopting countries to implement national programs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the IMO intends to develop limits on greenhouse gases from international shipping. It has responded to the global focus on climate change and greenhouse gas emissions by developing specific technical and operational efficiency measures and a work plan for market-based mechanisms in 2011. These include the mandatory measures of under the ISM Code, and an energy efficiency design index (“EEDI”) for new ships. The IMO is also considering its position on market-based measures through an expert working group. Among the numerous proposals being considered by the working group are the following: a port state levy based on the amount of fuel consumed by the vessel on its voyage to the port in question; a global emissions trading scheme which would allocate emissions allowances and set an emissions cap; and an international fund establishing a global reduction target for international shipping, to be set either by the UNFCCC or the IMO.

At the 68th session (2015) of the IMO’s Marine Environment Protection Committee (the “MEPC”), the MEPC amended the 2014 Guidelines on EEDI survey and certification as well as the method of calculating of EEDI for new ships, the latter of which was again amended at the 70th session (2016). At its 70th session, the MEPC also adopted mandatory requirements for ships of 5,000 gross tonnage or greater to collect fuel consumption data for each type of fuel used, and report the data to the flag State after the end of each calendar year. At the 72nd MEPC session (April 2018), the committee adopted the goal of reducing annual greenhouse gas emissions from ships by at least 50% by 2050 as compared to 2008 levels, which if implemented could significantly increase operational costs associated with equipment upgrades and fuel costs.

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Although regulation of greenhouse gas emissions in the shipping industry was discussed during the 2015 UN Climate Change Conference in Paris (the “Paris Conference”), the agreement reached among the 195 nations did not expressly reference the shipping industry. Following the Paris Conference, the IMO announced it would continue its efforts on this issue at the MEPC, and at its 70th session, the MEPC approved a Roadmap for developing a comprehensive GHG emissions reduction strategy for ships, which includes the goal of adopting an initial strategy and emission reduction commitments in 2018. In April 2018, the initial strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from shipping by at least 50% by 2050 compared to 2008 levels, while pursuing efforts towards phasing them out entirely, as a pathway towards greenhouse gas emissions reduction consistent with the Paris Agreement’s temperature goals. The initial strategy is due to be revised and adopted by 2023.

On August 3, 2017, the U.S. formally submitted a notice of withdrawal from the Paris Agreement. Thus far, no other nations have withdrawn from the Paris Agreement, so it remains to be seen whether the withdrawal will significantly impact greenhouse gas developments moving forward. The EU United Nations’ Katowice Climate Change Conference occurred December 2-14, 2018. The key objective of the meeting was to begin adopting the implementation guidelines of the Paris Climate Change Agreement.

The EU announced in April 2007 that it planned to expand the EU emissions trading scheme (“ETS”) by adding vessels, as ETS-regulated businesses required to report on carbon emissions and subject to a credit trading system for carbon allowances. A proposal from the European Commission was expected if no global regime for reduction of seaborne emissions had been agreed to by the end of 2011. On October 1, 2012, the European Commission announced that it would propose measures to monitor, verify and report on greenhouse-gas emissions from the shipping sector. On June 28, 2013, the European Commission adopted a communication setting out a strategy for progressively including greenhouse gas emissions from maritime transport in the EU’s policy for reducing its overall greenhouse emissions. The first step proposed by the European Commission was an EU Regulation to an EU-wide system for the monitoring, reporting and verification of carbon dioxide emissions from large ships starting in 2018. The EU Regulation (2015/757) was adopted on April 29, 2015 and took effect on July 1, 2015, with monitoring, reporting and verification requirements beginning on January 1, 2018. This Regulation appears to be indicative of an intent to maintain pressure on the international negotiating process. The European Commission also adopted an Implementing Regulation, which entered into force in November 2016, setting templates for monitoring plans, emissions reports and compliance documents pursuant to Regulation 2015/757.

In February 2017, EU member states met to consider independently regulating the shipping industry under the ETS. On February 15, 2017, European Parliament voted in favor of a bill to include maritime shipping in the ETS by 2023 if the IMO has not promulgated a comparable system by 2021. In November 2017, the Council of Ministers, the EU’s main decision making body, agreed that the EU should act on shipping emissions by 2023 if the IMO fails to deliver effective global measures. Last year, IMO’s urgent call to action to bring about shipping greenhouse gas emissions reductions before 2023 was met with industry push-back in many countries. Depending on how fast IMO and the EU move on this issue, the ETS may result in additional compliance costs for our vessels.

We cannot predict with any degree of certainty what effect, if any possible climate change and government laws and regulations related to climate change will have on our operations, whether directly or indirectly. However, we believe that climate change, including the possible increase in severe weather events resulting from climate change, and government laws and regulations related to climate change may affect, directly or indirectly, (i) the cost of the vessels we may acquire in the future, (ii) our ability to continue to operate as we have in the past, (iii) the cost of operating our vessels, and (iv) insurance premiums, deductibles and the availability of coverage. As a result, our financial condition could be negatively impacted by significant climate change and related governmental regulation, and that impact could be material.

We are subject to vessel security regulations and will incur costs to comply with recently adopted regulations and we may be subject to costs to comply with similar regulations that may be adopted in the future in response to terrorism.

Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, there has been a variety of initiatives intended to enhance vessel security. On November 25, 2002, the Maritime Transportation Security Act of 2002 (the “MTSA”), came into effect. To implement certain portions of the MTSA, in July 2003, the U.S. Coast Guard issued regulations requiring the implementation of certain security requirements aboard vessels operating in waters subject to the jurisdiction of the U.S. Similarly, in December 2002, amendments to the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, (the “SOLAS”), created a new chapter of the convention dealing specifically with maritime security. The new chapter went into effect in July 2004, and imposes various detailed security obligations on vessels and port authorities, most of which are contained in the International Ship and Port Facilities Security Code (the “ISPS Code”). Among the various requirements are:

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The U.S. Coast Guard regulations, intended to be aligned with international maritime security standards, exempt non-U.S. vessels from MTSA vessel security measures, provided such vessels have on board a valid International Ship Security Certificate, or ISSC, that attests to the vessel’s compliance with SOLAS security requirements and the ISPS Code. Starting January 1, 2016, the IMDG Code also included updates to the provisions for radioactive material, reflecting the latest provisions from the International Atomic Energy Agency, or the IAEA, new marking requirements for “overpack” and “salvage” and updates to various individual packing requirements. We will implement the various security measures addressed by the MTSA, SOLAS and the ISPS Code and take measures for our vessels or vessels that we charter to attain compliance with all applicable security requirements within the prescribed time periods. Although management does not believe these additional requirements will have a material financial impact on our operations, there can be no assurance that there will not be an interruption in operations to bring vessels into compliance with the applicable requirements and any such interruption could cause a decrease in charter revenues. Furthermore, additional security measures could be required in the future, that could have a significant financial impact on us.

The cost of vessel security measures has also been affected by acts of piracy against ships. Attacks of this kind have commonly resulted in vessels and their crews being detained for several months, and being released only on payment of large ransoms. Substantial loss of revenue and other costs may be incurred as a result of such detention. Although we insure against these losses to the extent practicable, the risk remains of uninsured losses, which could significantly affect our business. Costs are incurred in taking additional security measures in accordance with Best Management Practices to Deter Piracy, notably those contained in the BMP3 industry standard. A number of flag states have signed the 2009 New York Declaration, which expresses commitment to Best Management Practices in relation to piracy and calls for compliance with them as an essential part of compliance with the ISPS Code.

Acts of piracy on ocean-going vessels could adversely affect our business.

Acts of piracy have historically affected ocean-going vessels trading in certain regions of the world, such as the South China Sea and the Gulf of Aden off the coast of Somalia. Piracy continues to occur in the Gulf of Aden off the coast of Somalia and increasingly in the Gulf of Guinea. Although both the frequency and success of attacks have diminished recently, we still consider potential acts of piracy to be a material risk to the international container shipping industry, and protection against this risk requires vigilance. Our vessels regularly travel through regions where pirates are active. Crew costs, including those due to employing onboard security guards, could increase in such circumstances. While the use of security guards is intended to deter and prevent the hijacking of our vessels, it could also increase our risk of liability for death or injury to persons or damage to personal property. In addition, while we believe the charterer remains liable for charter payments when a vessel is seized by pirates, the charterer may dispute this and withhold charter hire until the vessel is released. A charterer may also claim that a vessel seized by pirates was not “on-hire” for a certain number of days and it is therefore entitled to cancel the charter party, a claim that we would dispute. We may not be adequately insured to cover losses from these incidents, which could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, financial condition and ability to make distributions. Crew costs could also increase in such circumstances. We may not be adequately insured to cover losses from acts of terrorism, piracy, regional conflicts and other armed actions.

Costs are incurred in taking additional security measures in accordance with Best Management Practices to Deter Piracy, notably those contained in the BMP3 industry standard. A number of flag states have signed the 2009 New York Declaration, which expresses commitment to Best Management Practices in relation to piracy and calls for compliance with them as an essential part of compliance with the ISPS Code.

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Political and government instability, terrorist attacks, increased hostilities or war could lead to further economic instability, increased costs and disruption of our business.

We are an international company and conduct our operations primarily outside the U.S. Changing economic, political and governmental conditions in the countries where we are engaged in business or where our vessels are registered will affect us. Terrorist attacks, such as the attacks in the U.S. on September 11, 2001 and the U.S.’ continuing response to these attacks, and in Paris on January 7, 2015 and on November 13, 2015, the bombings in Spain on March 11, 2004 and in Brussels on March 22, 2016, and the attacks in London on July 7, 2005, the recent conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Ukraine and other current and future conflicts, and the continuing response of the U.S. to these attacks, as well as the threat of future terrorist attacks, continue to cause uncertainty in the world financial markets, including the energy markets. Continuing hostilities in the Middle East may lead to additional armed conflicts or to further acts of terrorism and civil disturbance in the U.S. or elsewhere, which could result in increased volatility and turmoil in the financial markets and may contribute further to economic instability. Current and future conflicts and terrorist attacks may adversely affect our business, operating results, financial condition, ability to raise capital and future growth. Terrorist attacks on vessels, such as the October 2002 attack on the M/V Limburg, a VLCC not related to us, may in the future also negatively affect our operations and financial condition and directly impact our vessels or our customers.

Furthermore, our operations may be adversely affected by changing or adverse political and governmental conditions in the countries where our vessels are flagged or registered and in the regions where we otherwise engage in business. Any disruption caused by these factors may interfere with the operation of our vessels, which could harm our business, financial condition and results of operations. Our operations may also be adversely affected by expropriation of vessels, taxes, regulation, tariffs, trade embargoes, economic sanctions or a disruption of or limit to trading activities, or other adverse events or circumstances in or affecting the countries and regions where we operate or where we may operate in the future.

Governments could requisition our vessels during a period of war or emergency, resulting in a loss of earnings

A government could requisition one or more of our vessels for title or for hire. Requisition for title occurs when a government takes control of a vessel and becomes its owner, while requisition for hire occurs when a government takes control of a vessel and effectively becomes its charterer at dictated charter rates. Generally, requisitions occur during periods of war or emergency, although governments may elect to requisition vessels in other circumstances. Although we may be entitled to compensation in the event of a requisition of one or more of our vessels, the amount and timing of payment would be uncertain. Government requisition of one or more of our vessels could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, cash flows, and results of operations.

A failure to pass inspection by classification societies could result in one or more vessels being unemployable unless and until they pass inspection, resulting in a loss of revenues from such vessels for that period and a corresponding decrease in operating cash flows.

The hull and machinery of every commercial vessel must be classed by a classification society authorized by its country of registry. The classification society certifies that a vessel is safe and seaworthy in accordance with the applicable rules and regulations of the country of registry of the vessel and with SOLAS. Our owned fleet is currently enrolled with Nippon Kaiji Kiokai, Bureau Veritas, Lloyd’s Register, DNV GL and American Bureau of Shipping.

A vessel must undergo an annual survey, an intermediate survey and a special survey. In lieu of a special survey, a vessel’s machinery may be on a continuous survey cycle, under which the machinery would be surveyed periodically over a five-year period. Our vessels are on special survey cycles for hull inspection and continuous survey cycles for machinery inspection. Every vessel is also required to be drydocked every two to three years for inspection of the underwater parts of such vessel.

If any vessel fails any annual survey, intermediate survey or special survey, the vessel may be unable to trade between ports and, therefore, would be unemployable, potentially causing a negative impact on our revenues due to the loss of revenues from such vessel until she is able to trade again.

Increased inspection procedures and tighter import and export controls could increase costs and disrupt our business.

International shipping is subject to various security and customs inspection and related procedures in countries of origin and destination and trans-shipment points. Inspection procedures may result in the seizure of contents of our vessels, delays in the loading, offloading, trans-shipment or delivery and the levying of customs duties, fines or other penalties against us.

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It is possible that changes to inspection procedures could impose additional financial and legal obligations on us. Changes to inspection procedures could also impose additional costs and obligations on our customers and may, in certain cases, render the shipment of certain types of cargo uneconomical or impractical. Any such changes or developments may have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Our insurance may be insufficient to cover losses that may occur to our property or result from our operations.

The operation of any vessel includes risks such as mechanical failure, collision, fire, contact with floating objects, property loss, cargo loss or damage and business interruption due to political circumstances in foreign countries, hostilities and labor strikes. In addition, there is always an inherent possibility of a marine disaster, including oil spills and other environmental mishaps. There are also liabilities arising from owning and operating vessels in international trade. We procure insurance for our fleet in relation to risks commonly insured against by vessel owners and operators. Our current insurance includes (i) hull and machinery and war risk insurance covering damage to our vessels’ hulls and machinery from, among other things, collisions and contact with fixed and floating objects, (ii) war risks insurance covering losses associated with the outbreak or escalation of hostilities and (iii) protection and indemnity insurance (which includes environmental damage) covering, among other things, third-party and crew liabilities such as expenses resulting from the injury or death of crew members, passengers and other third parties, the loss or damage to cargo, third-party claims arising from collisions with other vessels, damage to other third-party property and pollution arising from oil or other substances, and salvage, towing and other related costs, including wreck removal. For a full description of the insurances we maintain please review section “Risk of Loss and Liability Insurance”.

We can give no assurance that we are adequately insured against all risks or that our insurers will pay a particular claim. Even if our insurance coverage is adequate to cover our losses, we may not be able to obtain a timely replacement vessel in the event of a loss of a vessel. Furthermore, in the future, we may not be able to obtain adequate insurance coverage at reasonable rates for our fleet. For example, more stringent environmental regulations have led to increased costs for, and in the future may result in the lack of availability of, insurance against risks of environmental damage or pollution. We may also be subject to calls, or premiums, in amounts based not only on our own claim records but also on the claim records of all other members of the protection and indemnity associations through which we receive indemnity insurance coverage. There is no cap on our liability exposure for such calls or premiums payable to our protection and indemnity association. Our insurance policies also contain deductibles, limitations and exclusions, which, although we believe are standard in the shipping industry, may nevertheless increase our costs. A catastrophic oil spill or marine disaster could exceed our insurance coverage, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. Any uninsured or underinsured loss could harm our business and financial condition. In addition, the insurance may be voidable by the insurers as a result of certain actions, such as vessels failing to maintain required certification.

Our charterers may engage in legally permitted trading in locations, which may still be subject to sanctions or boycott, such as Iran, Syria and Sudan. Our insurers may be contractually or by operation of law prohibited from honoring our insurance contract for such trading, which could result in reduced insurance coverage for losses incurred by the related vessels. Furthermore, our insurers and we may be prohibited from posting or otherwise be unable to post security in respect of any incident in such locations, resulting in the loss of use of the relevant vessel and negative publicity for our Company which could negatively impact our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Maritime claimants could arrest or attach one or more of our vessels, which could interrupt our cash flow.

Crew members, suppliers of goods and services to a vessel, shippers or receivers of cargo and other parties may be entitled to a maritime lien against a vessel for unsatisfied debts, claims or damages, including, in some jurisdictions, for debts incurred by previous owners. In many jurisdictions, a maritime lien-holder may enforce its lien by arresting a vessel. The arrest or attachment of one or more of our vessels, if such arrest or attachment is not timely discharged, could interrupt our cash flows and could require us to pay large sums of money to have the arrest or attachment lifted. Any of these occurrences could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition as well as our cash flows. We are not currently aware of the existence of any such maritime lien on our vessels.

In addition, in some jurisdictions, such as South Africa, under the “sister ship” theory of liability, a claimant may arrest both the vessel which is subject to the claimant’s maritime lien and any “associated” vessel, which is any vessel owned or controlled by the same owner. Claimants could try to assert “sister ship” liability against one vessel in our fleet for claims relating to another ship in the fleet.

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The risks and costs associated with vessels increase as the vessels age or the aging of our vessels may result in increased operating costs in the future, which could adversely affect our earnings.

The costs to operate and maintain a vessel in operation increase with the age of the vessel. The average age of the vessels in our fleet is 7.8 years, basis fully delivered fleet, and most dry bulk vessels have an expected life of approximately 25 years. In some instances, charterers prefer newer vessels that are more fuel efficient than older vessels. Cargo insurance rates also increase with the age of a vessel, making older vessels less desirable to charterers as well. Governmental regulations, safety or other equipment standards related to the age of the vessels may require expenditures for alterations or the addition of new equipment to our vessels and may restrict the type of activities in which these vessels may engage. We cannot assure you that, as our vessels age, market conditions will justify those expenditures or enable us to operate our vessels profitably during the remainder of their useful lives. If we sell vessels, we may have to sell them at a loss, and if charterers no longer charter-out vessels due to their age, our earnings could be materially adversely affected.

Technological innovation could reduce our charter hire income and the value of our vessels.

The charter hire rates and the value and operational life of a vessel are determined by a number of factors including the vessel’s efficiency, operational flexibility and physical life. Efficiency includes speed, fuel economy and the ability to load and discharge cargo quickly. Flexibility includes the ability to enter harbors, utilize related docking facilities and pass through canals and straits. The length of a vessel’s physical life is related to its original design and construction, its maintenance and the impact of the stress of operations. If new vessels are built that are more efficient or more flexible or have longer physical lives than our vessels, competition from these more technologically advanced vessels could adversely affect the amount of charter hire payments we receive for our vessels and the resale value of our vessels could significantly decrease. As a result, our results of operations and financial condition could be adversely affected.

If we fail to manage our planned growth properly, we may not be able to expand our fleet successfully, which may adversely affect our overall financial position.

We intend to seek to grow our fleet, either through purchases, the increase of the number of chartered-in vessels or through the acquisitions of businesses. The addition of vessels to our fleet or the acquisition of new businesses will impose significant additional responsibilities on our management. We will also have to increase our customer base to provide continued employment for the new vessels. Our growth will depend on:

Growing any business by acquisition presents numerous risks such as undisclosed liabilities and obligations, difficulty in obtaining additional qualified personnel, and managing relationships with customers and suppliers and integrating newly acquired operations into existing infrastructures, and we may not be successful in executing our growth plans. We may incur significant expenses and losses in connection therewith or that our acquisitions will perform as expected, which could materially adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.

We may be unable to make or realize expected benefits from acquisitions, and implementing our growth strategy through acquisitions may harm our business, financial condition and operating results.

Our growth strategy focuses on a gradual expansion of our fleet. Any acquisition of a vessel may not be profitable to us at or after the time we acquire it and may not generate cash flow sufficient to justify our investment. We may also fail to realize anticipated benefits of our growth, such as new customer relationships, cost-savings or cash flow enhancements, or we may be unable to hire, train or retain qualified shore and seafaring personnel to manage and operate our growing business and fleet.

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Our growth strategy could decrease our liquidity by using a significant portion of our available cash or borrowing capacity to finance acquisitions. To the extent that we incur additional debt to finance acquisitions, it could significantly increase our interest expense or financial leverage. We may also incur other significant charges, such as impairment of goodwill or other intangible assets, asset devaluation or restructuring charges.

Additionally, the marine transportation and logistics industries are capital intensive, traditionally using substantial amounts of indebtedness to finance vessel acquisitions, capital expenditures and working capital needs. If we finance the purchase of our vessels through the issuance of debt securities, it could result in:

In addition, our business plan and strategy is predicated on buying vessels at what we believe is near the low end of the cycle in what has typically been a cyclical industry. However, there is no assurance that shipping rates and vessels asset values will not sink lower, or that there will be an upswing in shipping costs or vessel asset values in the near-term or at all, in which case our business plan and strategy may not succeed in the near-term or at all. Growing any business by acquisition presents numerous risks such as undisclosed liabilities and obligations, difficulty experienced in obtaining additional qualified personnel and managing relationships with customers and suppliers and integrating newly acquired operations into existing infrastructures. We may not be successful in growing and may incur significant expenses and losses.

Delays in deliveries of secondhand vessels, our decision to cancel an order for purchase of a vessel or our inability to otherwise complete the acquisitions of additional vessels for our fleet, could harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We expect to purchase secondhand vessels from time to time. The delivery of these vessels could be delayed, not completed or cancelled, which would delay or eliminate our expected receipt of revenues from the employment of these vessels. The seller could fail to deliver these vessels to us as agreed, or we could cancel a purchase contract because the seller has not met its obligations.

If the delivery of any vessel is materially delayed or cancelled, especially if we have committed the vessel to a charter for which we become responsible for substantial liquidated damages to the customer as a result of the delay or cancellation, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.

If we purchase any newbuilding vessels, delays, cancellations or non-completion of deliveries of newbuilding vessels could harm our operating results.

If we purchase any newbuilding vessels, the shipbuilder could fail to deliver the newbuilding vessel as agreed or their counterparty could cancel the purchase contract if the shipbuilder fails to meet its obligations. In addition, under charters we may enter into that are related to a newbuilding, if our delivery of the newbuilding to our customer is delayed, we may be required to pay liquidated damages during such delay. For prolonged delays, the customer may terminate the charter and, in addition to the resulting loss of revenues, we may be responsible for additional, substantial liquidated damages. We do not derive any revenue from a vessel until after its delivery and are required to pay substantial sums as progress payments during construction of a newbuilding. While we expect to have refund guarantees from financial institutions with respect to such progress payments in the event the vessel is not delivered by the shipyard or is otherwise not accepted by us, there is the potential that we may not be able to collect all portions of such refund guarantees, in which case we would lose the amounts we have advanced to the shipyards for such progress payments.

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The completion and delivery of newbuildings could be delayed, cancelled or otherwise not completed because of:

If delivery of a vessel is materially delayed, it could materially adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition and our ability to make cash distributions.

Although we have long-standing relationships with certain Japanese shipowners that provide us access to competitive contracts, we cannot assure you that we will always be able to maintain such relationships or that such contracts will continue to be available in the future.

We have long-standing relationships with certain Japanese shipowners that give us access to time charters at favorable rates and that, in some cases, include options to purchase the vessels at favorable prices relative to the current market. We cannot assure you that we will have such relationships indefinitely. In addition, there is no assurance that Japanese shipowners will generally make contracts available on the same or substantially similar terms in the future.

The smuggling of drugs or other contraband onto our vessels may lead to governmental claims against us.

We expect that our vessels will call in ports in South America and other areas where smugglers attempt to hide drugs and other contraband on vessels, with or without the knowledge of crew members. Under some jurisdictions, vessels used for the conveyance of illegal drugs could subject the vessels to forfeiture to the government of such jurisdiction. To the extent our vessels are found with contraband, whether inside or attached to the hull of our vessel and whether with or without the knowledge of any of our crew, we may face reputational damage and governmental or other regulatory claims or penalties which could have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations, cash flows and financial condition, as well as our ability to maintain cash flows, including cash available for distributions to pay dividends to our unitholders. Under some jurisdictions, vessels used for the conveyance of illegal drugs could subject result in forfeiture of the vessel to forfeiture to the government of such jurisdiction.

Our vessels may be subject to unbudgeted periods of off-hire, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Under the terms of the charter agreements under which our vessels operate, or are expected to operate in the case of a newbuilding, when a vessel is “off-hire,” or not available for service or otherwise deficient in its condition or performance, the charterer generally is not required to pay the hire rate, and we will be responsible for all costs (including the cost of bunker fuel) unless the charterer is responsible for the circumstances giving rise to the lack of availability. A vessel generally will be deemed to be off-hire if there is an occurrence preventing the full working of the vessel due to, among other things:

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Under some of our charters, the charterer is permitted to terminate the time charter if the vessel is off-hire for an extended period, which is generally defined as a period of 90 or more consecutive off-hire days. Under some circumstances, an event of force majeure may also permit the charterer to terminate the time charter or suspend payment of charter hire.

As we do not maintain off-hire insurance except in cases of loss of hire up to a limited number of days due to war or piracy events any extended off-hire period could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, cash flows and financial condition.

Our international activities increase the compliance risks associated with economic and trade sanctions imposed by the U.S., the EU and other jurisdictions.

Our international operations and activities could expose us to risks associated with trade and economic sanctions prohibitions or other restrictions imposed by the U.S. or other governments or organizations, including the United Nations, the EU and its member countries. Under economic and trade sanctions laws, governments may seek to impose modifications to, prohibitions/restrictions on business practices and activities, and modifications to compliance programs, which may increase compliance costs, and, in the event of a violation, may subject us to fines and other penalties.

Iran

Prior to January 2016, the scope of sanctions imposed against Iran, the government of Iran and persons engaging in certain activities or doing certain business with and relating to Iran was expanded by a number of jurisdictions, including the U.S., the EU and Canada. In 2010, the U.S. enacted the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions Accountability and Divestment Act (“CISADA”), which expanded the scope of the former Iran Sanctions Act. The scope of U.S. sanctions against Iran were expanded subsequent to CISADA by, among other U.S. laws, the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 (the “2012 NDAA”), the Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act of 2012 (“ITRA”), Executive Order 13662, and the Iran Freedom and Counter-Proliferation Act of 2012 (“IFCA”). The foregoing laws, among other things, expanded the application of prohibitions to non-U.S. companies such as our company and to transactions with no U.S. nexus, and introduced limits on the ability of non-U.S. companies and other non-U.S. persons to do business or trade with Iran when such activities relate to specific activities such as investment in Iran, the supply or export of refined petroleum or refined petroleum products to Iran, the supply and delivery of goods to Iran which could enhance Iran’s petroleum or energy sectors, and the transportation of crude oil from Iran to countries which do not enjoy Iran crude oil sanctions waivers (our tankers called in Iran but did not engage in the prohibited activities specifically identified by these sanctions).

U.S. economic sanctions on Iran fall into two general categories: “Primary” sanctions, which prohibit U.S. persons or U.S. companies and their foreign branches, U.S. citizens, foreign owned or controlled subsidiaries, U.S. permanent residents, persons within the territory of the U.S. from engaging in all direct and indirect trade and other transactions with Iran without U.S. government authorization, and “secondary” sanctions, which are mainly nuclear-related sanctions. While most of the U.S. nuclear-related sanctions with respect to Iran (including, inter alia, CISADA, ITRA, and IFCA) and the EU sanctions on Iran were initially lifted on January 16, 2016 through the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (the “JCPOA”) entered into between the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (China, France, Russia, the U.K. and the U.S.) and Germany, there are still certain limitations under that sanctions framework in place with which we need to comply. The primary sanctions with which U.S. persons or transactions with a U.S. nexus must comply are still in force and have not been lifted or relaxed. However, the following sanctions which were lifted under the JCPOA were reimposed (“snapped back”) on May 8, 2018 as a result of the U.S. withdrawal from the JCPOA.

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Following a 180-day wind-down period ending on November 4, 2018, the U.S. government will re-impose the following sanctions that were lifted pursuant to the JCPOA, including sanctions on associated services related to the activities below:

U.S. Iran sanctions also prohibit significant transactions with any individual or entity that the U.S. Government has designated as an Iran sanctions target.

EU sanctions remain in place in relation to the export of arms and military goods listed in the EU common military list, missiles-related goods and items that might be used for internal repression. The main nuclear-related EU sanctions which remain in place include restrictions on:

The above EU sanctions activities can only be engaged if prior authorization (granted on a case-by-case basis) is obtained. The remaining restrictions apply to the sale, supply, transfer or export, directly or indirectly to any Iranian person/for use in Iran, as well as the provision of technical assistance, financing or financial assistance in relation to the restricted activity. Certain individuals and entities remain sanctioned and the prohibition to make available, directly or indirectly, economic resources or assets to or for the benefit of sanctioned parties remains. “Economic resources” is widely defined and it remains prohibited to provide vessels for a fixture from which a sanctioned party (or parties related to a sanctioned party) directly or indirectly benefits. It is therefore still necessary to carry out due diligence on the parties and cargoes involved in fixtures involving Iran.

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Russia/Ukraine

As a result of the crisis in Ukraine and the annexation of Crimea by Russia in 2014, both the U.S. and the EU have implemented sanctions against certain Russian individuals and entities.

The EU has imposed travel bans and asset freezes on certain Russian persons and entities pursuant to which it is prohibited to make available, directly or indirectly, economic resources or assets to or for the benefit of the sanctioned parties. Certain Russian ports including Kerch Commercial Seaport; Sevastopol Commercial Seaport and Port Feodosia are subject to the above restrictions. Other entities are subject to sectoral sanctions, which limit the provision of equity financing and loans to the listed entities. In addition, various restrictions on trade have been implemented which, amongst others, include a prohibition on the import into the EU of goods originating in Crimea or Sevastopol as well as restrictions on trade in certain dual-use and military items and restrictions in relation to various items of technology associated with the oil industry for use in deep water exploration and production, Arctic oil exploration and production or shale oil projects in Russia. As such, it is important to carry out due diligence on the parties and cargoes involved in fixtures relating to Russia.

The U.S. has imposed sanctions against certain designated Russian entities and individuals (“U.S. Russian Sanctions Targets”). These sanctions block the property and all interests in property of the U.S. Russian Sanctions Targets. This effectively prohibits U.S. persons from engaging in any economic or commercial transactions with the U.S. Russian Sanctions Targets unless the same are authorized by the U.S. Treasury Department. Similar to EU sanctions, U.S. sanctions also entail restrictions on certain exports from the U.S. to Russia and the imposition of Sectoral Sanctions, which restrict the provision of equity and debt financing to designated Russian entities. While the prohibitions of these sanctions are not directly applicable to us, we have compliance measures in place to guard against transactions with U.S. Russian Sanctions Targets, which may involve the U.S. or U.S. persons and thus implicate prohibitions. The U.S. also maintains prohibitions on trade with Crimea.

The U.S. has also taken a number of steps toward implementing aspects of the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (“CAATSA”), a major piece of sanctions legislation.

Under CAATSA, the U.S. has imposed secondary sanctions relating to Russia’s energy export pipelines, investments in special Russian crude oil projects. CAATSA has a provision that requires the U.S. President to sanction persons who knowingly engage in significant transactions with parties affiliated with Russia’s defense and intelligence sectors.

Venezuela-Related Sanctions

The U.S. sanctions with respect to Venezuela prohibit various financial and other transactions and activities, dealings with designated Venezuelan government officials and entities, and curtail the provision of financing to Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A. (“PdVSA”) and other government entities. EU sanctions against Venezuela are primarily governed by EU Council Regulation 2017/2063 of 13 November 2017 concerning restrictive measures in view of the situation in Venezuela. This includes financial sanctions and restrictions on listed persons and an, arms embargo, and related prohibitions and restrictions including restrictions related to internal repression.

US Executive Orders

The following Executive Orders govern the U.S. sanctions with respect to Venezuela that U.S. persons must comply with.

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Other U.S. Economic Sanctions Targets

In addition to Iran and certain Russian entities and individuals, as indicated above, the U.S. maintains economic sanctions against Syria, Cuba, North Korea, and sanctions against entities and individuals (such as entities and individuals in the foregoing targeted countries, designated terrorists, narcotics traffickers) whose names appear on the List of SDNs and Blocked Persons maintained by the U.S. Treasury Department (collectively, the “Sanctions Targets”). We are subject to the prohibitions of these sanctions to the extent that any transaction or activity we engage in involves Sanctions Targets and a U.S. person or otherwise has a nexus to the U.S.

Other E.U. Economic Sanctions Targets

The EU also maintains sanctions against Syria, North Korea and certain other countries and against individuals listed by the EU. These restrictions apply to our operations and as such, to the extent that these countries may be involved in any business it is important to carry out checks to ensure compliance with all relevant restrictions and to carry out due diligence checks on counterparties and cargoes.

Compliance

Considering the aforementioned prohibitions of U.S. as well as EU sanctions and the nature of our business, there is a sanctions risk for us due to the worldwide trade of our vessels, which we seek to minimize by the implementation of our corporate Sanctions and our compliance with all applicable sanctions and embargo laws and regulations. Although we intend to maintain such Economic Sanctions Compliance Policy and Procedures, there can be no assurance that we will be in compliance in the future, particularly as the scope of certain laws may be unclear and may be subject to changing interpretations, and the law may change. Moreover, despite, for example, relevant provisions in charter parties forbidding the use of our vessels in trade that would violate economic sanctions, our charterers may nevertheless violate applicable sanctions and embargo laws and regulations and those violations could in turn negatively affect our reputation and be imputed to us. In addition, given our relationship with Navios Acquisition, Navios Partners and Navios Containers, we cannot give any assurance that an adverse finding against Navios Acquisition, Navios Partners or Navios Containers by a governmental or legal authority or others with respect to the matters discussed herein or any future matter related to regulatory compliance by Navios Acquisition, Navios Partners or Navios Containers will not have a material adverse impact on our business, reputation or the market price or trading of our common stock-units.

We are constantly monitoring developments in the U.S., the E.U. and other jurisdictions that maintain economic sanctions against Iran, other countries, and other sanctions targets, including developments in implementation and enforcement of such sanctions programs. Expansion of sanctions programs, embargoes and other restrictions in the future (including additional designations of countries and persons subject to sanctions), or modifications in how existing sanctions are interpreted or enforced, could prevent our vessels from calling in ports in sanctioned countries or could limit their cargoes. If any of the risks described above materialize, it could have a material adverse impact on our business and results of operations.

To reduce the risk of violating economic sanctions, we have a policy of compliance with applicable economic sanctions laws and have implemented and continue to implement and diligently follow compliance procedures to avoid economic sanctions violations.

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Security breaches and disruptions to our information technology infrastructure could interfere with our operations and expose us to liability which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, cash flows and results of operations.

In the ordinary course of business, we rely on information technology networks and systems to process, transmit, and store electronic information, and to manage or support a variety of business processes and activities. Additionally, we collect and store certain data, including proprietary business information and customer and employee data, and may have access to other confidential information in the ordinary course of our business. Despite our cybersecurity measures designed to protect and secure our data, our information technology networks and infrastructure may be vulnerable to damage, disruptions, or shutdowns due to attack by hackers or breaches, employee error or malfeasance, data leakage, power outages, computer viruses and malware, telecommunication or utility failures, systems failures, natural disasters, or other catastrophic events. Any such events could result in legal claims or proceedings, liability or penalties under privacy or other laws, disruption in operations, and damage to our reputation, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, cash flows and results of operations.

Changing laws and evolving reporting requirements could have an adverse effect on our business.

Changing laws, regulations and standards relating to reporting requirements, including the European Union General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), may create additional compliance requirements for us. To maintain high standards of corporate governance and public disclosure, we have invested in, and intend to continue to invest in, reasonably necessary resources to comply with evolving standards.

GDPR broadens the scope of personal privacy laws to protect the rights of European Union citizens and requires organizations to report on data breaches within 72 hours and be bound by more stringent rules for obtaining the consent of individuals on how their data can be used. GDPR has become enforceable on May 25, 2018 and non-compliance may expose entities to significant fines or other regulatory claims, which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial conditions, results of operations and cash flows. Our Company is compliant with applicable GDPR Regulations.

We could be materially adversely affected by violations of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the U.K. Bribery Act, and anti-corruption laws in other applicable jurisdictions.

As an international shipping company, we may operate in countries known to have a reputation for corruption. The U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 (the “FCPA”) and other anti-corruption laws and regulations in applicable jurisdictions generally prohibit companies registered with the SEC and their intermediaries from making improper payments to government officials for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business. Under the FCPA, U.S. companies may be held liable for some actions taken by strategic or local partners or representatives. Legislation in other countries includes the U.K. Bribery Act 2010 (the “U.K. Bribery Act”) which is broader in scope than the FCPA because it does not contain an exception for facilitation payments. We and our customers may be subject to these and similar anti-corruption laws in other applicable jurisdictions. Failure to comply with legal requirements could expose us to civil and/or criminal penalties, including fines, prosecution and significant reputational damage, all of which could materially and adversely affect our business and the results of operations, including our relationships with our customers, and our financial results. Compliance with the FCPA, the U.K. Bribery Act and other applicable anti-corruption laws and related regulations and policies imposes potentially significant costs and operational burdens on us. Moreover, the compliance and monitoring mechanisms that we have in place including our Code of Ethics and our anti-bribery and anti-corruption policy, may not adequately prevent or detect all possible violations under applicable anti-bribery and anti-corruption legislation. However, we believe that the procedures we have in place to prevent bribery are adequate and that they should provide a defense in most circumstances to a violation or a mitigation of applicable penalties, at least under the U.K.’s Bribery Act.

We may be unable to attract and retain qualified, skilled employees or crew necessary to operate our business or may have to pay substantially increased costs for our employees and crew.

Our success will depend in part on our ability to attract, hire, train and retain highly skilled and qualified personnel. In crewing our vessels, we require technically skilled employees with specialized training who can perform physically demanding work. Competition to attract, hire, train and retain qualified crew members is intense. In addition, recently, the limited supply of, and increased demand for, well-qualified crew members, due to the increase in the size of global shipping fleet, has created upward pressure on crewing costs, which we generally bear under our period, time and spot charters. If we are not able to increase our hire rates to compensate for any crew cost increases, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be adversely affected. Any inability we experience in the future to attract, hire, train and retain a sufficient number of qualified employees could impair our ability to manage, maintain and grow our business.

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Our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer holds approximately 29.4% of our common stock and will be able to exert considerable influence over our actions; her failure to own a significant amount of our common stock or to be our Chief Executive Officer would constitute a default under our secured credit facilities.

Ms. Angeliki Frangou owns approximately 29.4% of the outstanding shares of our common stock directly or through her affiliates, and has previously filed an amended Schedule 13D indicating that she intends, subject to market conditions, to purchase up to $20.0 million of our common stock (as of April 22, 2019, she had purchased approximately $10.0 million of the total $20.0 million in value of our common stock). As the Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and a significant stockholder, she has the power to exert considerable influence over our actions and the outcome of matters on which our stockholders are entitled to vote including the election of directors and other significant corporate actions. The interests of Ms. Frangou may be different from your interests. Furthermore, if Ms. Frangou ceases to hold a minimum of 20% of our common stock, does not remain actively involved in the business, or ceases to be our Chief Executive Officer, then we will be in default under our secured credit facilities.

The loss of key members of our senior management team could disrupt the management of our business.

We believe that our success depends on the continued contributions of the members of our senior management team, including Ms. Angeliki Frangou, our Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and principal stockholder. The loss of the services of Ms. Frangou or one of our other executive officers or senior management members could impair our ability to identify and secure new charter contracts, to maintain good customer relations and to otherwise manage our business, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial performance and our ability to compete.

Certain of our directors, officers, and principal stockholders are affiliated with entities engaged in business activities similar to those conducted by us, which may compete directly with us, causing such persons to have conflicts of interest.

Some of our directors, officers and principal stockholders have affiliations with entities that have similar business activities to those conducted by us. Certain of our directors are also directors of other shipping companies and they may enter similar businesses in the future. These other affiliations and business activities may give rise to certain conflicts of interest in the course of such individuals’ affiliation with us. Although we do not prevent our directors, officers and principal stockholders from having such affiliations, we use our best efforts to cause such individuals to comply with all applicable laws and regulations in addressing such conflicts of interest. Our officers and employee directors devote their full time and attention to our ongoing operations, and our non-employee directors devote such time as is necessary and required to satisfy their duties as directors of a public company.

Because we generate substantially all of our revenues in U.S. dollars but incur a portion of our expenses in other currencies, exchange rate fluctuations could cause us to suffer exchange rate losses, thereby increasing expenses and reducing income.

We engage in worldwide commerce with a variety of entities. Although our operations may expose us to certain levels of foreign currency risk, our transactions are predominantly U.S. dollar-denominated at the present. Additionally, our South American subsidiaries transact a nominal amount of their operations in Uruguayan pesos, Paraguayan Guaranies, Argentinean pesos and Brazilian Reales, whereas our wholly-owned vessel subsidiaries and the vessel management subsidiaries transact a nominal amount of their operations in Euros; however, all of the subsidiaries’ primary cash flows are U.S. dollar-denominated. In 2018, approximately 58.8% of our expenses were incurred in currencies other than U.S. dollars. Transactions in currencies other than the functional currency are translated at the exchange rate in effect at the date of each transaction. Expenses incurred in foreign currencies against which the U.S. dollar falls in value can increase, thereby decreasing our income. A change in exchange rates between the U.S. dollar and each of the foreign currencies listed above of 1.00% would change our net loss for the year ended December 31, 2018 by $1.4 million.

For example, as of December 31, 2018, the value of the U.S. dollar as compared to the Euro increased by approximately 4.7% compared with the respective value as of December 31, 2017. A greater percentage of our transactions and expenses in the future may be denominated in currencies other than U.S. dollar. As part of our overall risk management policy, we attempt to hedge these risks in exchange rate fluctuations from time to time. We may not always be successful in such hedging activities and, as a result, our operating results could suffer as a result of non-hedged losses incurred as a result of exchange rate fluctuations.

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We are incorporated in the Republic of the Marshall Islands, which does not have a well-developed body of corporate law.

Our corporate affairs are governed by our amended and restated articles of incorporation and by-laws and by the Marshall Islands Business Corporations Act (“BCA”). The provisions of the BCA are intended to resemble provisions of the corporation laws of a number of states in the U.S. However, there have been few judicial cases in the Republic of the Marshall Islands interpreting the BCA. The rights and fiduciary responsibilities of directors under the law of the Republic of the Marshall Islands are not as clearly established as the rights and fiduciary responsibilities of directors under statutes or judicial precedent in existence in certain U.S. jurisdictions. Stockholder rights may differ as well. The BCA does specifically incorporate the non-statutory law, or judicial case law, of the State of Delaware and other states with substantially similar legislative provisions, and the BCA is interpreted and construed by Delaware laws and the laws of other States with substantially similar legislative provisions. Accordingly, you may have more difficulty protecting your interests in the face of actions by management, directors or controlling stockholders than you would in the case of a corporation incorporated in the State of Delaware or other U.S. jurisdictions.

We, and certain of our officers and directors, may be difficult to serve with process as we are incorporated in the Republic of the Marshall Islands and such persons may reside outside of the U.S.

We are a corporation organized under the laws of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and all of our assets are located outside of the U.S. In addition, the majority of our directors and officers are residents of non-U.S. jurisdictions. Substantial portions of the assets of these persons are located in Greece or other non-U.S. jurisdictions. Thus, it may not be possible for investors to affect service of process upon us, or our non-U.S. directors or officers, or to enforce any judgment obtained against these persons in U.S. courts. In addition, it may not be possible to enforce U.S. securities laws or judgments obtained in U.S. courts against these persons in a non-U.S. jurisdiction.

Being a foreign private issuer exempts us from certain SEC and NYSE requirements.

We are a foreign private issuer within the meaning of rules promulgated under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). As such, we are exempt from certain provisions applicable to U.S. public companies including:

Because of these exemptions, investors are not afforded the same protections or information generally available to investors holding shares in public companies organized in the U.S.

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Risks Relating to Our Common Stock

Our stock price may be volatile, and investors in our common stock could lose all or part of their investment.

The following factors could cause the price of our common stock in the public market to fluctuate significantly:

Volatility in the market price of our common stock may prevent investors from being able to sell their common stock at or above the price; an investor pays for our common stock in an offering. In the past, class action litigation has often been brought against companies following periods of volatility in the market price of those companies’ common stock. We may become involved in this type of litigation in the future. Litigation is often expensive and diverts management’s attention and company resources and could have a material effect on our business, financial condition and operating results.

The New York Stock Exchange may delist our securities from quotation on its exchange, which could limit your ability to trade our securities and subject us to additional trading restrictions.

Our securities are listed on the New York Stock Exchange (the “NYSE”), a national securities exchange. The NYSE minimum listing standards require that we meet certain requirements relating to stockholders’ equity, number of round-lot holders, market capitalization, aggregate market value of publicly held shares and distribution requirements.

Although we currently satisfy the NYSE minimum listing standards, we cannot assure you that our securities will continue to be listed on NYSE in the future. If NYSE delists our securities from trading on its exchange, we could face significant material adverse consequences, including:

Risks Relating to Our Series G and Series H and the Depositary Shares

Our Series G and Series H are subordinated to our debt obligations, and a holder’s interests could be diluted by the issuance of additional shares, including additional Series G, Series H and by other transactions.

Our Series G, with a liquidation preference of $2,500.00 per share and our Series H, with a liquidation preference of $2,500.00 per share (the Series G and the Series H together referred to as the “Series G and H”), both represented by American Depositary Shares (the “Depositary Shares”), are subordinated to all of our existing and future indebtedness. As of December 31, 2018, our total debt was $1,843.9 million. We may incur substantial additional debt from time to time in the future, and the terms of the Series G and H do not limit the amount of indebtedness we may incur. In February 2016, we announced the suspension of payment of quarterly dividends on our common stock and on the Series G and Series H. The payment of principal and interest on our debt reduces cash available for distribution to us and on our shares, including the Series G and H and the Depositary Shares, should such dividends be reinstated. We currently have no plans or intention to pay dividends on the Series G or Series H.

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The issuance of additional preferred stock on a parity with or senior to our Series G and H would dilute the interests of the holders of our Series G and H, and any issuance of any preferred stock senior to or on parity with our Series G and H or additional indebtedness could affect our ability to pay dividends on, redeem or pay the liquidation preference on our Series G and H. No provisions relating to our Series G and H protect the holders of our Series G and H in the event of a highly leveraged or other transaction, including a merger or the sale, lease or conveyance of all or substantially all our assets or business, which might adversely affect the holders of our Series G and H.

Our Series G and H will rank pari passu with any other class or series of our capital stock established after the original issue date of the Series G and H that is not expressly subordinated or senior to the Series G and H (“Parity Securities”) as to the payment of dividends and amounts payable upon liquidation or reorganization. If less than all dividends payable with respect to the Series G and H and any Parity Securities are paid, any partial payment shall be made pro rata with respect to shares of Series G and H and any Parity Securities entitled to a dividend payment at such time in proportion to the aggregate amounts remaining due in respect of such shares at such time.

We may not have sufficient cash from our operations to enable us to pay dividends on or to redeem our Series G and H, and accordingly the Depositary Shares, as the case may be, following the payment of expenses and the establishment of any reserves.

In February 2016, we announced the suspension of payment of quarterly dividends on the Series G and Series H, and have not paid a quarterly dividend payments on the Series G or Series H since then, and as a result the respective dividend rates increased by 0.25%. We will reinstate and pay quarterly dividends on the Series G and H, and accordingly the Depositary Shares, only from funds legally available for such purpose when, as and if declared by our board of directors. We may not have sufficient cash available to reinstate such dividend or to pay dividends each quarter if and when reinstated. We currently have no plans or intention to pay dividends on the Series G or Series H. In addition, we may have insufficient cash available to redeem the Series G and H, and accordingly the Depositary Shares. The amount of cash we can use to pay dividends or redeem our Series G and H and the Depositary Shares depends upon the amount of cash we generate from our operations, which may fluctuate significantly, and other factors, including the following:

The amount of cash we generate from our operations may differ materially from our net income or loss for the period, which will be affected by noncash items, and our board of directors in its discretion may elect not to declare any dividends. We may incur other expenses or liabilities that could reduce or eliminate the cash available for distribution as dividends. As a result of these and the other factors mentioned above, we may pay dividends during periods when we record losses and may not pay dividends during periods when we record net income.

Our ability to pay dividends on and to redeem our Series G and H, and therefore holders’ ability to receive payments on the Depositary Shares, is limited by the requirements of Marshall Islands law.

If we reinstate the payment of dividends, Marshall Islands law provides that we may pay dividends on and redeem the Series G and H only to the extent that assets are legally available for such purposes. Legally available assets generally are limited to our surplus, which essentially represents our retained earnings and the excess of consideration received by us for the sale of shares above the par value of the shares. In addition, under Marshall Islands law we may not pay dividends on or redeem Series G and H if we are insolvent or would be rendered insolvent by the payment of such a dividend or the making of such redemption.

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The Series G and H represent perpetual equity interests.

The Series G and H represent perpetual equity interests in us and, unlike our indebtedness, will not give rise to a claim for payment of a principal amount at a particular date. As a result, holders of the Series G and H (and accordingly the Depositary Shares) may be required to bear the financial risks of an investment in the Series G and H (and accordingly the Depositary Shares) for an indefinite period of time. In addition, the Series G and H will rank junior to all our indebtedness and other liabilities, and any other senior securities we may issue in the future with respect to assets available to satisfy claims against us.

Holders of Depositary Shares have extremely limited voting rights, will have even more limited rights than holders of the Series G and H and may encounter difficulties in exercising some of such rights.

Voting rights of holders of Depositary Shares will be extremely limited. Our common stock is the only class of stock carrying full voting rights. Holders of the Series G and H, and accordingly holders of the Depositary Shares, generally have no voting rights. In February 2016, we announced the suspension of payment of quarterly dividends on the Series G and Series H. As such, (i) we have used commercially reasonable efforts to obtain an amendment to our articles of incorporation to effectuate any and all such changes thereto as may be necessary to permit either the Series G Preferred Shareholders or the Series H Preferred Shareholders, as the case may be, to exercise the voting rights described in the following clause (ii)(x), and (ii) if and when dividends payable on either the Series G or the Series H, as the case may be, are in arrears for six or more quarterly periods, whether or not consecutive (and whether or not such dividends shall have been declared and whether or not there are profits, surplus, or other funds legally available for the payment of dividends), then (x) if our articles of incorporation have been amended as described in the preceding clause (i), the holders of Series G or the holders of Series G, as the case may be, will have the right (voting together as a class with all other classes or series of parity securities upon which like voting rights have been conferred and are exercisable), to elect one additional director to serve on our board of directors, and the size of our board of directors will be increased as needed to accommodate such change (unless the size of our board of directors already has been increased by reason of the election of a director by holders of securities on parity with either the Series G or Series H, as the case may be, upon which like voting rights have been conferred and with which the Series G and H voted as a class for the election of such director), and (y) if our articles of incorporation have not been amended as described in the preceding clause (i), then, until such amendment is fully approved and effective, the dividend rate on the Series G or the Series H, as the case may be, shall increase by 25 basis points. At our respective Annual Meeting of stockholders held on December 15, 2016, December 15, 2017 and December 21, 2018, the Company proposed an amendment to our articles of incorporation to effectuate any and all such changes as were necessary to permit the Series G and/or Series H holders the ability to exercise the certain voting rights described above. These proposals failed to receive the affirmative vote of holders of two-thirds of the Company’s issued and outstanding common stock entitled to vote at the respective Annual Meeting, which was required to approve the proposal. Therefore, since the proposals failed and the dividends for the Series G and Series H are in arrears for six or more quarterly periods the dividend rate on the Series G and Series H have increased by 25 basis points respectively. There can be no assurance that any such further proposal to our stockholders to amend our articles of incorporation will be approved by our common stockholders.

Furthermore, holders of the Depositary Shares may encounter difficulties in exercising any voting rights acquired by the Series G or the Series H for as long as they hold the Depositary Shares rather than the Series G or the Series H. For example, holders of the Depositary Shares will not be entitled to vote at meetings of holders of Series G or of the Series H, and they will only be able to exercise their limited voting rights by giving timely instructions to The Bank of New York Mellon (the “Depositary”) in advance of any meeting of holders of Series G or the Series H, as the case may be. The Depositary will be the holder of the Series G or the Series H underlying the Depositary Shares and holders may exercise voting rights with respect to the Series G or the Series H represented by the Depositary Shares only in accordance with the deposit agreement (the “Deposit Agreement”) relating to the Depositary Shares. To the limited extent permitted by the Deposit Agreement, the holders of the Depositary Shares should be able to direct the Depositary to vote the underlying Series G or the Series H, as the case may be, in accordance with their individual instructions. Nevertheless, holders of Depositary Shares may not receive voting materials in time to instruct the Depositary to vote the Series G or the Series H, as the case may be, underlying their Depositary Shares. In addition, the Depositary and its agents are not responsible for failing to carry out voting instructions of the holders of Depositary Shares or for the manner of carrying out such instructions. Accordingly, holders of Depositary Shares may not be able to exercise voting rights, and they will have little, if any, recourse if the underlying Series G or the Series H, as the case may be, is not voted as requested.

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The Depositary Shares lack a well developed trading market. Various factors may adversely affect the price of the Depositary Shares.

Even though the Depositary Shares are listed on the NYSE, there may be little or no secondary market for the Depositary Shares, in which case the trading price of the Depositary Shares could be adversely affected and a holder’s ability to transfer its securities will be limited. The Depositary Shares may trade at prices lower than the offering price and the secondary market may not provide sufficient liquidity. In addition, since the Series G and Series H do not have a stated maturity date, investors seeking liquidity in the Depositary Shares will be limited to selling their Depositary Shares in the secondary market absent redemption by us. We do not expect that there will be any other trading market for the Series G and Series H except as represented by the Depositary Shares.

Other factors, some of which are beyond our control, will also influence the market prices of the Depositary Shares. Factors that might influence the market prices of the Depositary Shares include:

Accordingly, the Depositary Shares that an investor purchases may trade at a discount to their purchase price.

Depositary Shares that you continue to hold after the Exchange Offer (as defined herein) are expected to become less liquid following the Exchange Offer.

The Company recently offered to exchange for (1) cash; and/or (2) newly issued newly issued 9.75% Senior Notes due 2024 of the Company, on the terms and conditions set forth in the Company’s prospectus. On March and April 2019, Navios Holdings exchanged cash and/or 2024 Notes for 10,930 Series H and 8,841 Series G, respectively. Following consummation of the Exchange Offer, the number of Depositary Shares that are publicly traded has been reduced and the trading market for the remaining outstanding Depositary Shares may be less liquid and market prices may fluctuate significantly depending on the volume of trading in the Depositary Shares. Therefore, holders whose Depositary Shares are not repurchased will own a greater percentage interest in the remaining outstanding Depositary Shares following consummation of the Exchange Offer. This may reduce the volume of trading and make it more difficult to buy or sell significant amounts of Depositary Shares without affecting the market price. Decreased liquidity may make it more difficult for holders of Depositary Shares to sell their Depositary Shares.

The Series G and H represented by the Depositary Shares have not been rated, and ratings of any other of our securities may affect the trading price of the Depositary Shares.

We have not sought to obtain a rating for the Series G and H, and both stocks may never be rated. It is possible, however, that one or more rating agencies might independently determine to assign a rating to either the Series G or the Series H or that we may elect to obtain a rating of either our Series G or the Series H in the future. In addition, we have issued securities that are rated and may elect to issue other securities for which we may seek to obtain a rating. Any ratings that are assigned to the Series G or the Series H in the future, that have been issued on our outstanding securities or that may be issued on our other securities, if they are lower than market expectations or are subsequently lowered or withdrawn, could imply a lower relative value for the Series G or the Series H and could adversely affect the market for or the market value of the Depositary Shares of the Series G and H Preferred Shares respectively. Ratings only reflect the views of the issuing rating agency or agencies and such ratings could at any time be revised downward or withdrawn entirely at the discretion of the issuing rating agency. A rating is not a recommendation to purchase, sell or hold any particular security, including the Series G and H and the Depositary Shares. Ratings do not reflect market prices or suitability of a security for a particular investor and any future rating of the Series G and H and the Depositary Shares may not reflect all risks related to us and our business, or the structure or market value of the Series G and H and the Depositary Shares.

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The amount of the liquidation preference of our Series G and H is fixed and holders will have no right to receive any greater payment regardless of the circumstances.

The payment due upon liquidation for both our Series G and H is fixed at the liquidation preference of $2,500.00 per share (equivalent to $25.00 per Depositary Share) plus accumulated and unpaid dividends to the date of liquidation (whether or not declared). If in the case of our liquidation, there are remaining assets to be distributed after payment of this amount, holders will have no right to receive or to participate in these amounts. Furthermore, if the market price for the Series G or the Series H, as the case may be, is greater than the liquidation preference, holders will have no right to receive the market price from us upon our liquidation.

The Series G and H are only redeemable at our option and investors should not expect us to redeem either the Series G or the Series H on the dates they respectively become redeemable or on any particular date afterwards.

We may redeem, at our option, all or from time to time part of the Series G or the Series H on or after January 28, 2019 and July 8, 2019 respectively. If we redeem the Series G, holders of the Series G will be entitled to receive a redemption price equal to $2,500.00 per share (equivalent to $25.00 per Depositary Share) plus accumulated and unpaid dividends to the date of redemption (whether or not declared). If we redeem the Series H, holders of the Series H will be entitled to receive a redemption price equal to $2,500.00 per share (equivalent to $25.00 per Depositary Share) plus accumulated and unpaid dividends to the date of redemption (whether or not declared). Any decision we may make at any time to propose redemption of either the Series G or the Series H will depend upon, among other things, our evaluation of our capital position, the composition of our shareholders’ equity and general market conditions at that time. In addition, investors might not be able to reinvest the money they receive upon redemption of the Series G or the Series H, as the case may be, in a similar security or at similar rates. We may elect to exercise our partial redemption right on multiple occasions.

Holders of Depositary Shares may be subject to additional risks related to holding Depositary Shares rather than shares.

Because holders of Depositary Shares do not hold their shares directly, they are subject to the following additional risks, among others:

Risks Relating to Our Debt

We have substantial debt and may incur substantial additional debt, including secured debt, which could adversely affect our financial health and our ability to obtain financing in the future, react to changes in our business and make payments under the notes.

As of December 31, 2018, we had $1,843.9 million in aggregate principal amount of debt outstanding, of which $401.9 million was unsecured.

Our substantial debt could have important consequences to holders of our common stock. Because of our substantial debt:

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We and our subsidiaries may be able to incur substantial additional indebtedness in the future as the terms of the indenture governing our 11.25% Senior Secured Notes due 2022 (the “2022 Senior Secured Notes”) and the indenture governing our 7.375% First Priority Ship Mortgage Notes due 2022 (the “2022 Notes”) do not fully prohibit us or our subsidiaries from doing so. The terms of the indenture governing the 7.25% Senior Notes due 2022 (the “2022 Logistics Senior Notes”) of Navios South American Logistics (“Navios Logistics”), the agreements governing the terms of Term Loan B Facility (the “Term Loan B Facility”) and the agreements governing the terms of the other indebtedness of Navios Logistics also permit Navios Logistics to incur substantial additional indebtedness in accordance with the terms of such agreements. The agreements of Navios Containers also permit Navios Containers to incur substantial additional indebtedness in accordance with the terms of such agreements. If new debt is added to our current debt levels, the related risks that we now face would increase and we may not be able to meet all of our debt obligations.

The agreements and instruments governing our debt, other than the 2024 Notes, contain restrictions and limitations that could significantly impact our ability to operate our business.

Our secured credit facilities and our indentures, other than the indenture governing the 2024 Notes, impose certain operating and financial restrictions on us. These restrictions limit our ability to:

The agreements governing the terms of Navios Logistics’ indebtedness impose similar restrictions upon Navios Logistics.

The agreements governing the terms of Navios Containers’ indebtedness impose similar restrictions upon Navios Containers.

Therefore, we, Navios Logistics and Navios Containers will need to seek permission from our respective lenders in order to engage in some corporate and commercial actions that believe would be in the best interest of our respective business, and a denial of permission may make it difficult for us or Navios Logistics to successfully execute our business strategy or effectively compete with companies that are not similarly restricted. The interests of our, Navios Logistics’ and Navios Containers’ lenders may be different from our respective interests or those of our holders of common stock, and we cannot guarantee that we, Navios Logistics or Navios Containers will be able to obtain the permission of lenders when needed. This may prevent us, Navios Logistics or Navios Containers from taking actions that are in best interests of us, Navios Logistics, Navios Containers or our stockholders. Any future debt agreements may include similar or more restrictive restrictions.

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Our ability to generate the significant amount of cash needed to pay interest and principal and otherwise service our debt and our ability to refinance all or a portion of our indebtedness or obtain additional financing depend on multiple factors, many of which may be beyond our control.

The ability of us, Navios Logistics and Navios Containers to make scheduled payments on or to refinance our respective debt obligations will depend on our respective financial and operating performance, which, in turn, will be subject to prevailing economic and competitive conditions and to the financial and business factors, many of which may be beyond the control of us, Navios Logistics and Navios Containers.

The principal and interest on such debt will be paid in cash. The payments under our, Navios Logistics’ and Navios Containers’ debt will limit funds otherwise available for our respective working capital, capital expenditures, vessel acquisitions and other purposes. As a result of these obligations, the current liabilities us, Navios Logistics or Navios Containers may exceed our respective current assets. We, Navios Logistics or Navios Containers may need to take on additional debt as we expand our respective fleets or other operations, which could increase our respective ratio of debt to equity. The need to service our respective debt may limit funds available for other purposes, and our, Navios Logistics’ or Navios Containers’ inability to service debt in the future could lead to acceleration of such debt, the foreclosure on assets such as owned vessels or otherwise negatively affect us.

We may be unable to raise funds necessary to finance the change of control repurchase offer required by the indentures governing our outstanding notes, other than the 2024 Notes, and our secured credit facilities.

The indenture governing the 2022 Senior Secured Notes, the indenture governing the 2022 Notes, the indentures governing the 2022 Logistics Senior Notes and our, Navios Logistics’ and Navios Containers’ secured credit facilities contain certain change of control provisions. If we, Navios Logistics or Navios Containers experience specified changes of control under our respective notes, we, Navios Logistics or Navios Containers, as the case may be, will be required to make an offer to repurchase all of our respective outstanding notes (unless otherwise redeemed), other than the 2024 Notes, at a price equal to 101% of the principal amount thereof plus accrued and unpaid interest, if any, to the repurchase date. The occurrence of specified events that would constitute a change of control may constitute a default under our, Navios Logistics’ and Navios Containers’ secured credit facilities. In the event of a change of control under these debt agreements, we cannot assure you that we would have sufficient assets to satisfy all of our obligations under these debt agreements, including but not limited to, repaying all indebtedness outstanding under the applicable secured credit facilities or repurchasing the applicable notes.

If volatility in the London InterBank Offered Rate, or LIBOR, occurs, or if LIBOR is replaced as the reference rate under our debt obligations, it could affect our profitability, earnings and cash flow.

LIBOR has historically been volatile, with the spread between LIBOR and the prime lending rate widening significantly at times. These conditions are the result of the disruptions in the international credit markets. Because the interest rates borne by our outstanding indebtedness fluctuate with changes in LIBOR, if this volatility were to occur, it would affect the amount of interest payable on our debt, which in turn, could have an adverse effect on our profitability, earnings and cash flow. See also “Item 11 Qualitative and Quantitative Disclosures about Market Risk.”

Furthermore, interest in most loan agreements in our industry has been based on published LIBOR rates. Recently, however, there is uncertainty relating to the LIBOR calculation process, which may result in the phasing out of LIBOR in the future. As a result, lenders have insisted on provisions that entitle the lenders, in their discretion, to replace published LIBOR as the base for the interest calculation with their cost-of-funds rate. Such provisions could significantly increase our lending costs, which would have an adverse effect on our profitability, earnings and cash flow.

In addition, the banks currently reporting information used to set LIBOR will likely stop such reporting after 2021, when their commitment to reporting information ends. The Alternative Reference Rate Committee, or “Committee”, a committee convened by the United States Federal Reserve that includes major market participants, has proposed an alternative rate to replace U.S. Dollar LIBOR: the Secured Overnight Financing Rate, or “SOFR.” The impact of such a transition away from LIBOR would be significant for us because of our substantial indebtedness.

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The market values of our vessels, which have declined from historically high levels, may fluctuate significantly, which could cause us to breach covenants in our credit facilities and result in the foreclosure of our mortgaged vessels.

Factors that influence vessel values include:

If the market values of our owned vessels decrease, we may breach covenants contained in our secured credit facilities. If we breach such covenants and are unable to remedy any relevant breach, our lenders could accelerate our debt and foreclose on the collateral, including our vessels. Any loss of vessels would significantly decrease our ability to generate positive cash flow from operations and, therefore, service our debt. In addition, if the book value of a vessel is impaired due to unfavorable market conditions, or a vessel is sold at a price below its book value, we would incur a loss. Navios Logistics and Navios Containers may be subject to similar ramifications under its credit facilities if the market values of its owned vessels decrease.

In addition, as vessels grow older, they generally decline in value. We will review our vessels for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of the assets may not be recoverable. We review certain indicators of potential impairment, such as undiscounted projected operating cash flows expected from the future operation of the vessels, which can be volatile for vessels employed on short-term charters or in the spot market. Any impairment charges incurred as a result of declines in charter rates would negatively affect our financial condition and results of operations. In addition, if we sell any vessel at a time when vessel prices have fallen and before we have recorded an impairment adjustment to our financial statements, the sale may be at less than the vessel’s carrying amount on our financial statements, resulting in a loss and a reduction in earnings.

We may require additional financing to acquire vessels or business or to exercise vessel purchase options, and such financing may not be available.

In the future, we may be required to make substantial cash outlays to exercise options or to acquire vessels or business and will need additional financing to cover all or a portion of the purchase prices. We intend to cover the cost of such items with new debt collateralized by the vessels to be acquired, if applicable, but there can be no assurance that we will generate sufficient cash or that debt financing will be available. Moreover, the covenants in our senior secured credit facility, the indentures or other debt, may make it more difficult to obtain such financing by imposing restrictions on what we can offer as collateral.

We have substantial equity investments in six companies, four of which are not consolidated in our financial results, and our investment in such companies is subject to the risks related to their respective businesses.

As of December 31, 2018, we had a 63.8% ownership interest in Navios Logistics, and, as a result, Navios Logistics is a consolidated subsidiary. As such, the income and losses relating to Navios Logistics and the indebtedness and other liabilities of Navios Logistics are shown in our consolidated financial statements.

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On June 8, 2017, Navios Maritime Containers Inc. completed a private placement in which Navios Holdings invested $5.0 million. Navios Maritime Containers Inc. registered its shares on the Norwegian Over-The-Counter Market (N-OTC) on June 12, 2017 under the ticker “NMCI”. On November 30, 2018, Navios Maritime Containers Inc. was converted into a limited partnership. In connection with the conversion, Navios Maritime Containers GP LLC, a Republic of the Marshall Islands limited liability company and wholly-owned subsidiary of Navios Holdings, was admitted as Navios Containers’ general partner and holds a non-economic interest that does not provide the holder with any rights to profits or losses of, or distribution by, the partnership. As a result of holding the general partner interest, control was obtained by Navios Holdings. As of that date, Navios Holdings obtained control over Navios Containers and consequently the results of operations of Navios Containers are consolidated under Navios Holdings. As such, the income and losses relating to Navios Containers for the period from November 30, 2018 (date of obtaining control) to December 31, 2018 and the indebtedness and other liabilities of Navios Containers for the year ended December 31, 2018 are shown in our consolidated financial statements. As of December 31, 2018, Navios Holdings had a 3.7% ownership interest in Navios Containers.

We also have substantial equity investments in two public companies that are accounted for under the equity method — Navios Acquisition and Navios Partners. As of December 31, 2018, we held 32.8% of the voting stock and 35.8% of the economic interest of Navios Acquisition and 20.0% of the equity interest in Navios Partners (including a 2.0% general partner interest). As of such date, the carrying value of our investments in these two affiliated companies amounted to $79.7 million.

In addition to the value of our investment, we receive dividend payments relating to our investments. As a result of our investment, in fiscal year 2018, we received $5.8 million in dividends from Navios Acquisition and $2.1 million dividends from Navios Partners. Furthermore, we receive management and general and administrative fees from Navios Acquisition and Navios Partners, which amounted to $101.8 million and $78.2 million, respectively, in fiscal year 2018.

On October 9, 2013, Navios Holdings, Navios Acquisition and Navios Partners established Navios Europe Inc. (“Navios Europe I”) and had economic interests of 47.5%, 47.5% and 5.0%, respectively and 50%, 50% and 0%, voting interests, respectively. As of December 31, 2018, Navios Holdings portion of the Navios Term Loans I (as defined herein) relating to Navios Europe I was $4.8 million.

On February 18, 2015, Navios Holdings, Navios Acquisition and Navios Partners established Navios Europe (II) Inc. (“Navios Europe II”) and had economic interests of 47.5%, 47.5% and 5.0%, respectively and voting interests of 50%, 50% and 0%, respectively. As of December 31, 2018, Navios Holdings portion of the Navios Term Loans II (as defined herein) relating to Navios Europe II was $6.7 million.

Our ownership interest in Navios Logistics, Navios Containers, Navios Acquisition, Navios Partners, Navios Europe I, Navios Europe II, and the reflection of such companies (or the investment relating thereto) on our balance sheets and any income generated from or related to such companies are subject to a variety of risks, including risks relating to the respective business of Navios Logistics, Navios Containers, Navios Acquisition, Navios Partners, Navios Europe I and Navios Europe II as disclosed in their respective public filings with the SEC or management reports. The occurrence of any such risks may negatively affect our financial condition.

We evaluate our investments in Navios Acquisition, Navios Partners, Navios Europe I and Navios Europe II for “other-than-temporary impairment” (“OTTI”) on a quarterly basis. Consideration is given to (i) the length of time and the extent to which the fair value has been less than the carrying value, (ii) their financial condition and near term prospects, and (iii) the intent and ability of the Company to retain our investment in these companies, for a period of time sufficient to allow for any anticipated recovery in fair value.

As of December 31, 2018, the Company considered the decline in fair value of its investment in Navios Partners as “other-than-temporary” and therefore recognized a loss of $55.5 million in the accompanying consolidated statement of comprehensive (loss)/income.

As of December 31, 2018 and 2017, management considers the decline in the market value of its investment in Navios Acquisition to be temporary. However, there is the potential for future impairment changes relative to this security if its respective fair value does not recover and an OTTI analysis indicates such write down is necessary, which may have a material adverse impact on our results of operations in the period recognized. During the year ended December 31, 2017, we did not recognize any impairment loss in earnings.

During the year ended December 31, 2016, the Company considered the decline in fair value of its investment in Navios Partners and Navios Acquisition as “other-than-temporary” and therefore, recognized a loss of $228.0 million in the accompanying consolidated statement of comprehensive (loss)/income.

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During each of the years ended December 31, 2016 and 2015, the Company considered the decline in fair value of the shares of Korea Line Corporation (“KLC”) as “other-than-temporary” and therefore, recognized a loss out of accumulated other comprehensive income /(loss) of $0.3 million and $1.8 million, respectively. The respective loss was included within the caption “Other expense” in the accompanying consolidated statement of comprehensive (loss)/income.

Risks Relating to Navios Logistics

Navios Logistics’ grain port business has seasonal components linked to the grain harvests in the region. At times throughout the year, the capacity of its grain port, including the loading and unloading operations, as well as the space in silos is exceeded, which could materially adversely affect its operations and revenues.

A significant portion of Navios Logistics’ grain port business is derived from handling and storage of soybeans and other agricultural products produced in the Hidrovia, mainly during the season between April and September. This seasonal effect could, in turn, increase the inflow and outflow of barges and vessels in its dry port and cause the space in its silos to be exceeded, which in turn would affect its timely operations or its ability to satisfy the increased demand. Inability to provide services in a timely manner may have a negative impact on its clients’ satisfaction and result in loss of existing contracts or inability to obtain new contracts.

Navios Logistics depends on a few significant customers for a large part of its revenues and the loss of one or more of these customers could materially and adversely affect its revenues.

In each of Navios Logistics’ businesses, a significant part of its revenues from a small number of customers. Navios Logistics expects that a small number of customers will continue to generate a substantial portion of its revenues for the foreseeable future. For the year ended December 31, 2018, its three largest customers, Vale International S.A. (“Vale”), Cammesa S.A. (“Cammesa”) and Axion Energy Paraguay S.A. (“Axion Energy”), accounted for 32.0%, 10.8% and 10.2% of its revenues, respectively, and its five largest customers accounted for approximately 65.4% of our revenues. For the year ended December 31, 2017, Navios Logistics’ three largest customers, Vale, YPF S.A. (“YPF”) and Axion Energy, accounted for 20.3%, 13.7% and 12.7% of its revenues, respectively, and its five largest customers accounted for approximately 61.9% of its revenues. For the year ended December 31, 2016, Navios Logistics’ three largest customers, Vale, Axion Energy and Cammesa, accounted for 28.0%, 13.8% and 11.5% of its revenues, respectively, and its five largest customers accounted for approximately 67.4% of its revenues. In addition, some of Navios Logistics’ customers, including many of its most significant customers, operate their own vessels and/or barges as well as port terminals. These customers may decide to cease or reduce the use of its services for various reasons, including employment of their own vessels or port terminals as applicable. The loss of any of its significant customers, including its large take-or-pay customers or the change of the contractual terms of any one of its most significant take-or-pay contracts or any significant dispute with one of these customers could materially adversely affect its financial condition and our results of operations.

If one or more of Navios Logistics’ customers does not perform under one or more contracts with it and Navios Logistics is not able to find a replacement contract, or if a customer exercises certain rights to terminate the contract, Navios Logistics could suffer a loss of revenues that could materially adversely affect its business, financial condition and results of operations.

Navios Logistics could lose a customer or the benefits of a contract if, among other things:

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Navios Logistics could also become involved in legal disputes with customers, including but not limited to Navios Logistics’ long-term take-or pay customers, relating to its contracts, be it through litigation, arbitration or otherwise, which could lead to delays in, or suspension or termination of its take-or-pay contracts or others and result in time-consuming, disruptive and expensive litigation or arbitration. If such contracts are suspended for an extended period of time, or if a number of Navios Logistics’ material contracts are terminated or renegotiated, its financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected. Even if Navios Logistics prevail in legal disputes relating to its customer contracts, which could entitle it to compensation, Navios Logistics cannot assure you that it would receive such compensation on a timely basis or in an amount that would fully compensate Navios Logistics for its losses.

Vale represents a significant portion of Navios Logistics’ revenue, and the fulfilment of their obligations under the in-force agreements with Navios Logistics, and their inability or unwillingness to honor these obligations could significantly reduce Navios Logistics’ revenues and cash flow.

Vale’s payments to Navios Logistics represent a significant source of its revenue for Navios Logistics. Reductions in the demand for or the oversupply of iron ore would place Vale under financial pressure and may increase the likelihood of Vale being unable or unwilling to pay Navios Logistics contracted rates or renew contracts upon termination.

If Vale were to terminate or not renew one of their contracts, Navios Logistics may be unable to enter into new contracts under similarly favorable terms or at all. Also, Navios Logistics will not receive any revenues from such vessels while they are un-chartered, but will still be required to pay expenses necessary to maintain and insure the pushboat and barges.

The loss of any of Navios Logistics’ charterers, time charters or vessels, or a decline in payments under its time charters, could have a material adverse effect on Navios Logistics business, results of operations and financial condition, as well as its cash flows, including cash available for distributions to Navios Logistics’ shareholders, or its ability to continue to service Navios Logistics’ indebtedness.

In addition, the ability and willingness of Vale to perform its obligations under the agreements with charter parties and the iron ore port service contract will depend upon a number of factors that are beyond Navios Logistics’ control and may include, among other things, general economic conditions, the state of the capital markets, the condition of the commodities industry and charter hire rates. Should Vale fail to honor its obligations under the agreements with Navios Logistics, we could sustain significant losses, which in turn could have a material adverse effect on Navios Logistics’ business, results of operations and financial condition, as well as its cash flows. Notwithstanding the foregoing, Navios Logistics’ contracts have dispute resolution clauses and protections that it may seek to enforce in such events. For example, on June 10, 2016, Navios Logistics initiated arbitration proceedings against Vale pursuant to the dispute resolution provisions of the service contract relating to the iron ore port facility in Nueva Palmira. On December 20, 2016, the arbitration tribunal ruled that the Vale port contract remains in full force and effect, and if Vale were to further repudiate or renounce the contract, Navios Logistics may elect to terminate the contract and be entitled to damages calculated by reference to guaranteed volumes and agreed tariffs for the remaining period of the contract. As of the date hereof, no further claim has been made or received from Vale. Any litigation or arbitration proceeding would be costly and time consuming and may result in the deterioration of Navios Logistics’ commercial relationships with Vale.

Navios Logistics’ business can be affected by adverse weather conditions, effects of climate change and other factors beyond its control, that can affect production of the goods it transports and stores as well as the navigability of the river system on which it operates.

A significant portion of Navios Logistics’ business is derived from the transportation, handling and storage of iron ore, soybeans and other agricultural products produced in the Hidrovia region. Any drought or other adverse weather conditions, such as floods, could result in a decline in production of these products, which would likely result in a reduction in demand for its services. This would, in turn, negatively impact its results of operations and financial condition. Furthermore, Navios Logistics’ fleet operates in the Parana and Paraguay Rivers, and any changes adversely affecting navigability of either of these rivers, such as changes in the depth of the water or the width of the navigable channel, could, in the short-term, reduce or limit its ability to effectively transport cargo on the rivers. The possible effects of climate change, such as floods, droughts or increased storm activity, could similarly affect the demand for its services or its operations.

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For instance, a prolonged drought, the possible effects of climate change, or other turn of events that is perceived by the market to have an impact on the region, the navigability of the Parana or Paraguay Rivers or Navios Logistics’ business in general may, in the short-term, result in a reduction in the market value of its ports, barges and pushboats that operate in the region. These barges and pushboats are designed to operate in wide and relatively calm rivers, of which there are only a few in the world. If it becomes difficult or impossible to operate profitably Navios Logistics’ barges and pushboats in the Hidrovia and Navios Logistics is forced to sell them to a third party located outside of the region, there is a limited market in which it would be able to sell these vessels, and accordingly it may be forced to sell them at a substantial loss.

Navios Logistics may be unable to obtain financing for its growth or to fund its future capital expenditures, which could materially adversely affect its results of operations and financial condition.

Navios Logistics’ capital expenditures during 2016, 2017 and 2018 were $91.2 million, $46.5 million and $19.6 million, respectively, mainly used to acquire and/or pay installments for among others one newbuilding estuary tanker vessel, three pushboats and to expand Navios Logistics’ port terminal operations through the construction of an iron ore port terminal facility and the development of a new upriver terminal. In order to follow its current strategy for growth, Navios Logistics will need to fund future asset or business acquisitions, increase working capital levels and increase capital expenditures.

In the future, Navios Logistics will also need to make capital expenditures required to maintain its current ports, fleet and infrastructure. Cash generated from its earnings may not be sufficient to fund all of these measures. Accordingly, Navios Logistics may need to raise capital through borrowings or the sale of debt or equity securities. Navios Logistics’ ability to obtain bank financing or to access the capital markets for future offerings may be limited by its financial condition at the time of any such financing or offering, as well as by adverse market conditions resulting from, among other things, general economic conditions and contingencies and uncertainties that are beyond its control. If Navios Logistics fails to obtain the funds necessary for capital expenditures required to maintain its ports, fleet and infrastructure, it may be forced to take vessels out of service or curtail operations, which could materially harm its revenues and profitability. If Navios Logistics fails to obtain the funds that might be necessary to acquire new vessels, expand its existing infrastructure, or increase its working capital or capital expenditures, Navios Logistics might not be able to grow its business and its earnings could suffer. Furthermore, despite covenants under the indenture governing the 2022 Logistics Senior Notes and Term Loan B Facility and the agreements governing its other indebtedness, Navios Logistics will be permitted to incur additional indebtedness, which would limit cash available for working capital, and to service its indebtedness.

Navios Logistics owns and operates an up-river port terminal in San Antonio, Paraguay that it believes is well-positioned to become a hub for industrial development based upon the depth of the river in the area and the convergence between land and river transportation. If the port does not become a hub for industrial development, its future prospects could be materially and adversely affected.

Navios Logistics owns and operates an up-river port terminal with tank storage for refined petroleum products, oil and gas in San Antonio, Paraguay. Navios Logistics believes that the port’s location south of the city of Asuncion, the depth of the river in the area and the convergence between land and river transportation make this port well-positioned to become a hub for industrial development. However, if the location is not deemed to be advantageous, or the use of the river or its convergence with the land is not fully utilized for transportation, then the port would not become a hub for industrial development, and its future prospects could be materially and adversely affected.

The risks and costs associated with ports as well as vessels increase as the operational port equipment and vessels age.

The costs to operate and maintain a port or a vessel increase with the age of the port equipment or the vessel. Governmental regulations, safety or other equipment standards related to the age of the operational port equipment or vessels may require expenditures for alterations or the addition of new equipment to Navios Logistics’ port equipment or vessels and may restrict the type of activities in which these ports or vessels may engage. The failure to make capital expenditures to alter or add new equipment to our barges, pushboats or, vessels and/or ports may restrict the type of activities in which these barges, pushboats and, vessels and/or ports may engage and may decrease their operational efficiency and increase our costs. As charterers prefer newer vessels that are more fuel efficient than older vessels, the age of some of Navios Logistics’ vessels, barges and pushboats may make them less attractive to charterers. Cargo insurance rates also increase with the age of a vessel, making older vessels less desirable to charterers as well.

Navios Logistics cannot assure you that, as its operational port equipment and vessels barges and pushboats age, market conditions will justify those expenditures or enable Navios Logistics to operate them profitably during the remainder of their useful lives. If Navios Logistics sells such assets, it may have to sell them at a loss, or opt to scrap its assets, and if clients no longer use its ports or charter-out its vessels due to their age, its results of operations could be materially adversely affected.

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Spare parts or other key equipment needed for the operation of Navios Logistics’ ports and fleet may not be available off the shelf and, as a result, it may face substantial delays, which could result in loss of revenues while waiting for those spare parts to be produced and delivered to Navios Logistics.

Navios Logistics’ ports and its fleet may need spare parts to be provided in order to replace old or damaged parts in the normal course of its operations. Given the increased activity in the maritime industry and the industry that supplies it, the manufacturers of key equipment for Navios Logistics’ vessels and its ports (such as engine makers, propulsion systems makers, control system makers and others) may not have the spare parts needed available immediately (or off the shelf) and may have to produce them when required. If this was the case, Navios Logistics vessels and ports may be unable to operate while waiting for such spare parts to be produced, delivered, installed and tested, resulting in a substantial loss of revenues for Navios Logistics.

As Navios Logistics expands its business, it may have difficulty managing its growth, including the need to improve its operations and financial systems, staff and crew or to receive required approvals to implement its expansion projects. If Navios Logistics cannot improve these systems, recruit suitable employees or obtain required approvals, it may not be able to effectively control its operations.

Navios Logistics intends to grow its port terminal, barge and cabotage businesses, either through land acquisition and expansion of its port facilities, through purchases of additional vessels, through chartered-in vessels or acquisitions of other logistics and related or complementary businesses. The expansion and acquisition of new land or addition of vessels to its fleet will impose significant additional responsibilities on its management and staff, and may require Navios Logistics to increase the number of its personnel. Navios Logistics will also have to increase its customer base to provide continued activity for the new businesses.

In addition, approval of governmental, regulatory and other authorities may be needed to implement any acquisitions or expansions. For example, Navios Logistics has available land in Brazil, and Uruguay where it plans to develop or expand its port facilities. In order to complete these projects, however, Navios Logistics needs to receive required authorization from several authorities. If these authorities deny its request for authorization, or if existing authorizations are revoked, Navios Logistics will not be able to proceed with these projects.

Growing any business by acquisition presents numerous risks. Acquisitions expose Navios Logistics to the risk of successor liability relating to actions involving an acquired company, its management or contingent liabilities incurred before the acquisition. The due diligence Navios Logistics conducts in connection with an acquisition, and any contractual guarantees or indemnities that it receives from the sellers of acquired companies or assets may not be sufficient to protect it from, or compensate it for, actual liabilities. Any material liability associated with an acquisition could adversely affect Navios Logistics’ reputation and results of operations and reduce the benefits of the acquisition. Other risks presented include difficulty in obtaining additional qualified personnel, managing relationships with customers and suppliers and integrating newly acquired assets or operations into existing infrastructures.

Management is unable to predict whether or when any prospective acquisition will occur, or the likelihood of a certain transaction being completed on favorable terms and conditions. Navios Logistics’ ability to expand its business through acquisitions depends on many factors, including its ability to identify acquisitions or access capital markets at an acceptable cost and negotiate favorable transaction terms. Navios Logistics cannot give any assurance that it will be successful in executing its growth plans or that it will not incur significant expenses and losses in connection therewith or that its acquisitions will perform as expected, which could materially adversely affect its results of operations and financial condition. Furthermore, because the volume of cargo Navios Logistics ships is at or near the capacity of its existing barges during the typical peak harvest season, its ability to increase volumes shipped is limited by its ability to acquire or charter-in additional barges.

With respect to Navios Logistics’ existing infrastructure, its initial operating and financial systems may not be adequate as Navios Logistics implements its plan to expand, and its attempts to improve these systems may be ineffective. If Navios Logistics is unable to operate its financial and operations systems effectively or to recruit suitable employees as it expands its operations, it may be unable to effectively control and manage the substantially larger operation. Although it is impossible to predict what errors might occur as the result of inadequate controls, it is generally harder to manage a larger operation than a smaller one and, accordingly, more likely that errors will occur as operations grow. Additional management infrastructure and systems will be required in connection with such growth to attempt to avoid such errors.

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Rising crew costs, fuel prices and other cost increases may adversely affect Navios Logistics’ profits.

At December 31, 2018, Navios Logistics employed 384 land-based employees and 572 seafarers as crew on its vessels. Crew costs are a significant expense for Navios Logistics. Recently, the limited supply of and increased demand for well-qualified crew, due to the increase in the size of the global shipping fleet, has created upward pressure on crewing costs, which Navios Logistics generally bears under its time and spot contracts. Additionally, labor union activity in the Hidrovia may create pressure for Navios Logistics to pay higher crew salaries and wages. In addition, fuel is one of the largest operating expenses in Navios Logistics’ barge and cabotage businesses, when the revenue is contracted mainly by ton per cargo shipped. The prices for and availability of fuel may be subject to rapid change or curtailment, respectively, due to, among other things, new laws or regulations, interruptions in production by suppliers, imposition of restrictions on energy supply by government, worldwide price levels and market conditions. Currently, most of Navios Logistics’ long-term contracts provide for the adjustment of freight rates based on changes in the fuel prices and crew costs. Navios Logistics may be unable to include similar provisions in these contracts when they are renewed or in future contracts with new customers. To the extent Navios Logistics’ contracts do not pass-through changes in fuel prices to its clients, Navios Logistics will be forced to bear the cost of fuel price increases. Navios Logistics may hedge in the futures market all or part of its exposure to fuel price variations. Navios Logistics cannot assure you that it will be successful in hedging its exposure. In the event of a default by Navios Logistics’ contractual counterparties or other circumstance affecting their performance under a contract, Navios Logistics may be subject to exposure under, and may incur losses in connection with, its hedging instruments, if any. In certain jurisdictions, the price of fuel is affected by high local taxes and may become more expensive than prevailing international prices. Navios Logistics may not be able to pass onto its customers the additional cost of such taxes and may suffer losses as a consequence of such inability. Such increases in crew and fuel costs may materially adversely affect Navios Logistics’ results of operations.

Navios Logistics’ industry is highly competitive, and it may not be able to compete successfully for services with new companies with greater resources.

Navios Logistics provides services through its ports and employs its fleet in highly competitive markets. The river and sea coastal logistics market is international in scope and Navios Logistics competes with many different companies, including other port or vessel owners and major oil companies.

With respect to loading, storage and ancillary services, the market is divided between transits and exports, depending on the cargo origin. In the case of transits there are other companies operating in the river system that are able to offer services similar to Navios Logistics. With respect to exports, its competitors are Montevideo Port in Montevideo and Ontur and TGU in Nueva Palmira. The main competitor of its liquid port terminal in Paraguay is Petropar, a Paraguayan state-owned entity. Other competitors include Copetrol, TLP, Petrobras and Trafigura Pte Ltd.

Navios Logistics faces competition in its barge and cabotage businesses with transportation of oil and refined petroleum products from other independent ship owners and from vessel operators. The charter markets in which its vessels compete are highly competitive. Key competitors include the successor of Ultrapetrol Bahamas Ltd., Hidrovias do Brasil, Interbarge, P&O, Imperial Shipping and Fluviomar. In addition, some of its customers, including ADM, International S.A. (“Cargill”), Louis Dreyfus Holding B.V. (“Louis Dreyfus”) and Vale, have some of their own dedicated barge capacity, which they can use to transport cargo in lieu of hiring a third party. Navios Logistics also competes indirectly with other forms of land-based transportation such as truck and rail. These companies and other smaller entities are regular competitors of Navios Logistics in its primary trading areas. Competition is primarily based on prevailing market contract rates, vessel location and vessel manager know-how, reputation and credibility.

Navios Logistics’ competitors may be able to offer their customers lower prices, higher quality service and greater name recognition than Navios Logistics does. Accordingly, Navios Logistics may be unable to retain its current customers or to attract new customers.

If Navios Logistics fails to fulfill the oil majors’ vetting processes, it could materially adversely affect the employment of its tanker vessels in the spot and period markets, and consequently its results of operations.

While numerous factors are considered and evaluated prior to a commercial decision, the oil majors, through their association, OCIMF, have developed and are implementing two basic tools: (a) the Ship Inspection Report Program (“SIRE”) and (b) the Tanker Management and Self Assessment (“TMSA”) program. The former is a ship inspection based upon a thorough Vessel Inspection Questionnaire and performed by OCIMF-accredited inspectors, resulting in a report being logged on SIRE. The report is an important element of the ship evaluation undertaken by any oil major when a commercial need exists.

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Based upon commercial needs, there are three levels of assessment used by the oil majors: (a) terminal use, which will clear a vessel to call at one of the oil major’s terminals, (b) voyage charter, which will clear the vessel for a single voyage and (c) term charter, which will clear the vessel for use for an extended period of time. While for terminal use and voyage charter relationships, a ship inspection and the operator’s TMSA will be sufficient for the evaluation to be undertaken, a term charter relationship also requires a thorough office audit. An operator’s request for such an audit is by no means a guarantee one will be performed; it will take a long record of proven excellent safety and environmental protection on the operator’s part as well as high commercial interest on the part of the oil major to have an office audit performed. If Navios Logistics fails to clear the vetting processes of the oil majors, it could have a material adverse effect on the employment of our vessels, and, consequently, on its results of operations.

Navios Logistics may employ its fleet on the spot market and thus expose itself to risk of losses based on short-term decreases in shipping rates.

Navios Logistics periodically employs some of its fleet on a spot basis. As of December 31, 2018, 60% of its cabotage fleet and 26% of its barge fleet on a dwt tons basis was employed under time charter or COA contracts. The remaining percentage of its barge fleet and cabotage fleet were employed in the spot market. The spot charter market can be competitive and freight rates within this market may be volatile with the timing and amount of fluctuations in spot rates being difficult to determine. Longer-term contracts provide income at pre-determined rates over more extended periods of time. The cycles in its target markets have not yet been clearly determined but Navios Logistics expects them to exhibit significant volatility as the South American markets mature. Navios Logistics cannot assure you that it will be successful in keeping its fleet fully employed in these short-term markets, or that future spot rates will be sufficient to enable such fleet to be operated profitably, as spot rates may decline below the operating cost of vessels. A significant decrease in spot market rates or its inability to fully employ its fleet by taking advantage of the spot market would result in a reduction of the incremental revenue received from spot chartering and could materially adversely affect its results of operations, and operating cash flow.

Certain of Navios Logistics’ directors, officers, and principal stockholders are affiliated with entities engaged in business activities similar to those conducted by Navios Logistics which may compete directly with it, causing such persons to have conflicts of interest.

Some of Navios Logistics’ directors, officers and principal stockholders have affiliations with entities that have similar business activities to those conducted by Navios Logistics. In addition, certain of Navios Logistics’ directors are also directors of shipping companies and they may enter similar businesses in the future. These other affiliations and business activities may give rise to certain conflicts of interest in the course of such individuals’ affiliation with Navios Logistics. Although Navios Logistics does not prevent its directors, officers and principal stockholders from having such affiliations, Navios Logistics uses its best efforts to cause such individuals to comply with all applicable laws and regulations in addressing such conflicts of interest. Navios Logistics’ officers and employee directors devote their full time and attention to its ongoing operations, and its non-employee directors devote such time as is necessary and required to satisfy their duties as directors of a company.

Navios Logistics’ success depends upon its management team and other employees, and if it is unable to attract and retain key management personnel and other employees, its results of operations may be negatively impacted.

Navios Logistics’ success depends to a significant extent upon the abilities and efforts of its management team and its ability to retain them. In particular, many members of its senior management team, including its Chairman, its Chief Executive Officer, its Chief Financial Officer, its Chief Operating Officers and its Chief Commercial Officer, have extensive experience in the logistics and shipping industries. If Navios Logistics was to lose their services for any reason, it is not clear whether any available replacements would be able to manage its operations as effectively. The loss of any of the members of its management team could impair Navios Logistics’ ability to identify and secure vessel contracts, to maintain good customer relations and to otherwise manage its business, which could have a material adverse effect on its financial performance and its ability to compete. Navios Logistics does not maintain key man insurance on any of its officers. Further, the efficient and safe operation of its fleet and ports requires skilled and experienced crew members and employees. Difficulty in hiring and retaining such crew members and employees could adversely affect its results of operations.

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Risks Relating to Argentina

Argentine government actions concerning the economy, including decisions with respect to inflation, interest rates, price controls, foreign exchange controls, wages and taxes, restrictions on production, imports and exports, have had and could continue to have a material adverse effect on Navios Logistics. Navios Logistics cannot provide any assurance that future economic, social and political developments in Argentina, over which it has no control, will not impair its business, financial condition or results of operations, the guarantees or the market price of the 2022 Logistics Senior Notes.

The future economic and political environment of Argentina is uncertain.

Since assuming office on December 10, 2015, the Macri administration has announced several economic and policy reforms, including, foreign exchange, foreign trade and infrastructure. The Macri Administration has further settled claims with substantially all of the holdout bondholders who had not previously participated in Argentina’s sovereign debt restructurings (in terms of claims) and regained access to the international capital markets, issuing several new series of sovereign bonds. On May 7, 2018, the Argentine government subscribed a stand-by agreement with the International Monetary Fund (“IMF”), whereby the IMF granted a Stand-By Loan to Argentina for an amount of up to 50.0 billion for a term of up to 36 months. The total Stand-By Loan was increased for an amount of up to approximately $56.3 billion.

As of the date hereof, the impact that these measures and any future measures taken by the current administration will have on the Argentine economy cannot be predicted. In particular, Navios Logistics has no control over the implementation of the reforms to the regulatory framework that governs its operations and cannot guarantee that these reforms will be implemented or implemented in a manner that will benefit Navios Logistics’ business. The failure of these measures to achieve their intended goals could adversely affect the Argentine economy, which, in turn may have an adverse effect on Navios Logistics’ financial condition and results of operations.

The continuing inflation may have material adverse effects on the Argentine economy.

Over the last few years, the Argentine government has implemented certain programs aimed at controlling inflation and monitoring the prices of many goods and services, including price agreements between the Argentine government and private sector companies.

On December 27, 2017, the Central Bank updated its inflation target regime by adopting the inflation targets set by the Ministry of the Treasury for the next three years, including targets of 15% for 2018, 10% for 2019 and 5% by the end of 2020. However, such forecasts revealed to be inaccurate: inflation reached a rate of 47.6% for the year 2018.

A high inflation economy could undermine Argentina’s cost competitiveness abroad if not offset by a devaluation of the Argentine peso, which could also negatively affect economic activity and employment levels. While most of the client contracts of Navios Logistics’ Argentine subsidiaries are denominated in U.S. dollars, freight under those contracts is collected in Argentine pesos at the prevailing exchange rate. These contracts also include crew cost adjustment terms. Uncertainty about future inflation may contribute to slowdown or contraction in economic growth. Argentine inflation rate volatility makes it impossible to estimate with reasonable certainty the extent to which activity levels and results of operations of Navios Logistics’ Argentine subsidiaries could be affected by inflation and exchange rate volatility in the future.

The Argentine Central Bank has imposed restrictions on the transfer of funds outside of Argentina and other exchange controls in the past and may do so in the future, which could prevent Navios Logistics’ Argentine subsidiaries from transferring funds for the payment of the 2022 Logistics Senior Notes or the related guarantees.

Controls and restrictions may be imposed in the future, and could impair our ability to transfer funds generated by Navios Logistics’ Argentine operations in U.S. dollars outside Argentina to Navios Logistics for the payment of its indebtedness. In addition, any other restrictions or requirements that may be imposed in the future, expose Navios Logistics to the risk of losses arising from fluctuations in the exchange rate of the Argentine peso.

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The Argentine government has made certain changes to its tax rules that affected Navios Logistics’ operations in Argentina in the past, and could further increase the fiscal burden on its operations in Argentina in the future.

If the Argentine government decides to alter the tax regime in Argentina, its results of operations and financial condition could be materially and adversely affected.

The Argentine economy could be adversely affected by economic developments in other global markets.

Argentina’s economy is vulnerable to external shocks that could be caused by adverse developments affecting its principal trading partners. A significant decline in the economic growth of any of Argentina’s major trading partners (including Brazil, the European Union, China and the United States) could have a material adverse impact on Argentina’s balance of trade and could adversely affect Argentina’s economic growth. Argentina may also be affected by other countries that have influence over world economic cycles. If interest rates rise significantly in developed economies, including the United States, emerging market economies, including Argentina, could find it increasingly challenging and expensive to borrow capital and refinance existing debt, which could negatively affect their economic growth.

Future policies of the Argentine government may affect the economy as well as Navios Logistics’ operations.

During past years, the Argentine government took several actions to re-nationalize concessions and public services companies that were privatized in the 1990’s, such as Aguas Argentinas S.A. and Aerolíneas Argentinas S.A. On May 3, 2012, expropriation law 26,741 was passed by the Argentine Congress, providing for the expropriation of 51% of the share capital of YPF S.A., represented by an identical stake of Class D shares owned, directly or indirectly, by Repsol YPF and its controlled or controlling entities, which have been declared of public interest. The Argentine government made an offer to compensate Repsol YPF for around $5.0 billion, which was accepted by the Board of Directors and shareholders of Repsol YPF and confirmed by the Argentine Congress. Although the current administration has not implemented or advocated any nationalization or expropriation measures, similar measures, such as mandatory renegotiation or modification of existing contracts, new taxation policies, changes in laws, regulations and policies affecting foreign trade, investment, among others, that may be adopted by the Argentine government in the future could adversely affect Navios Logistics’ business, financial condition and results of operations.

Risks Relating to Uruguayan Free Zone Regulation

Certain of Navios Logistics’ subsidiaries in Uruguay are operating as direct free trade zone users under an agreement with the Free Zone Division of the Uruguayan Department of Trade allowing them to operate in isolated public and private areas within national borders and to enjoy tax exemptions and other benefits, such as a generic exemption on present and future national taxes including the Corporate Income Tax, Value-Added Tax and Wealth Tax. Other benefits that Navios Logistics’ subsidiaries enjoy are simplified corporate law provisions, the ability to negotiate preferential public utility rates with government agencies and government guarantees of maintenance of such benefits and tax exemptions. Free trade zone users do not need to pay import and export tariffs to introduce goods from abroad to the free trade zone, to transfer or send such goods to other free trade zones in Uruguay or send them abroad. However, Navios Logistics’ subsidiaries may lose all the tax benefits granted to them if they breach or fail to comply with the free trade zone contracts or framework. The right of the Uruguay Department of Trade—Free Zones Division to early terminate the Free Zone User Agreement is subject to an explanation on the specific factual and legal reasons in which such decision is based. Generic decisions will not be admissible, just like not all breaches by the Free Zone User will entitle the Uruguayan Department of Trade—Free Zones Division to early terminate the Free Zone User Agreement. Such a decision must therefore be proportional to the noncompliance’s nature. Under the Free Zone Agreement, the following are some of the causes under which the Uruguay Department of Trade—Free Zones Division may terminate the Free Zone User Agreement: the non fulfilment of the obligations to improve the land, as per the terms of each Free Zone User Agreement; material breaches the terms of the Free Zone User Agreement; violation of labor laws; failure to pay agreed fees to the Uruguayan authorities; failure to make required social security contributions requirements; or the commission of illegal acts or acts expressly forbidden by the Free Zone User Agreement. Should CNSA or Corporacion Navios Granos S.A. (“Granos”) lose their Free Zone User status, they will not be able to operate their terminal facilities.

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Other Risks Relating to the Countries in which Navios Logistics’ Operates

Navios Logistics is an international company that is exposed to the risks of doing business in many different, and often less developed and emerging market countries.

Navios Logistics is an international company and conducts all of its operations outside of the U.S., and expects to continue doing so for the foreseeable future. These operations are performed in countries that are historically less developed and stable than the U.S., such as Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay.

Some of the other risks Navios Logistics is generally exposed to through its operations in emerging markets include among others:

These risks may result in unforeseen harm to Navios Logistics’ business and financial condition. Also, some of its customers are headquartered in South America, and a general decline in the economies of South America, or the instability of certain South American countries and economies, could materially adversely affect Navios Logistics.

Navios Logistics’ business in emerging markets requires it to respond to rapid changes in market conditions in these countries. Navios Logistics’ overall success in international markets depends, in part, upon its ability to succeed in different legal, regulatory, economic, social and political conditions. Navios Logistics may not continue to succeed in developing and implementing policies and strategies that will be effective in each location where it does business. Furthermore, the occurrence of any of the foregoing factors may have a material adverse effect on its business and results of operations.

The governments of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay have entered into a treaty that commits each of them to participate in a regional initiative to integrate the region’s economies. There is no guarantee that such an initiative will be successful or that each of the governments involved in the initiative will follow through on its intentions to participate and if such regional initiative is unsuccessful, it could have a material adverse impact on Navios Logistics’ results of operations.

The governments of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay have entered into a treaty that commits each of them to participate in a regional initiative to integrate the region’s economies, a central component of which is water transportation in the Hidrovia. Although Navios Logistics believes that this regional initiative of expanding navigation on the Hidrovia river system will result in significant economic benefits, there is no guarantee that such an initiative will ultimately be successful, that each country will follow through on its intention to participate, or that the benefits of this initiative will match Navios Logistics’ expectations of continuing growth in the Hidrovia or reducing transportation costs. If the regional initiative is unsuccessful, Navios Logistics’ results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

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Changes in rules and regulations with respect to cabotage or their interpretation in the markets in which Navios Logistics’ operate could have a material adverse effect on its results of operations.

In the markets in which Navios Logistics currently operates, in cabotage or regional trades, it is subject to restrictive rules and regulations on a region by region basis. Its operations currently benefit from these rules and regulations or their interpretation. For instance, preferential treatment is extended in Argentine cabotage for Argentine flagged vessels or foreign flagged vessels operated by local established operators with sufficient Argentine tonnage under one to three years’ licenses, including its Argentine cabotage vessels. Changes in cabotage rules and regulations or in their interpretation may have an adverse effect on Navios Logistics’ current or future cabotage operations, either by becoming more restrictive (which could result in limitations to the utilization of some of its vessels in those trades) or less restrictive (which could result in increased competition in these markets).

Because Navios Logistics generates the majority of its revenues in U.S. dollars but incurs a significant portion of its expenses in other currencies, exchange rate fluctuations could cause it to suffer exchange rate losses, thereby increasing expenses and reducing income.

Navios Logistics engages in regional commerce with a variety of entities. Although its operations expose Navios Logistics to certain levels of foreign currency risk, its revenues are predominantly U.S. dollar-denominated at the present. Additionally, Navios Logistics’ South American subsidiaries transact certain operations in Uruguayan pesos, Paraguayan guaranies, Argentinean pesos and Brazilian reals; however, all of the subsidiaries’ primary cash flows are U.S. dollar-denominated. Currencies in Argentina and Brazil have fluctuated significantly against the U.S. dollar in the past. As of December 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016 approximately 48.6%, 60.3% and 61.1%, respectively, of its expenses were incurred in currencies other than U.S. dollars. Transactions in currencies other than the functional currency are translated at the exchange rate in effect at the date of each transaction. Expenses incurred in foreign currencies against which the U.S. dollar falls in value can increase, thereby decreasing Navios Logistics’ income. A greater percentage of Navios Logistics’ transactions and expenses in the future may be denominated in currencies other than U.S. dollars. As part of its overall risk management policy, Navios Logistics may attempt to hedge these risks in exchange rate fluctuations from time to time but cannot guarantee it will be successful in these hedging activities. Future fluctuations in the value of local currencies relative to the U.S. dollar in the countries in which it operates may occur, and if such fluctuations were to occur in one or a combination of the countries in which it operates, its results of operations or financial condition could be materially adversely affected.

Tax Risks

We may earn U.S. source income that is subject to tax, thereby adversely affecting our results of operations and cash flows.

Under the Internal Revenue Code, or the Code, 50.0% of the gross shipping income of a vessel owning or chartering corporation that is attributable to transportation that either begins or ends, but that does not both begin and end, in the U.S. is characterized as U.S.-source shipping income. U.S.-source shipping income generally is subject to a 4.0% U.S. federal income tax without allowance for deduction or, if such U.S.-source shipping income is effectively connected with the conduct of a trade or business in the U.S., U.S. federal corporate income tax (the statutory rate presently is 21.0%) as well as a branch profits tax (presently imposed at a 30.0% rate on effectively connected earnings), unless that corporation qualifies for exemption from tax under Section 883 of the Code. We believe that we and each of our subsidiaries qualifies and will continue to qualify for the foreseeable future for this statutory tax exemption under Section 883 with respect to our U.S.-source shipping income, provided that our common stock continues to be listed on the NYSE and represents more than 50.0% of the total combined voting power of all classes of our stock entitled to vote and of the total value of our stock, and less than 50.0% of our common stock is owned, actually or constructively under specified stock attribution rules, on more than half the number of days in the relevant year by persons who each own 5.0% or more of the vote and value of our common stock. Our ability to qualify for the exemption at any given time will depend upon circumstances related to the ownership of our common stock at such time and thus are beyond our control. Furthermore, our board of directors could determine that it is in our best interests to take an action that would result in this tax exemption not applying to us in the future. Accordingly, we can give no assurance that we would qualify for the exemption under Section 883 with respect to any such income we earn. If we were not entitled to the Section 883 exemption for any taxable year, we generally would be subject to a 4.0% U.S. federal gross income tax with respect to our U.S.-source shipping income or, if such U.S. source shipping income were effectively connected with the conduct of a trade or business in the U.S., U.S. federal corporate income tax as well as a branch profits tax for those years. As a result, depending on the trading patterns of our vessels, we could become liable for tax, and our net income and cash flow could be adversely affected. Please see the discussion under “Taxation—Material U.S. Federal Income Tax Considerations—U.S. Federal Income Taxation of the Company—Taxation of Our Shipping Income.”

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Navios Holdings may be taxed as a U.S. corporation.

The purchase by International Shipping Enterprises Inc. (“ISE”), our predecessor, of all of the outstanding shares of common stock of Navios Holdings, and the subsequent downstream merger of ISE with and into Navios Holdings took place on August 25, 2005. Navios Holdings is incorporated under the laws of the Republic of the Marshall Islands. ISE received an opinion from its counsel for the merger transaction that, while there is no direct authority that governs the tax treatment of the transaction, it was more likely than not that Navios Holdings would be taxed by the U.S. as a foreign corporation. Accordingly, we take the position that Navios Holdings will be taxed as a foreign corporation by the U.S. If Navios Holdings were to be taxed as a U.S. corporation, its taxes would be significantly higher than they are currently.

A change in tax laws, treaties or regulations, or their interpretation, of any country in which we operate our business could result in a high tax rate on our worldwide earnings, which could result in a significant negative impact on our earnings and cash flows from operations.

We are an international company that conducts business throughout the world. Tax laws and regulations are highly complex and subject to interpretation. Consequently, we are subject to changing tax laws, treaties and regulations in and between countries in which we operate. Our income tax expense is based upon our interpretation of tax laws in effect in various countries at the time that the expense was incurred. A change in these tax laws, treaties or regulations, or in the interpretation thereof, or in the valuation of our deferred tax assets, could result in a materially higher tax expense or a higher effective tax rate on our worldwide earnings, and such change could be significant to our financial results. If any tax authority successfully challenges our operational structure, intercompany pricing policies or the taxable presence of our key subsidiaries in certain countries, or if the terms of certain income tax treaties are interpreted in a manner that is adverse to our structure, or if we lose a material tax dispute in any country, our effective tax rate on our worldwide earnings from our operations could increase substantially and our earnings and cash flows from these operations could be materially adversely affected. For example, in accordance with the currently applicable Greek law, foreign flagged vessels that are managed by Greek or foreign ship management companies having established an office in Greece are subject to duties towards the Greek state, which are calculated on the basis of the relevant vessel’s tonnage. The payment of said duties exhausts the tax liability of the foreign ship owning company and the relevant manager against any tax, duty, charge or contribution payable on income from the exploitation of the foreign flagged vessel.

We and our subsidiaries may be subject to taxation in the jurisdictions in which we and our subsidiaries conduct business. Such taxation would result in decreased earnings available to our stockholders.

Investors are encouraged to consult their own tax advisors concerning the overall tax consequences of the ownership of our common stock arising in an investor’s particular situation under U.S. federal, state, local and foreign law.

U.S. tax authorities could treat us as a “passive foreign investment company,” which could have adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences to U.S. holders.

A foreign corporation will be treated as a passive foreign investment company, or PFIC, for U.S. federal income tax purposes if either (1) at least 75% of its gross income for any taxable year consists of certain types of “passive income” or (2) at least 50% of the quarterly average value of the corporation’s assets produce or are held for the production of those types of “passive income.” For purposes of these tests, “passive income” includes dividends, interest, capital gains and rents (other than rents derived other than in the active conduct of a rental business). For purposes of these tests, income derived from the performance of services does not constitute “passive income.” U.S. stockholders of a PFIC are subject to a disadvantageous U.S. federal income tax regime with respect to the income derived by the PFIC, the distributions they receive from the PFIC and the gain, if any, they derive from the sale or other disposition of their shares in the PFIC and additional tax filing obligations.

Based upon our actual and projected income, assets and activities, we believe that we should not be a PFIC for our taxable year ended December 31, 2018 or for subsequent taxable years. Based upon our operations as described herein, our income from time charters should not be treated as passive income for purposes of determining whether we are a PFIC. Accordingly, our income from our time chartering activities should not constitute “passive income,” and the assets that we own and operate in connection with the production of that income should not constitute passive assets.

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There is substantial legal authority supporting this position consisting of case law and U.S. Internal Revenue Service, or IRS, pronouncements concerning the characterization of income derived from time charters and voyage charters as services income for other tax purposes. However, it should be noted that there is also authority, which characterizes time charter income as rental income rather than services income for other tax purposes. Accordingly, no assurance can be given that the IRS or a court of law will accept this position and there is a risk that the IRS or a court of law could determine that we are a PFIC. In addition, no assurance can be given as to our current and future PFIC status, because such status requires an annual factual determination based upon the composition of our income and assets for the entire taxable year. The PFIC determination also depends on the application of complex U.S. federal income tax rules concerning the classification of our income and assets for this purpose, and there are legal uncertainties involved in determining whether the income derived from our chartering activities and from our logistics activities constitutes rental income or income derived from the performance of services. We have not sought, and we do not expect to seek, an IRS ruling on this issue. As a result, the IRS or a court could disagree with our position. In addition, although we intend to conduct our affairs in a manner to avoid, to the extent possible, being classified as a PFIC with respect to any taxable year, we cannot assure you that the nature of our operations, or the nature or composition of our income or assets, will not change in the future, or that we can avoid PFIC status in the future.

If the IRS were to find that we are or have been a PFIC for any taxable year, our U.S. stockholders would face adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences and certain information reporting requirements. Under the PFIC rules, unless those stockholders make an election available under the Code (which election could itself have adverse consequences for such stockholders, and which election may not be available if our common stock were to cease to be listed on the NYSE), such stockholders would be liable to pay U.S. federal income tax at the then prevailing ordinary income tax rates, plus interest, upon excess distributions and upon any gain from the disposition of their shares of common stock, as if the excess distribution or gain had been recognized ratably over the stockholder’s holding period of the common stock. In addition, for each year during which we are treated as a PFIC and you actually or constructively own our common stock you generally will be required to file IRS Form 8621 with your U.S. federal income tax return to report certain information concerning your ownership of our common stock. Please see the discussion under “Taxation—Material U.S. Federal Income Tax Considerations — Taxation of U.S. Holders of our Common Stock — Passive Foreign Investment Company Status.”

Item 4. Information on the Company

A. History and Development of the Company

The legal and commercial name of the Company is Navios Maritime Holdings Inc. The Company’s office and principal place of business is located at 7 Avenue de Grande Bretagne, Office 11B2, Monte Carlo, MC 98000 Monaco, and its telephone number is (011) + (377) 9798-2140. The Company is a corporation incorporated under the BCA and the laws of the Republic of the Marshall Islands. Trust Company of the Marshall Islands, Inc. serves as the Company’s agent for service of process, and the Company’s registered address, as well as address of its agent for service of process, is Trust Company Complex, Ajeltake Island P.O. Box 1405, Majuro, Marshall Islands MH96960.

On August 25, 2005, pursuant to a Stock Purchase Agreement dated February 28, 2005, as amended, by and among ISE, Navios Holdings, and all the shareholders of Navios Holdings, ISE acquired Navios Holdings through the purchase of all of the outstanding shares of common stock of Navios Holdings. As a result of this acquisition, Navios Holdings became a wholly-owned subsidiary of ISE. In addition, on August 25, 2005, simultaneously with the acquisition of Navios Holdings, ISE effected a reincorporation from the State of Delaware to the Republic of the Marshall Islands through a downstream merger with and into its newly acquired wholly-owned subsidiary, whose name was and continued to be Navios Maritime Holdings Inc.

The Company operates a fleet of owned Capesize, Panamax, Ultra Handymax and Handysize vessels and a fleet of time chartered Capesize, Panamax, Ultra Handymax and Handysize vessels that are employed to provide worldwide transportation of bulk commodities. Navios Holdings is a global, vertically integrated seaborne shipping, logistics company focused on the transport and transshipment of dry bulk commodities including iron ore, coal and grain as well as containerships. For over 60 years, Navios Holdings has had in-house technical ship management expertise that has worked with producers of raw materials, agricultural traders and exporters, industrial end-users, ship owners and charterers.

Navios Logistics

Navios Logistics is one of the largest logistics companies in the Hidrovia region of South America, focusing on the Hidrovia river system, the main navigable river system in the region, and on cabotage trades along the eastern coast of South America. Navios Logistics is focused on providing its customers integrated transportation, storage and related services through its port facilities, its large, versatile fleet of dry and liquid cargo barges and its product tankers. Navios Logistics serves the needs of a number of growing South American industries, including mineral and grain commodity providers as well as users of refined petroleum products.

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On January 1, 2008, pursuant to a share purchase agreement, Navios Holdings contributed cash, and the authorized capital stock of its wholly-owned subsidiary Corporacion Navios Sociedad Anonima (“CNSA”) in exchange for the issuance and delivery of 63.8% of Navios Logistics’ outstanding stock. Navios Logistics acquired all ownership interests in the Horamar Group (“Horamar”) in exchange for cash, and the issuance of 36.2% of Navios Logistics’ outstanding stock. As of December 31, 2018, Navios Holdings owned 63.8% of Navios Logistics.

Navios Containers

Navios Containers is a growth vehicle dedicated to the container sector of the maritime industry. On June 8, 2017, Navios Maritime Containers Inc. completed a private placement and Navios Holdings invested $5.0 million. Navios Maritime Containers Inc. registered its shares on the Norwegian Over-The-Counter Market (N-OTC) on June 12, 2017 under the ticker “NMCI”. On November 30, 2018, Navios Maritime Containers Inc. was converted into a limited partnership. In connection with the conversion, Navios Maritime Containers GP LLC, a Republic of the Marshall Islands limited liability company and wholly-owned subsidiary of Navios Holdings, was admitted as Navios Containers’ general partner and holds a non-economic interest that does not provide the holder with any rights to profits or losses of, or distribution by, the partnership. As a result of holding the general partner interest, control was obtained by Navios Holdings. As of that date, Navios Holdings obtained control over Navios Containers and consequently the results of operations of Navios Containers are consolidated under Navios Holdings.

On December 3, 2018, Navios Partners distributed approximately 2.5% of the outstanding equity of Navios Containers to the unitholders of Navios Partners in connection with the listing of Navios Containers on the NASDAQ. As of December 31, 2018, Navios Holdings had a 3.7% ownership interest in Navios Containers.

Affiliates (not consolidated under Navios Holdings)

Navios Partners

Navios Partners (NYSE:NMM) is an international owner and operator of dry cargo vessels and is engaged in the seaborne transportation services of a wide range of dry cargo commodities including iron ore, coal, grain, fertilizer and also containers, chartering its vessels under medium to long-term charters.

On August 7, 2007, Navios Holdings formed Navios Partners under the laws of Marshall Islands. Navios GP L.L.C., or the general partner, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Navios Holdings, was also formed on that date to act as the general partner of Navios Partners and received a 2.0% general partner interest in Navios Partners.

On or prior to the closing of Navios Partners’ initial public offering, or IPO, in November 2007, Navios Holdings entered into certain agreements with Navios Partners: (a) a management agreement with Navios Partners pursuant to which Navios Shipmanagement Inc. (the “Manager”) , a wholly-owned subsidiary of Navios Holdings, provides Navios Partners with commercial and technical management services; (b) an administrative services agreement with the Manager pursuant to which the Manager provides Navios Partners administrative services; and (c) an omnibus agreement with Navios Partners, governing, among other things, when Navios Partners and Navios Holdings may compete against each other as well as rights of first offer on certain dry bulk carriers.

Since the formation of Navios Partners, Navios Holdings sold in total 12 vessels to Navios Partners (the Navios Hope, the Navios Apollon, the Navios Hyperion, the Navios Aurora II, the Navios Fulvia, the Navios Melodia, the Navios Pollux, the Navios Luz, the Navios Orbiter, the Navios Buena Ventura, the Navios Sphera and the Navios Mars) and also sold the rights of Navios Sagittarius to Navios Partners. All vessels were sold in exchange of cash and 5,601,920 common units of Navios Partners in total.

As of December 31, 2018, Navios Holdings’ interest in Navios Partners was 20.0% (including 2.0% general partner interest).

Navios Acquisition

Navios Acquisition (NYSE:NNA) is an owner and operator of tanker vessels focusing on the transportation of petroleum products (clean and dirty) and bulk liquid chemicals.

On July 1, 2008, Navios Acquisition completed its IPO. On May 28, 2010, Navios Acquisition consummated the vessel acquisition, which constituted its initial business combination. Following such transaction, Navios Acquisition commenced its operations as an operating company. On that date, Navios Holdings acquired control over Navios Acquisition, and consequently concluded a business combination had occurred and consolidated the results of Navios Acquisition from that date until March 30, 2011.

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On May 28, 2010, Navios Holdings entered into (a) a management agreement with Navios Acquisition pursuant to which Navios Tankers Management Inc. (the “Tankers Manager”) provides Navios Acquisition commercial and technical management services; (b) an administrative services agreement with the Tankers Manager pursuant to which the Tankers Manager provides Navios Acquisition administrative services and is in turn reimbursed for reasonable costs and expenses; and (c) an omnibus agreement with Navios Acquisition and Navios Partners (the “Acquisition Omnibus Agreement”) in connection with the closing of Navios Acquisition’s vessel acquisition, governing, among other things, competition and rights of first offer on certain types of vessels and businesses.

On March 30, 2011, Navios Holdings exchanged 7,676,000 shares of Navios Acquisition common stock it held for 1,000 shares of non-voting Series C Convertible Preferred Stock of Navios Acquisition and had 45.0% of the voting power and 53.7% of the economic interest in Navios Acquisition, since the preferred stock is considered, in substance, common stock for accounting purposes. From March 30, 2011, Navios Acquisition has been considered as an affiliate entity of Navios Holdings and not as a controlled subsidiary of the Company.

In February, May and September 2013, Navios Acquisition completed multiple offerings, including registered direct offerings and private placements to Navios Holdings and certain members of the management of Navios Acquisition, Navios Partners and Navios Holdings. A total of 94,097,529 shares were issued. As part of these offerings, Navios Holdings purchased in private placements an aggregate of 46,969,669 shares of Navios Acquisition common stock for $160.0 million. In February 2014, Navios Acquisition completed a public offering of 14,950,000 shares of its common stock.

In February 2018, the Board of Directors of Navios Acquisition authorized a stock repurchase program for up to $25.0 million of Navios Acquisition’s common stock, for two years. Stock repurchases will be made from time to time for cash in open market transactions at prevailing market prices or in privately negotiated transactions. As of December 31, 2018, Navios Acquisition has repurchased its shares of common stock for a total cost of approximately $7.1 million.

On November 9, 2018, the Stockholders of Navios Acquisition approved a one-for-15 reverse stock split of all outstanding common stock shares of Navios Acquisition, which was effected on November 14, 2018.

On December 13, 2018, Navios Acquisition completed the merger (the “Merger”) contemplated by the previously announced Agreement and Plan of Merger (the “Merger Agreement”), dated as of October 7, 2018, by and among Navios Acquisition, its direct wholly-owned subsidiary NMA Sub LLC (“Merger Sub”), Navios Midstream and Navios Midstream Partners GP LLC (the “NAP General Partner”). Pursuant to the Merger Agreement, Merger Sub merged with and into Navios Midstream, with Navios Midstream surviving as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Navios Acquisition.

As of December 31, 2018, Navios Holdings’ ownership of the outstanding voting stock of Navios Acquisition was 32.8% and its economic interest in Navios Acquisition was 35.8%.

Navios Europe I

Navios Europe I is engaged in the marine transportation industry through the ownership of five tanker and five container vessels.

On October 9, 2013, Navios Holdings, Navios Acquisition and Navios Partners established Navios Europe I under the laws of Marshall Islands and have economic interests of 47.5%, 47.5% and 5.0%, respectively and effective from November 2014, voting interests of 50%, 50% and 0%, respectively. On December 18, 2013, Navios Europe I acquired ten vessels for aggregate consideration consisting of (i) cash (which was funded with the proceeds of senior loan facilities (the “Senior Loans I”) and loans aggregating to $10.0 million from Navios Holdings, Navios Acquisition and Navios Partners (in each case, in proportion to their economic interests in Navios Europe I) (collectively, the “Navios Term Loans I”) and (ii) the assumption of a junior participating loan facility (the “Junior Loan I”). In addition to the Navios Term Loans I, Navios Holdings, Navios Acquisition and Navios Partners also made available to Navios Europe I revolving loans of up to $24.1 million to fund working capital requirements (collectively, the “Navios Revolving Loans I”). In December 2018, the amount of the Navios Revolving Loans I increased by $30.0 million.

Refer also to “Item 5. Operating and Financial Review and Prospects” in “Recent Developments”.

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Navios Europe II

Navios Europe II is engaged in the marine transportation industry through the ownership of seven dry bulkers and seven container vessels.

On February 18, 2015, Navios Holdings, Navios Acquisition and Navios Partners established Navios Europe II under the laws of Marshall Islands and have economic interests of 47.5%, 47.5% and 5.0%, respectively, and voting interests of 50.0%, 50.0% and 0%, respectively. From June 8, 2015 through December 31, 2015, Navios Europe II acquired 14 vessels for aggregate consideration consisting of: (i) cash (which was funded with the proceeds of a senior loan facility (the “Senior Loans II”) and loans aggregating to $14.0 million from Navios Holdings, Navios Acquisition and Navios Partners (in each case, in proportion to their economic interests in Navios Europe II) (collectively, the “Navios Term Loans II”) and (ii) the assumption of a junior participating loan facility (the “Junior Loan II”). In addition to the Navios Term Loans II, Navios Holdings, Navios Acquisition and Navios Partners will also make available to Navios Europe II revolving loans up to $43.5 million to fund working capital requirements (collectively, the “Navios Revolving Loans II”). In March 2017, the amount of the Navios Revolving Loans II increased by $14.0 million.

B. Business overview

Introduction

Navios Holdings is a global, vertically integrated seaborne shipping, logistics company focused on the transport and transshipment of dry bulk commodities including iron ore, coal and grain as well as containerships. For over 60 years, Navios Holdings has had an in-house commercial ship management expertise that has worked with producers of raw materials, agricultural traders and exporters, industrial end-users, ship owners, and charterers. Navios Holdings’ current core fleet (excluding the Navios Logistics fleet and the Navios Containers fleet), the average age of which is approximately 7.8 years, basis fully delivered fleet, consists of a total of 61 vessels, aggregating approximately 6.4 million dwt. Navios Holdings owns 13 Capesize vessels (169,000-182,000 dwt), ten modern Ultra Handymax vessels (50,000-59,000 dwt), ten Panamax vessels (74,000-85,000 dwt) and one Handysize vessel. It also time charters-in and operates a fleet of two Ultra Handymax, one Handysize, 18 Panamax, and six Capesize vessels under long-term time charters. Navios Holdings has options to acquire 22 time chartered-in vessels (on one of which Navios Holdings holds an initial 50% purchase option).

Navios Holdings also offers commercial and technical management services to the fleets of Navios Partners, Navios Acquisition, Navios Europe I, Navios Europe II and Navios Containers.

As of December 31, 2018, Navios Partners’ fleet was comprised of 33 drybulk vessels and five Container vessels. In each of October 2013, August 2014, February 2015, February 2016 and November 2017, the Company amended its existing management agreement with Navios Partners to fix the fees for ship management services of its owned fleet at: (i) $4,225 daily rate per Ultra-Handymax vessel; (ii) $4,325 daily rate per Panamax vessel; (iii) $5,250 daily rate per Capesize vessel; (iv) $6,700 daily rate per container vessel of TEU 6,800; (v) $7,400 daily rate per container vessel of more than TEU 8,000; and (vi) $8,750 daily rate per very large container vessel of more than TEU 13,000 through December 31, 2019. Drydocking expenses under this agreement will be reimbursed by Navios Partners at cost at occurrence.

As of December 31, 2018, Navios Acquisition’s fleet was comprised of 28 product and chemical tankers and 13 VLCC vessels. In each of May 2016 and May 2018, Navios Holdings amended its agreement with Navios Acquisition to fix the fees for ship management services of Navios Acquisition owned fleet at a daily fee of (i) $6,500 per MR2 product tanker and chemical tanker vessel; (ii) $7,150 per LR1 product tanker vessel; and (iii) $9,500 per VLCC through May 2020. Drydocking expenses under this agreement will be reimbursed at cost at occurrence for all vessels. Following, the merger of Navios Midstream with Navios Acquisition completed on December 13, 2018, the management agreement also covers vessels acquired.

Navios Europe I’s fleet was comprised of five product tankers and five container vessels and management fees and drydocking expenses under the management agreement will be reimbursed at cost at occurrence. Navios Europe II’s fleet was comprised of seven dry bulker and seven container vessels and management fees and drydocking expenses under the management agreement will be reimbursed at cost at occurrence.

As of December 31, 2018, Navios Containers’ fleet was comprised of 28 container vessels. The fee for the ship management services provided by Navios Holdings is a daily fee of $6,100 per day for up to 5,500 TEU container vessels, $6,700 per day for above 5,500 TEU and up to 8,000 TEU container vessels and $7,400 per day for above 8,000 TEU and up to 10,000 TEU container vessels. Drydocking expenses under this agreement are reimbursed by Navios Containers at cost.

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Navios Holdings’ strategy and business model focuses on:

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Competitive Advantages

Controlling approximately 6.4 million dwt (excluding Navios Logistics and Navios Containers) in dry bulk tonnage, Navios Holdings is one of the largest independent dry bulk operators in the world. Management believes that Navios Holdings occupies a competitive position within the industry in that its reputation in the global dry bulk markets permits it to enter into at any time, and take on spot, medium or long-term freight commitments, depending on its view of future market trends. In addition, many of the long-term charter deals may be brought to the attention of Navios Holdings prior to even being quoted in the open market. Even in the open market, Navios Holdings’ solid reputation allows it to take in large amounts of tonnage on a short, medium, or long-term basis on very short notice. This ability is possessed by relatively few ship owners and operators, and is a direct consequence of Navios Holdings’ market reputation for reliability in the performance of its obligations in each of its roles as a ship owner, COA operator, and charterer. Navios Holdings, therefore, has much greater flexibility than a traditional ship owner or charterer to quickly go “long” or “short” relative to the dry bulk markets.

Navios Holdings’ long involvement and reputation for reliability in the Asian Pacific region have also allowed it to develop privileged relationships with many of the largest trading houses in Japan, such as Marubeni Corporation and Mitsui & Co. Through these institutional relationships, Navios Holdings has obtained long-term charter-in deals, with options to extend time charters and options to purchase the majority of the vessels. Through its established reputation and relationships, Navios Holdings has had access to opportunities not readily available to most other industry participants who lack Navios Holdings’ brand recognition, credibility, and track record.

In addition to its long-standing reputation and flexible business model, management believes that Navios Holdings is well-positioned in the dry bulk market on the basis of the following factors:

Management intends to maintain and build on these qualitative advantages, while at the same time continuing to benefit from Navios Holdings’ reputation.

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Shipping Operations

Navios Holdings’ Fleet. Navios Holdings controls a core fleet of 34 owned vessels and 27 chartered-in vessels (22 of which have purchase options, including the purchase options of the vessels under bareboat contracts, expected to be delivered through 2020). The average age of the fleet is 7.8 years, basis fully delivered fleet.

Owned Fleet. Navios Holdings owns and operates a fleet comprised of ten modern Ultra Handymax vessels, 13 Capesize vessels, ten Panamax vessels and one Handysize vessel.

Owned Vessels

Long-Term Fleet. In addition to the 34 owned vessels, Navios Holdings controls a fleet of six Capesize, 18 Panamax, two Ultra Handymax, and one Handysize vessels under long-term time charters (including five Panamax vessels to be delivered through the second quarter of 2020), having an average age of approximately 3.3 years, basis fully delivered fleet.

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Long-term Chartered-in Fleet in Operation

Long-term Bareboat Chartered-in Fleet to be delivered

Many of Navios Holdings’ current long-term chartered-in vessels are chartered from ship owners with whom Navios Holdings has long-standing relationships. Navios Holdings pays these ship owners daily rates of hire for such vessels, and then charters out these vessels to other parties, who pay Navios Holdings a daily rate of hire. Navios Holdings also enters into COAs pursuant to which Navios Holdings has agreed to carry cargoes, typically for industrial customers, who export or import dry bulk cargoes. Further, Navios Holdings enters into spot market voyage contracts, where Navios Holdings is paid a rate per ton to carry a specified cargo from point A to point B.

Short-Term Fleet: Navios Holdings’ “short-term fleet” is comprised of Capesize, Panamax and Ultra Handymax vessels chartered-in for duration of less than 12 months. The number of short-term vessels varies from time to time. These vessels are not included in the “core fleet” of the Company.

Exercise of Vessel Purchase Options

Navios Holdings has executed several purchase options comprising of seven Ultra Handymax, six Panamax and one Capesize vessels, which were delivered on various dates from November 30, 2005 until November 7, 2018. Navios Holdings currently has options to acquire 22 chartered-in vessels currently in operation (including the purchase options of the vessels under bareboat contracts, expected to be delivered through 2020).

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Commercial Ship Management: Commercial management of Navios Holdings’, Navios Partners, Navios Acquisition’s, Navios Europe I’s, Navios Europe II’s and Navios Containers’ fleet involves identifying and negotiating charter party employment for the vessels. In addition to its internal commercial ship management capabilities, Navios Holdings used the services of a former related party, Acropolis Chartering & Shipping Inc. (“Acropolis”), based in Piraeus, until the sale of its investment on December 6, 2018, as well as numerous third-party charter brokers, to solicit, research, and propose charters for its vessels. Charter brokers research and negotiate with different charterers, and propose charters to Navios Holdings for cargoes suitable for carriage by Navios Holdings’, Navios Partners, Navios Acquisition’s, Navios Europe I’s, Navios Europe II’s and Navios Containers’ vessels. Navios Holdings then evaluates the employment opportunities available for each type of vessel and arranges cargo and country exclusions, bunkers, loading and discharging conditions, and demurrage.

Technical Ship Management: Navios Holdings provides, through its subsidiaries, Navios Shipmanagement Inc., Navios Containers Management Inc. and Navios Tankers Management Inc., technical ship management and maintenance services to its owned vessels and has also provided such services to Navios Partners’, Navios Acquisition’s, Navios Europe I’s, Navios Europe II’s and Navios Containers’ vessels under the terms of the management agreements between the parties. Based in Piraeus, Greece, Monaco and Singapore, this operation is run by experienced professionals who oversee every step of technical management, from the construction of the vessels to subsequent shipping operations throughout the life of a vessel, including the superintendence of maintenance, repairs and drydocking.

Operation of the Fleet: The operations departments supervise the post-fixture business of the vessels in Navios Holdings’, Navios Partners, Navios Acquisition’s, Navios Europe I’s, Navios Europe II’s and Navios Containers’ fleet (i.e., once the vessel is chartered and being employed) by monitoring their daily positions to ensure that the terms and conditions of the charters are being fulfilled.

Financial Risk Management: Navios Holdings actively engages in assessing financial risks associated with fluctuating future freight rates, daily time charter hire rates, fuel prices, credit risks, interest rates and foreign exchange rates. Financial risk management is carried out under policies approved and guidelines established by the Company’s executive management.

Customers

Dry bulk Vessel Operations

The international dry bulk shipping industry is highly fragmented and, as a result, there are numerous charterers. Navios Holdings’ assessment of a charterer’s financial condition and reliability is an important factor in negotiating employment of its vessels. Navios Holdings generally charters its vessels to major trading houses (including commodities traders), major producers and government-owned entities. Navios Holdings’ customers under charter parties, COAs, and other counterparties, include national, regional and international companies, such as Cargill International S.A., GIIC, Louis Dreyfus Commodities, Oldendorff Carriers, Swiss Marine, Rio Tinto and Mansel Ltd. (See also Item 3.D. “Risk Factors—We depend upon significant customers for part of our revenues. The loss of one or more of these customers or a decline in the financial capability of our customers could materially adversely affect our financial performance.”).

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Logistics Business Operations

Customers of Navios Logistics include affiliates of ADM, Axion Energy, Bunge, Cargill, Glencore, Louis Dreyfus, Petrobras, Petropar (the national oil company of Paraguay), Shell, Vale, Vitol and YPF. Navios Logistics has a long history of operating in the Hidrovia region and has been able to generate and maintain longstanding relationships with its customers. In its grain port facilities in Uruguay, Navios Logistics has been serving three of its key customers, ADM, Cargill and Louis Dreyfus, for more than 20 years on average. In its liquid port facility, liquid barge transportation and cabotage business, Navios Logistics has had long-term relationships with its global petroleum customers for more than 17 years on average (such as Axion Energy, Petrobras Group, YPF and Shell or their successors). In its dry barge business, Navios Logistics started its relationship with Vale in 2008 for iron ore transportation and has signed new contracts since then. Navios Logistics is committed to providing quality logistics services for its customers and further developing and maintaining its long-term relationships.

Concentrations of credit risk with respect to accounts receivables are limited due to Navios Logistics’ large number of customers, who are established international operators and have an appropriate credit history. Due to these factors, management believes that no additional credit risk, beyond amounts provided for collection losses, is inherent in its trade receivables. (See also Item 3.D. “Risk Factors—Navios Logistics depends on a few significant customers for a large part of its revenues and the loss of one or more of these customers could materially and adversely affect its revenues.”).

Container Vessel Operations

Customers of Navios Containers in the containership sector consist of a limited number of liner companies. The tough economic conditions faced by liner companies and the intense competition among them has caused, and may in the future cause, certain liner companies to default resulting in consolidation among liner companies. The number of leading liner companies which are Navios Containers’ client base may continue to shrink and Navios Containers may depend on an even more limited number of customers to generate a substantial portion of its revenues. The cessation of business with these liner companies or their failure to fulfill their obligations under the time charters for Navios Containers’ containerships could have a material adverse effect on Navios Containers’ business, financial condition and results of operations, as well as its cash flows, including cash available for distributions to Navios Containers’ unit holders and repurchases of common units. In addition to consolidations, alliances involving Navios Containers’ customers could further increase the concentration of Navios Containers’ business and reduce its bargaining power.

For the period from November 30, 2018 (date of obtaining control) to December 31, 2018, Navios Containers’ one largest customer, NOL Liner PTE Ltd accounted for 37.9% of its revenues. Other than its largest customer mentioned above, no other customer accounted for more than 10% of Navios Containers’ revenues during the period from November 30, 2018 (date of obtaining control) to December 31, 2018.

Competition

The dry bulk shipping markets are extensive, diversified, competitive and highly fragmented, divided among 1,938 independent dry bulk carrier owners. The world’s active dry bulk fleet consists of approximately 11,400 vessels, aggregating approximately 846.7 million dwt as of April 1, 2019. As a general principle, the smaller the cargo carrying capacity of a dry bulk carrier, the more fragmented is its market, both with regard to charterers and vessel owner/operators. Even among the larger dry bulk owners and operators, whose vessels are mainly in the larger sizes, only ten companies are known to have fleets of 100 vessels or more: China Ocean Shipping and China Shipping Group into China COSCO Shipping, Nippon Yusen Kaisha, the Fredriksen Group, Wisdom Marine, China Merchants, Kawasaki Kisen, Pacific Basin, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, plus Oldendorff Carriers and Star Bulk Carriers. There are about 40 owners known to have fleets of between 30 and 100 vessels. However, vessel ownership is not the only determinant of fleet control. Many owners of bulk carriers charter their vessels out for extended periods, not just to end users (owners of cargo), but also to other owner/operators and to tonnage pools. Such operators may, at any given time, control a fleet many times the size of their owned tonnage. Navios Holdings is one such operator; others include Cargill, Pacific Basin Shipping, Bocimar, Zodiac Maritime, Louis Dreyfus/Cetragpa, Cobelfret, Torvald Klaveness and Swiss Marine.

It is likely that we will face substantial competition for long-term charter business from a number of experienced companies. Many of these competitors will have significantly greater financial resources than we do. It is also likely that we will face increased numbers of competitors entering into our transportation sectors, including in the dry bulk sector. Many of these competitors have strong reputations and extensive resources and experience. Increased competition may cause greater price competition, especially for long-term charters.

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Navios Logistics

Navios Logistics is one of the largest logistics providers in the Hidrovia region of South America. Navios Logistics believes its ownership of river ports, including its port terminals in Uruguay that provides access to the ocean, allows it to offer a logistics solution superior to its competitors that also operate barges and pushboats. Navios Logistics also competes based on reliability, efficiency and price.

With respect to loading, storage and ancillary services, the market is divided between transits and exports, depending on the cargo origin. In the case of transits, there are other companies operating in the river system that are able to offer services similar to Navios Logistics. However, most of these companies are proprietary service providers that are focused on servicing their own cargo. Unlike these companies, Navios Logistics is an independent service provider in the market for transits. With respect to exports, its competitors are Montevideo Port in Montevideo, Ontur in Nueva Palmira, and TGU in Nueva Palmira. The main competitor of its liquid port terminal in Paraguay is Petropar, a Paraguayan state-owned entity. Other competitors include Copetrol, TLP, Trafigura Pte Ltd and Petrobras.

Navios Logistics faces competition in its barge and cabotage businesses with transportation of oil and refined petroleum products from other independent ship owners and from vessel operators who primarily charter vessels to meet their cargo carrying needs. The charter markets in which Navios Logistics’ vessels compete are highly competitive. Key competitors include the successor of Ultrapetrol Bahamas Ltd., Hidrovias do Brasil, Interbarge, P&O, Imperial Shipping and Fluviomar. In addition, some of Navios Logistics’ customers, including ADM, Cargill, Louis Dreyfus and Vale, have some of their own dedicated barge capacity, which they can use to transport cargo in lieu of hiring a third party. Navios Logistics also competes indirectly with other forms of land-based transportation such as truck and rail. Competition is primarily based on prevailing market contract rates, vessel location and vessel manager know-how, reputation and credibility. These companies and other smaller entities are regular competitors of Navios Logistics in its primary tanker trading areas.

Navios Logistics believes that its ability to combine its ports in Uruguay and Paraguay with its versatile fleet of barges, pushboats and tankers to offer integrated, end-to-end logistics solutions for both its dry and liquid customers seeking to transport mineral and grain commodities and liquid cargoes through the Hidrovia region has allowed Navios Logistics to differentiate its business and offer superior services compared to its competitors.

Navios Containers

The global container shipping market is extensive, diversified, competitive and fragmented, divided among approximately 635 liner operators and independent owners. The world’s active containership fleet consists of approximately 5,270 vessels, aggregating approximately 22.1 million TEU as of February 1, 2019. As a general principle, the smaller the cargo carrying capacity of a containership, the more fragmented is its market, both with regard to charterers and vessel owner/operators. Even among the larger liner companies and independent containership owners and operators, whose vessels are mainly in the larger sizes, only ten companies are known to control, through vessel ownership and/or time charters, fleets of 97 vessels or more: AP Moller, Mediterranean Shipping Co. (MSC), China COSCO Shipping, CMA CGM, Evergreen, Pacific International Lines, Hapag Lloyd, Seaspan, Imabari Shipbuilding and Wan Hai Lines. There are about 40 owners known to control, through vessel ownership and/or time charters, fleets of between 26 and 83 vessels. Liner companies, who control the movement of containers on land and at sea, own vessels directly and also charter-in vessels on short- and long-term charters. Many owners/managers of containerships charter their vessels out for extended periods but unlike the liner companies, do not control the movement of any containers. These owners/managers are often called tonnage providers. Liner companies may, at any given time, control a fleet many times the size of their owned tonnage. AP Moller and MSC are such liner operators; whereas Seaspan, Costamare and others, including us, are tonnage providers.

It is likely that Navios Containers will face substantial competition for long-term charter business from a number of experienced companies. Many of these competitors will have significantly greater financial resources than we do. It is also likely that Navios Containers will face increased numbers of competitors entering into the container transportation sector. Many of these competitors have strong reputations and extensive resources and experience. Increased competition may cause greater price competition, especially for long-term charters.

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Navios Containers believe that the containership sector of the international shipping industry is characterized by the significant time required to develop the operating expertise and professional reputation necessary to obtain and retain customers. Navios Containers believe that its development of an intermediate-size containerships fleet has enhanced our relationship with its principal charterers by enabling them to serve the East-West, North-South and Intra-regional trade routes efficiently, while enabling us to operate in the different rate environments prevailing for those routes. Navios Containers also believe that its focus on customer service and reliability enhances its relationships with its charterers.

Intellectual Property

We consider NAVIOS to be our proprietary trademark, service mark and trade name. We hold several trademark registrations in the U.S., E.U. and Monaco trademark registrations for our proprietary logos and the domain name registration for our website.

Governmental and Other Regulations

Sources of Applicable Rules and Standards: Shipping is one of the world’s most heavily regulated industries, and, in addition, it is subject to many industry standards. Government regulation significantly affects the ownership and operation of vessels. These regulations consist mainly of rules and standards established by international conventions, but they also include national, state, and local laws and regulations in force in jurisdictions where vessels may operate or are registered, and which are commonly more stringent than international rules and standards such as the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, the International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships’ Ballast Water and Sediments, the International Convention for Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage, the International Convention on Civil Liability for Bunker Oil Pollution Damage, the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, and The Offshore Petroleum Licensing (Offshore Safety Directive) Regulations 2015. This is the case particularly in the U.S. and, increasingly, in Europe.

A variety of governmental and private entities subject vessels to both scheduled and unscheduled inspections. These entities include local port authorities (the U.S. Coast Guard, harbor masters or equivalent entities), classification societies, flag state administration (country vessel of registry), and charterers, particularly terminal operators. Certain of these entities require vessel owners to obtain permits, licenses, and certificates for the operation of their vessels. Failure to maintain necessary permits or approvals could require a vessel owner to incur substantial costs or temporarily suspend operation of one or more of its vessels.

Heightened levels of environmental and quality concerns among insurance underwriters, regulators, and charterers continue to lead to greater inspection and safety requirements on all vessels and may accelerate the scrapping of older vessels throughout the industry. Increasing environmental concerns have created a demand for vessels that conform to stricter environmental standards. Vessel owners are required to maintain operating standards for all vessels that will emphasize operational safety, quality maintenance, continuous training of officers and crews and compliance with U.S. and international regulations.

International Environmental Regulations: The International Maritime Organization (“IMO”) has adopted a number of international conventions concerned with ship safety and with preventing, reducing or controlling pollution from ships. These fall into two main categories, consisting firstly of those concerned generally with ship safety standards, and secondly of those specifically concerned with measures to prevent pollution.

Ship Safety Regulation: In the former category the primary international instrument is the SOLAS, as amended, together with the regulations and codes of practice that form part of its regime. Much of SOLAS is not directly concerned with preventing pollution, but some of its safety provisions are intended to prevent pollution as well as promote safety of life and preservation of property. These regulations have been and continue to be regularly amended as new and higher safety standards are introduced with which we are required to comply.

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An amendment of SOLAS introduced the International Safety Management Code (the “ISM Code”), which has been effective since July 1998. Under the ISM Code, the party with operational control of a vessel is required to develop an extensive safety management system that includes, among other things, the adoption of a safety and environmental protection policy setting forth instructions and procedures for operating its vessels safely and describing procedures for responding to emergencies. The ISM Code requires that vessel operators obtain a safety management certificate for each vessel they operate. This certificate evidences compliance by a vessel’s management with code requirements for a safety management system. No vessel can obtain a certificate unless its manager has been awarded a document of compliance, issued by the flag state for the vessel, under the ISM Code. Noncompliance with the ISM Code and other IMO regulations, such as the mandatory ship energy efficiency management plan (“SEEMP”) which is akin to a safety management plan and came into effect on January 1, 2013, may subject a ship owner to increased liability, may invalidate or lead to decreases in available insurance coverage for affected vessels, and may result in the denial of access to, or detention in, some ports. For example, the U.S. Coast Guard and EU authorities have indicated that vessels not in compliance with the ISM Code will be prohibited from trading in ports in the U.S. and EU respectively.

Another amendment of SOLAS, made after the terrorist attacks in the U.S. on September 11, 2001, introduced special measures to enhance maritime security, including the ISPS Code.

Our owned fleet maintains ISM Code and ISPS Code certifications for safety and security of operations. Each vessel’s certificate must be periodically renewed and compliance must be periodically verified. In addition, the Manager voluntarily implements and maintains certifications pursuant to the International Organization for Standardization (“ISO”), for its office and ships covering both quality of services and environmental protection (ISO 9001 and ISO 14001, respectively).

International Regulations to Prevent Pollution from Ships: In the second main category of international regulation, the primary instrument is the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (“MARPOL”), which imposes environmental standards on the shipping industry set out in Annexes I-VI of MARPOL. These contain regulations for the prevention of pollution by oil (Annex I), by noxious liquid substances in bulk (Annex II), by harmful substances in packaged forms within the scope of the International Maritime Dangerous Goods Code (Annex III), by sewage (Annex IV), by garbage (Annex V), and by air emissions (Annex VI).

These regulations have been and continue to be regularly amended as new and more stringent standards of pollution prevention are introduced with which we are required to comply.

For example, MARPOL Annex VI, together with the NOx Technical Code established thereunder, sets limits on sulphur oxide and nitrogen oxide emissions from ship exhausts and prohibits deliberate emissions of ozone depleting substances, such as chlorofluorocarbons. It also includes a global cap on the sulphur content of fuel oil and allows for special areas to be established with more stringent controls on emissions. Originally adopted in September 1997, Annex VI came into force in May 2005 and was amended in October 2008 (as was the NOx Technical Code) to provide for progressively more stringent limits on such emissions from 2010 onwards. The new standards seek to reduce air pollution from vessels by, among other things, establishing a series of progressive requirements to further limit the sulfur content of fuel oil that will be phased in through 2020 and by establishing new tiers of nitrogen oxide emission standards for new marine diesel engines, depending on their date of installation. Additionally, more stringent emission standards apply in the coastal areas designated emission control areas (“ECAs”). Thus far, ECAs have been formally adopted for the Baltic Sea area (limits SOx emissions only); the North Sea area including the English Channel (limiting SOx emissions only) and the North American ECA (which came into effect on August 1, 2012 limiting SOx, NOx and particulate matter emissions). In October 2016, the IMO approved the designation of the North Sea and the Baltic Sea as ECAs for NOx under Annex VI, which would take effect in January 2021. The U.S. Caribbean Sea ECA entered into force on January 1, 2013 and has been effective since January 1, 2014, limiting SOx, NOx and particulate matter emissions. In January 2015, the limit for fuel oil sulfur levels fell to 0.10% m/m in ECAs established to limit SOx and particulate matter emissions.

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After considering the issue for many years, the IMO announced on October 27, 2016 that it was proceeding with a requirement for 0.5% m/m sulfur content in marine fuel (down from current levels of 3.5%) outside the ECAs starting on January 1, 2020. Under Annex VI, the 2020 date was subject to review as to the availability of the required fuel oil. Annex VI required the fuel availability review to be completed by 2018 but was ultimately completed in 2016. Therefore, by 2020, ships will be required to remove sulfur from emissions through the use of emission control equipment, or purchase marine fuel with 0.5% sulfur content, which may see increased demand and higher prices due to supply constraints. Installing pollution control equipment or using lower sulfur fuel could result in significantly increased costs to our company. Similarly, Annex VI requires Tier III standards for NOx emissions to be applied to ships constructed and engines installed in ships operating in NOx ECAs from January 1, 2016. The IMO’s Marine Environment Protection Committee (the “MEPC”) adopted amendments (effective September 2015) to Annex VI, regulation 13, regarding NOx and the date for the implementation of the “Tier III” standards within ECAs. These amendments provide, inter alia, that such standards, applicable on January 1, 2016, apply to marine diesel engines installed on ships which operate in the North American ECA or the U.S. Caribbean Sea ECA and to installed marine diesel engines which operate in other ECAs which might be designated in the future for Tier III NOx control. At the 69 ^th session (2016), Annex VI was also amended to require recordkeeping requirements to demonstrate compliance with the NOX Tier III ECA.

Certain jurisdictions have adopted more stringent requirements. For instance, California has also adopted more stringent low sulfur fuel requirements within California-regulated waters. We anticipate incurring costs to comply with these more stringent standards by implementing measures such as fuel switching, vessel modification adding distillate fuel storage capacity, or addition of exhaust gas cleaning scrubbers, and may require installation and operation of further control equipment at significantly increased cost. While it is unclear how the new emissions standard will affect the employment of our vessels, over time it is possible that ships not retrofitted to comply with new standards will become less competitive.

The IMO has introduced the first ever mandatory measures for an international greenhouse gas reduction regime for a global industry sector. These energy efficiency measures apply to all ships of 400 gross tonnage and above. They include the development of a ship energy efficiency management plan (“SEEMP”) which is akin to a safety management plan. At its 66th session (2014), the MEPC continued its work on developing technical and operational measures relating to energy-efficiency measures for ships, following the entry into force of the mandatory efficiency measures on January 1, 2013. It adopted the 2014 Guidelines on the Method of Calculation of the Attained EEDI, applicable to new ships. It further adopted amendments to MARPOL Annex VI concerning the extension of the scope of application of the EEDI to Liquified Natural Gas (“LNG”) carriers, ro-ro cargo ships (vehicle carriers), ro-ro passenger ships and cruise passengers ships with nonconventional propulsion. At its 67th session (2014), the MEPC adopted the 2014 Guidelines on survey and certification of the EEDI, updating the previous version to reference ships fitted with dual-fuel engines using LNG and liquid fuel oil. The MEPC also adopted amendments to the 2013 Interim Guidelines for determining minimum propulsion power to maintain the maneuverability of ships in adverse conditions, to make the guidelines applicable to phase 1 (starting January 1, 2015) of the EEDI requirements. At its 68th session (2015), the MEPC amended the 2014 Guidelines on EEDI survey and certification as well as the method of calculating of EEDI for new ships. At its 70th session (2016), the MEPC again amended the method of calculating EEDI, and adopted mandatory requirements for ships of 5,000 gross tonnage or greater to collect fuel consumption data for each type of fuel used, and report the data to the flag State after the end of each calendar year.

The revised Annex I to the MARPOL Convention entered into force in January 2007. It incorporates various amendments to the MARPOL Convention and imposes construction requirements for oil tankers delivered on or after January 1, 2010. On August 1, 2007, Regulation 12A (an amendment to Annex I) came into force imposing performance standards for accidental oil fuel outflow and requiring oil fuel tanks to be located inside the double-hull in all ships with an aggregate oil fuel capacity of 600 cubic meters and above, and which are delivered on or after August 1, 2010, including ships for which the building contract is entered into on or after August 1, 2007 or, in the absence of a contract, for which keel is laid on or after February 1, 2008. We intend that all of our newbuild tanker vessels, if any, will comply with Regulation 12A.

Greenhouse Gas (“GHG”) Emissions: In February 2005, the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (the “Kyoto Protcol”) entered into force. Pursuant to the Kyoto Protocol, adopting countries are required to implement national programs to reduce emissions of certain gases, generally referred to as greenhouse gases, which are suspected of contributing to global warming. Currently, the greenhouse gas emissions from international shipping do not come under the Kyoto Protocol.

In December 2011, United Nations climate change talks took place in Durban and concluded with an agreement referred to as the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action. In preparation for the Durban Conference, the International Chamber of Shipping (“ICS”) produced a briefing document, confirming the shipping industry’s commitment to cut shipping emissions by 20% by 2020, with significant further reductions thereafter. The ICS called on the participants in the Durban Conference to give the IMO a clear mandate to deliver emissions reductions through market-based measures, for example a shipping industry environmental compensation fund. Notwithstanding the ICS’ request for global regulation of the shipping industry, the Durban Conference did not result in any proposals specifically addressing the shipping industry’s role in climate change.

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Although regulation of greenhouse gas emissions in the shipping industry was discussed during the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris (the “Paris Conference”), the agreement reached among the 195 nations, which entered into force on November 4, 2016, did not expressly reference the shipping industry. Following the Paris Conference, the IMO announced it would continue its efforts on this issue at the MEPC, and at its 70th session, the MEPC approved a Roadmap for developing a comprehensive GHG emissions reduction strategy for ships, which includes the goal of adopting an initial strategy and emission reduction commitments in 2018 with a goal of adopting a revised strategy in 2023 to include short-, mid- and long-term reduction measures and schedules for implementation. In April 2018, the committee charged with creating the reduction strategy must finalize the initial draft of the strategy and submit a report to MEPC. The EU, Canada, the U.S. and other individual countries, states and provinces also have or are evaluating various measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from international shipping, which may include some combination of market-based instruments, a carbon tax or other mandatory reduction measures. The EU recently adopted Regulation (EU) 2015/757 concerning the monitoring, reporting and verification of carbon dioxide emissions from vessels (the “MRV Regulation”) which entered into force on July 1, 2015 (as amended by Regulation (EU) 2016/2071). The MRV Regulation applies to all vessels over 5,000 gross tonnage (except for a few types, including, but not limited to, warships and fish-catching or fish-processing vessels), irrespective of flag, in respect of carbon dioxide emissions released during voyages within the EU as well as voyages coming into and going out of the EU. The first reporting period will commence on January 1, 2018. The monitoring, reporting and verification system adopted by the MRV Regulation may be the precursor to a market-based mechanism to be adopted in the future. This EU Regulation may be seen as indicative of an intention to maintain pressure on the international negotiating process. An Implementing Regulation, which entered into force in November 2016, was also adopted setting templates for monitoring plans, emissions reports and compliance documents pursuant to Regulation 2015/757.

Further, in February 2017, EU member states met to consider independently regulating the shipping industry under the ETS. On February 15, 2017, European Parliament voted in favor of a bill to include maritime shipping in the ETS by 2023 if the IMO has not promulgated a comparable system by 2021. In November 2017, the Council of Ministers, the EU’s main decision making body, agreed that the EU should act on shipping emissions by 2023 if the IMO fails to deliver effective global measures. Last year, IMO’s urgent call to action to bring about shipping greenhouse gas emissions reductions before 2023 was met with industry push-back in many countries. Depending on how fast IMO and the EU move on this issue, the ETS may result in additional compliance costs for our vessels.

Any passage of climate control legislation or other regulatory initiatives by the IMO, EU, Canada, the U.S. or other individual jurisdictions where we operate, that restrict emissions of greenhouse gases from vessels, could require us to make significant capital expenditures and may materially increase our operating costs.

Other International Regulations to Prevent Pollution: In addition to MARPOL, other more specialized international instruments have been adopted to prevent different types of pollution or environmental harm from ships. In February 2004, the IMO adopted an International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships’ Ballast Water and Sediments Convention (the “BWM Convention”). The BWM Convention’s implementing regulations call for a phased introduction of mandatory ballast water exchange requirements, to be replaced in time with mandatory concentration limits, as well as other obligations including recordkeeping requirements and implementation of a Ballast Water and Sediments Management Plan.

The BWM Convention entered into force on September 8, 2017. As of February 11, 2019, the BWM Convention had 79 contracting states for 80.94% of world gross tonnage. New ships constructed after September 8, 2017 must comply on delivery with the BWM Convention. For vessels constructed prior to September 8, 2017, installation of ballast water management systems must take place at the first renewal survey following September 8, 2017 (the date the BWM Convention entered into force). Ships built before September 8, 2017 must comply with IMO discharge standards by the due date for their IOPPC renewal survey under MARPOL Annex 1. All ships must meet the IMO ballast water discharge standard by September 8, 2024. The BWM Convention requires ships to manage ballast water in a manner that removes, renders harmless or avoids the update or discharge of aquatic organisms and pathogens within ballast water and sediment. Recently updated Ballast Water and Sediment Management Plan guidance includes more robust testing and performance specifications. The entry of the BWM Convention and revised guidance, as well as similar ballast water treatment requirements in certain jurisdictions (such as the United States and states within the United States), will likely result in substantial compliance costs relating to the installation of equipment on our vessels to treat ballast water before it is discharged and other additional ballast water management and reporting requirements. In the United States, the Vessel Incidental Discharge Act (“VIDA”) was signed into law on December 4, 2018, which requires the U.S. Coast Guard to address the regulation of discharges incidental to the normal operation of commercial vessels into navigable waters, including management of ballast water. This change is expected to result in a simplification of the current patch-work state of ballast water regulation in the United States, which is currently variably regulated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the various states

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European Regulations

European regulations in the maritime sector are in general based on international law. However, since the Erika incident in 1999, the EU has become increasingly active in the field of regulation of maritime safety and protection of the environment. It has been the driving force behind a number of amendments of MARPOL (including, for example, changes to accelerate the time-table for the phase-out of single hull tankers, and to prohibit the carriage in such tankers of heavy grades of oil), and if dissatisfied either with the extent of such amendments or with the time-table for their introduction it has been prepared to legislate on a unilateral basis. It should be noted, for instance, that the EU has its own regime as far as ship emissions are concerned and while it does in some respects align with the IMO regime, this is not always the case. As far as sulfur dioxide emissions are concerned, for example, the EU regulation has not just caught up with the IMO limits for sulfur in ECAs, but it continues to have certain elements that exceed IMO regulations (e.g. as of January 1, 2015, EU Member States must ensure that ships in the Baltic, the North Seam and the English Channel are using gas oils with a sulfur content of no more than 0.10%). The EU has adopted legislation that (1) requires member states to refuse access to their ports to certain sub-standard vessels, according to vessel type, flag and number of previous detentions, (2) obliges member states to inspect at least 25% of vessels using their ports annually and provides for increased surveillance of vessels posing a high risk to maritime safety or the marine environment, (3) provides the EU with greater authority and control over classification societies, including the ability to seek to suspend or revoke the authority of negligent societies, and (4) requires member states to impose criminal sanctions for certain pollution events, such as the unauthorized discharge of tank washings. It has also considered legislation that could affect the operation of vessels and the liability of owners for oil pollution. In some instances where it has done so, international regulations have subsequently been amended to the same level of stringency as that introduced in Europe, but the risk is well established that EU regulations may from time to time impose burdens and costs on ship owners and operators which are additional to those involved in complying with international rules and standards. In December 2016, the EU signed into law the National Emissions Ceiling (“NEC”) Directive, which entered into force on December 31, 2016. The NEC must be implemented by individual members states through particular laws in each state by June 30, 2018. The NEC aims to set stricter emissions limits on SO2, ammonia, non-methane volatile organic compounds, NOx and fine particulate (PM2.5) by setting new upper limits for emissions of these pollutants, starting in 2020. While the NEC is not specifically directed toward the shipping industry, the EU specifically mentions the shipping industry in its announcement of the NEC as a contributor to emissions of PM2.5, SO2 and NOx. Implementation of new laws by member states to reduce emissions may ultimately result in increased costs to us to comply with the more stringent standards.

Notably, in 2015 the EU adopted a directive, as amended in 2009, on ship-source pollution, imposing criminal sanctions for pollution not only where this is caused by intent or recklessness (which would be an offense under MARPOL), but also where it is caused by “serious negligence”. The concept of “serious negligence” may be interpreted in practice to be little more than ordinary negligence. The directive could therefore result in criminal liability being incurred in circumstances where it would not be incurred under international law. Criminal liability for a pollution incident could not only result in us incurring substantial penalties or fines but may also, in some jurisdictions, facilitate civil liability claims for greater compensation than would otherwise have been payable.

The EU has also recently adopted a regulation that seeks to facilitate the ratification of the IMO Recycling Convention and sets forth rules relating to vessel recycling and management of hazardous materials on vessels. The new regulation contains requirements for the recycling of vessels at approved recycling facilities that must meet certain requirements, so as to minimize the adverse effects of recycling on human health and the environment. The new regulation also contains rules for the control and proper management of hazardous materials on vessels and prohibits or restricts the installation or use of certain hazardous materials on vessels. The new regulation applies to vessels flying the flag of a member state and certain of its provisions apply to vessels flying the flag of a third country calling at a port or anchorage of a member state. For example, when calling at a port or anchorage of a member state, a vessel flying the flag of a third country will be required, among other things, to have on board an inventory of hazardous materials that complies with the requirements of the new regulation and the vessel must be able to submit to the relevant authorities of that member state a copy of a statement of compliance issued by the relevant authorities of the country of the vessel’s flag verifying the inventory. The new regulation is to apply no later than December 31, 2018, although certain of its provisions are to apply at different stages, with certain of them applicable from December 31, 2020. Pursuant to this regulation, the EU has recently published the first version of a European List of approved ship recycling facilities meeting the requirements of the regulation, as well as four further implementing decisions dealing with certification and other administrative requirements set out in the regulation.

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In response to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon incident, the EU has issued Directive 2013/30/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of June 12, 2013 on safety of offshore oil and gas operations. The objective of this Directive is to reduce as much as possible the occurrence of major accidents relating to offshore oil and gas operations and to limit their consequences, thus increasing the protection of the marine environment and coastal economies against pollution, establishing minimum conditions for safe offshore exploration and exploitation of oil and gas limiting possible disruptions to EU indigenous energy production, and to improve the response mechanisms in case of an accident. Member states must implement the Directive by July 19, 2015. The U.K. has various new or amended regulations such as: the Offshore Petroleum Activities (Offshore Safety Directive) (Environmental Functions) Regulations 2015 (OSDEF), the 2015 amendments to the Merchant Shipping (Oil Pollution Preparedness, Response and Cooperation Convention) Regulations 1998 (OPRC 1998) and other environmental Directive requirements, specifically the Environmental Management System. The Offshore Petroleum Licensing (Offshore Safety Directive) Regulations 2015 will implement the licensing Directive requirements.

U.S. Environmental Regulations and Laws Governing Civil Liability for Pollution: Environmental legislation in the U.S. merits particular mention as it is in many respects more onerous than international laws, representing a high-water mark of regulation with which ship-owners and operators must comply, and of liability likely to be incurred in the event of non-compliance or an incident causing pollution.

U.S. federal legislation, including notably the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (“OPA 90”), establishes an extensive regulatory and liability regime for the protection and cleanup of the environment from oil spills, including cargo or bunker oil spills from tankers. OPA 90 affects all owners and operators whose vessels trade in the U.S., its territories and possessions or whose vessels operate in U.S. waters, which includes the U.S.’ territorial sea and its 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone. Under OPA 90, vessel owners, operators and bareboat charterers are “responsible parties” and are jointly, severally and strictly liable (unless the spill results solely from the act or omission of a third party, an act of God or an act of war) for all containment and clean-up costs and other damages arising from discharges or substantial threats of discharges, of oil from their vessels. OPA 90 defines these other damages broadly to include:

OPA 90 preserves the right to recover damages under other existing laws, including maritime tort law. In addition to potential liability under OPA as the relevant federal legislation, vessel owners may in some instances incur liability on an even more stringent basis under state law in the particular state where the spillage occurred.

Title VII of the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2004 (the “CGMTA”), amended OPA 90 to require the owner or operator of any non tank vessel of 400 gross tons or more, that carries oil of any kind as a fuel for main propulsion, including bunkers, to prepare and submit a response plan for each vessel on or before August 8, 2005. The implementing regulations took effect on October 30, 2013. The vessel response plans must include detailed information on actions to be taken by vessel personnel to prevent or mitigate any discharge or substantial threat of such a discharge of ore from the vessel due to operational activities or casualties.

OPA 90 liability limits are periodically adjusted for inflation, and the U.S. Coast Guard issued a final rule on November 19, 2015 to reflect increases in the Consumer Price Index. With this adjustment, OPA 90 currently limits liability of the responsible party for single-hull tank vessels over 3,000 gross tons to the greater of $3,500 per gross ton or $25.846 million (this amount is reduced to $7.05 million if the vessel is less than 3,000 gross tons). For tank vessels over 3,000 gross tons, other than a single-hull vessel, liability is limited to $2,200 per gross ton or $18.8 million (or $4.7 million for a vessel less than 3,000 gross tons), whichever is greater. For non-tank vessels, liability is limited to $1,100 per gross ton or $939,800 per incident, whichever is greater. Under OPA 90, these limits of liability do not apply if an incident was directly caused by violation of applicable U.S. federal safety, construction or operating regulations or by a responsible party’s gross negligence or willful misconduct, or if the responsible party fails or refuses to report the incident or to cooperate and assist in connection with oil removal activities.

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In response to the Deepwater Horizon incident in the Gulf of Mexico, in 2010 the U.S. Congress proposed, but did not formally adopt, legislation to amend OPA 90 to mandate stronger safety standards and increased liability and financial responsibility for offshore drilling operations. While Congressional activity on this topic is expected to continue to focus on offshore facilities rather than on vessels generally, it cannot be known with certainty what form any such new legislative initiatives may take.

In addition, the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (“CERCLA”), which applies to the discharge of hazardous substances (other than oil) whether on land or at sea, contains a similar liability regime and provides for cleanup, removal and natural resource damages. CERCLA, as well as certain U.S. state laws that may also apply to petroleum or petroleum products, imposes joint and several liability, without regard to fault, on the owner or operator of a vessel, vehicle or facility from which there has been a release, along with other specified parties. Liability under CERCLA is limited to the greater of $300 per gross ton or $0.5 million for vessels not carrying hazardous substances as cargo or residue, unless the incident is caused by gross negligence, willful misconduct, or a violation of certain regulations, in which case liability is unlimited.

We currently maintain, for each of our owned vessels, insurance coverage against pollution liability risks in the amount of $1.0 billion per incident. The insured risks include penalties and fines as well as civil liabilities and expenses resulting from accidental pollution. However, this insurance coverage is subject to exclusions, deductibles and other terms and conditions. If any liabilities or expenses fall within an exclusion from coverage, or if damages from a catastrophic incident exceed the $1.0 billion limitation of coverage per incident, our cash flow, profitability and financial position could be adversely impacted.

All owners and operators of vessels over 300 gross tons are required to establish and maintain with the U.S. Coast Guard evidence of financial responsibility sufficient to meet their potential liabilities under OPA 90 and CERCLA. Under OPA 90, an owner or operator of a fleet of vessels is required only to demonstrate evidence of financial responsibility in an amount sufficient to cover the vessel in the fleet having the greatest maximum liability under OPA. Under the self-insurance provisions, the ship owner or operator must have a net worth and working capital, measured in assets located in the U.S. against liabilities located anywhere in the world, that exceeds the applicable amount of financial responsibility. We have complied with the U.S. Coast Guard regulations by providing a certificate of responsibility from third party entities that are acceptable to the U.S. Coast Guard evidencing sufficient self-insurance.

The U.S. Coast Guard’s regulations concerning certificates of financial responsibility provide, in accordance with OPA 90, that claimants may bring suit directly against an insurer or guarantor that furnishes certificates of financial responsibility. In the event that such insurer or guarantor is sued directly, it is prohibited from asserting any contractual defense that it may have had against the responsible party and is limited to asserting those defenses available to the responsible party and the defense that the incident was caused by the willful misconduct of the responsible party. Certain organizations, which had typically provided certificates of financial responsibility under pre-OPA 90 laws, including the major protection and indemnity organizations have declined to furnish evidence of insurance for vessel owners and operators if they are subject to direct actions or required to waive insurance policy defenses. This requirement may have the effect of limiting the availability of the type of coverage required by the Coast Guard and could increase our costs of obtaining this insurance as well as the costs of our competitors that also require such coverage.

OPA 90 specifically permits individual states to impose their own liability regimes with regard to oil pollution incidents occurring within their boundaries, and some states’ environmental laws impose unlimited liability for oil spills. For example, California regulations prohibit the discharge of oil, require an oil contingency plan be filed with the state, require that the ship owner contract with an oil response organization and require a valid certificate of financial responsibility, all prior to the vessel entering state waters. In some cases, states, which have enacted such legislation, have not yet issued implementing regulations defining vessels owners’ responsibilities under these laws. We intend to comply with all applicable state regulations in the ports where our vessels call.

The U.S. Clean Water Act (“CWA”) prohibits the discharge of oil or hazardous substances in U.S. navigable waters and imposes strict liability in the form of penalties for unauthorized discharges. The CWA also imposes substantial liability for the costs of removal, remediation and damages and complements the remedies available under CERCLA. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) regulates the discharge of ballast water and other substances incidental to the normal operation of vessels in U.S. waters using a Vessel General Permit (“VGP”), system pursuant to the CWA, in order to combat the risk of harmful organisms that can travel in ballast water carried from foreign ports and to minimize the risk of water pollution through numerous specified effluent streams incidental to the normal operation of vessels. Compliance with the conditions of the VGP is required for commercial vessels 79 feet in length or longer (other than commercial fishing vessels). On March 28, 2013, the EPA adopted the 2013 VGP, which took effect on December 19, 2013. The 2013 VGP is valid for five years.

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This new 2013 VGP imposes a numeric standard to control the release of non-indigenous invasive species in ballast water discharges. On October 5, 2015, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit found the EPA was arbitrary and capricious in issuing the ballast water provisions of the VGP, finding that the EPA failed to adequately explain why stricter technology-based effluent standards should not be applied. The court instructed the EPA to reconsider these issues but held the 2013 VCP remains in effect until the EPA addresses the issues. If the EPA establishes more stringent numeric standards for ballast water discharges, we may incur costs to modify our vessels to comply with new standards. In addition, through the CWA certification provisions, that allow U.S. states to place additional conditions on the use of the VGP within state waters, a number of states have proposed or implemented a variety of stricter ballast water requirements including, in some states, specific treatment standards. Because the VGP expires at the end of this year, there may be new U.S. federal and state requirements that could require the installation of equipment on our vessels to treat ballast water before it is discharged or the implementation of other port facility disposal arrangements or procedures at potentially substantial cost, and/or otherwise restrict our vessels from entering U.S. waters.

Compliance with new U.S. federal and state requirements could require the installation of equipment on our vessels to treat ballast water before it is discharged or the implementation of other port facility disposal arrangements or procedures at potentially substantial cost, and/or otherwise restrict our vessels from entering U.S. waters. Coast Guard regulations require commercial ships operating in U.S. waters to manage ballast water by meeting certain requirements, which include using a U.S. type-approved Ballast Water Management System (“BWMS”), temporarily using a foreign-type BWMS that has been accepted by the Coast Guard, using ballast water obtained from a U.S. Public Water System, discharging ballast water into a shore-side facility or not discharging ballast water within 12 nautical miles. As of January 1, 2014, vessels are technically subject to the phasing-in of these standards. As a result, the U.S. Coast Guard in the past provided waivers to vessels which could not install the then unapproved ballast water treatment technology, but has begun to deny requests for waivers in light of its recent approval of a handful of technologies. The EPA, on the other hand, has taken a different approach to enforcing ballast discharge standards under the VGP. On December 27, 2013, the EPA issued an enforcement response policy in connection with the new VGP in which the EPA indicated that it would take into account the reasons why vessels do not have the requisite technology installed, but will not grant any waivers.

A number of bills relating to ballast water management have been introduced in the U.S. Congress, but it is difficult to predict which, if any, will be enacted. Several states, including Michigan and California, have adopted legislation or regulations relating to the permitting and management of ballast water discharges. California has extended its ballast water management program to the regulation of “hull fouling” organisms attached to vessels and adopted regulations limiting the number of organisms in ballast water discharges. Other states could adopt similar requirements that could increase the costs of operation in state waters.

The Federal Clean Air Act (“CAA”) requires the EPA to promulgate standards applicable to emissions of volatile organic compounds and other air contaminants. Our vessels are subject to CAA vapor control and recovery standards (“VCS”) for cleaning fuel tanks and conducting other operations in regulated port areas, and to CAA emissions standards for so-called “Category 3” marine diesel engines operating in U.S. waters. In April 2010, EPA adopted regulations implementing the provision of MARPOL Annex VI regarding emissions from Category 3 marine diesel engines. Under these regulations, both U.S. and foreign-flagged ships must comply with the applicable engine and fuel standards of Annex VI, including the stricter North America ECA standards, which took effect in August 2012, when they enter U.S. ports or operate in most internal U.S. waters including the Great Lakes. Annex VI requirements are discussed in greater detail above under “International regulations to prevent pollution from ships.” We may incur costs to install control equipment on our vessels to comply with the new standards.

Also under the CAA, since 1990, the U.S. Coast Guard has regulated the safety of VCSs that are required under EPA and state rules. Our vessels operating in regulated port areas have installed VCSs that are compliant with EPA, state and U.S. Coast Guard requirements. On July 16, 2013, the U.S. Coast Guard adopted regulations that made its VCS requirements more compatible with new EPA and State regulations, reflected changes in VCS technology, and codified existing U.S. Coast Guard guidelines. We intend to comply with all applicable state and U.S. federal regulations in the ports where our vessels call.

International laws governing civil liability for oil pollution damage

We operate a fleet of vessels that are subject to national and international laws governing pollution from such vessels. Several international conventions impose and limit pollution liability from vessels. An owner of a tanker vessel carrying a cargo of “persistent oil” as defined by the International Convention for Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage (the “CLC”) is subject under the convention to strict liability for any pollution damage caused in a contracting state by an escape or discharge from cargo or bunker tanks. This liability is subject to a financial limit calculated by reference to the tonnage of the ship, and the right to limit liability may be lost if the spill is caused by the shipowner’s intentional or reckless conduct. Liability may also be incurred under the CLC for a bunker spill from the vessel even when she is not carrying such cargo, but is in ballast.

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When a tanker is carrying clean oil products that do not constitute “persistent oil” that would be covered under the CLC, liability for any pollution damage will generally fall outside the CLC and will depend on other international conventions or domestic laws in the jurisdiction where the spillage occurs. The same principle applies to any pollution from the vessel in a jurisdiction, which is not a party to the CLC. The CLC applies in over 100 jurisdictions around the world, but it does not apply in the U.S., where the corresponding liability laws such as the OPA 90 discussed above, are particularly stringent.

For vessel operations not covered by the CLC, in 2001, the IMO adopted the International Convention on Civil Liability for Bunker Oil Pollution Damage (the “Bunker Convention”), which imposes strict liability on shipowners for pollution damage in jurisdictional waters of ratifying states caused by discharges of “bunker oil.” The Bunker Convention defines “bunker oil” as “any hydrocarbon mineral oil, including lubricating oil, used or intended to be used for the operation or propulsion of the ship, and any residues of such oil.” The Bunker Convention also requires registered owners of ships over a certain size to maintain insurance for pollution damage in an amount equal to the limits of liability under the applicable national or international limitation regime. The Bunker Convention entered into force on November 21, 2008, and as of February 7, 2019, had 91 contracting states, representing 92.85% of the gross tonnage of the world’s merchant fleet. In other jurisdictions, liability for spills or releases of oil from ships’ bunkers continues to be determined by the national or other domestic laws in the jurisdiction where the events or damages occur.

Outside the U.S., national laws generally provide for the owner to bear strict liability for pollution, subject to a right to limit liability under applicable national or international regimes for limitation of liability. The most widely applicable international regime limiting maritime pollution liability is the Convention on Limitation of Liability for Maritime Claims of 1976 (the “1976 Convention”). Rights to limit liability under the 1976 Convention are forfeited where a spill is caused by a shipowners’ intentional or reckless conduct. Some states have ratified the 1996 LLMC Protocol to the 1976 Convention, which provides for liability limits substantially higher than those set forth in the 1976 Convention to apply in such states. Finally, some jurisdictions are not a party to either the 1976 Convention or the 1996 LLMC Protocol, and, therefore, shipowners’ rights to limit liability for maritime pollution in such jurisdictions may be uncertain.

Other Regional Requirements

The environmental protection regimes in certain other countries, such as Canada, resemble those of the U.S. To the extent we operate in the territorial waters of such countries or enter their ports, our vessels would typically be subject to the requirements and liabilities imposed in such countries. Other regions of the world also have the ability to adopt requirements or regulations that may impose additional obligations on our vessels and may entail significant expenditures on our part and may increase the costs of our operations. These requirements, however, would apply to the industry operating in those regions as a whole and would also affect our competitors. However, it is difficult to predict what legislation, if any, may be promulgated by the U.S., the EU or any other country or authority.

Security Regulations

A number of initiatives have been introduced in recent years intended to enhance vessel security. On November 25, 2002, MTSA was signed into law. To implement certain portions of the MTSA, the U.S. Coast Guard issued regulations in July 2003 requiring the implementation of certain security requirements aboard vessels operating in waters subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. Similarly, in December 2002, amendments to SOLAS created a new chapter of the convention dealing specifically with maritime security. This new chapter came into effect in July 2004 and imposes various detailed security obligations on vessels and port authorities, most of which are contained in the newly created ISPS Code. Among the various requirements are:

The U.S. Coast Guard regulations, intended to align with international maritime security standards, exempt non-U.S. vessels from MTSA vessel security measures, provided such vessels have on board a valid “International Ship Security Certificate” that attests to the vessel’s compliance with SOLAS security requirements and the ISPS Code. We have implemented the various security measures required by the IMO, SOLAS and the ISPS Code and have approved ISPS certificates and plans certified by the applicable flag state on board all our vessels. Starting January 1, 2016, the IMDG Code also included updates to the provisions for radioactive material, reflecting the latest provisions from the International Atomic Energy Agency, or the IAEA, new marking requirements for “overpack” and “salvage” and updates to various individual packing requirement

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The cost of vessel security measures has also been affected by the escalation in recent years in the frequency and seriousness of acts of piracy against ships, notably off the coast of Somalia, including the Gulf of Aden and Arabian Sea area. Attacks of this kind have commonly resulted in vessels and their crews being detained for several months, and being released only on payment of large ransoms. Substantial loss of revenue and other costs may be incurred as a result of such detention. Although we insure against these losses to the extent practicable, the risk remains of uninsured losses which could significantly affect our business. Costs are incurred in taking additional security measures in accordance with Best Management Practices to Deter Piracy, notably those contained in the BMP3 industry standard. A number of flag states have signed the 2009 New York Declaration, which expresses commitment to Best Management Practices in relation to piracy and calls for compliance with them as an essential part of compliance with the ISPS Code.

Classification, Inspection and Maintenance: Every sea going vessel must be “classed” by a classification society. The classification society certifies that the vessel is “in class,” signifying that the vessel has been built and maintained in accordance with the rules of the classification society and complies with applicable rules and regulations of the vessel’s country of registry and the international conventions of which that country is a member. In addition, where surveys are required by international conventions and corresponding laws and ordinances of a flag state, the classification society will undertake them on application or by official order, acting on behalf of the authorities concerned.

The classification society also undertakes, on request, other surveys and checks that are required by regulations and requirements of the flag state. These surveys are subject to agreements made in each individual case or to the regulations of the country concerned. For maintenance of the class, regular and extraordinary surveys of hull, machinery (including the electrical plant) and any special equipment classed are required to be performed as follows:

Risk of Loss and Liability Insurance

General: The operation of any cargo vessel includes risks such as mechanical failure, physical damage, collision, fire, contact with floating objects, property loss, cargo loss or damage, business interruption due to political circumstances in foreign countries, hostilities, and labor strikes. In addition, there is always an inherent possibility of marine disaster, including oil spills and other environmental mishaps, and the liabilities arising from owning and operating vessels in international trade. OPA 90, which imposes virtually unlimited liability upon owners, operators and demise charterers of any vessel trading in the U.S. exclusive economic zone for certain oil pollution accidents in the United States, has made liability insurance more expensive for ship owners and operators trading in the U.S. market. While we believe that our present insurance coverage is adequate, not all risks can be insured, and there can be no guarantee that any specific claim will be paid, or that we will always be able to obtain adequate insurance coverage at reasonable rates. Our current insurance includes the following:

Hull and Machinery and War Risk Insurance: We have marine hull and machinery and war risk insurance, which include coverage of the risk of actual or constructive total loss, for all of our owned vessels. Each of the owned vessels is covered up to at least fair market value, with a deductible of $0.1 million per Panamax, Handymax and Container vessel and $0.2 million per Capesize vessel for the hull and machinery insurance. We have also extended our war risk insurance to include war loss of hire for any loss of time to the vessel, including for physical repairs, caused by a warlike incident and piracy seizure for up to 270 days of detention / loss of time. There are no deductibles for the war risk insurance or the war loss of hire cover.

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We have arranged, as necessary, increased value insurance for our vessels. With the increased value insurance, in case of total loss of the vessel, we will be able to recover the sum insured under the increased value policy in addition to the sum insured under the hull and machinery policy. Increased value insurance also covers excess liabilities that are not recoverable in full by the hull and machinery policies by reason of underinsurance. We do not expect to maintain loss of hire insurance for our vessels. Loss of hire insurance covers business interruptions that result in the loss of use of a vessel.

Protection and Indemnity Insurance: Protection and indemnity insurance is expected to be provided by mutual protection and indemnity associations (“P&I Associations”), who indemnify members in respect of discharging their tortious, contractual or statutory third-party legal liabilities arising from the operation of an entered ship. Such liabilities include but are not limited to third-party liability and other related expenses from injury or death of crew, passengers and other third parties, loss or damage to cargo, claims arising from collisions with other vessels, damage to other third-party property, pollution arising from oil or other substances, and salvage, towing and other related costs, including wreck removal. Protection and indemnity insurance is a form of mutual indemnity insurance, extended by protection and indemnity mutual associations and always provided in accordance with the applicable associations’ rules and members’ agreed terms and conditions.

Our fleet is currently entered for protection and indemnity insurance with International Group associations where, in line with all International Group Clubs, coverage for oil pollution is limited to $1.0 billion per event. The 13 P&I Associations that comprise the International Group insure approximately 95% of the world’s commercial tonnage and have entered into a pooling agreement to collectively reinsure each association’s liabilities. Each vessel that we acquire will be entered with P&I Associations of the International Group. Under the International Group reinsurance program for the current policy year, each P&I club in the International Group is responsible for the first $10.0 million of every claim. In every claim the amount in excess of $10.0 million and up to $100.0 million is shared by the clubs under the pooling agreement. Any claim in excess of $100.0 million is reinsured by the International Group in the international reinsurance market under the General Excess of Loss Reinsurance Contract. This policy currently provides an additional $2.0 billion of coverage for non-oil pollution claims. Further to this, an additional reinsurance layer has been placed by the International Group for claims up to $1.0 billion in excess of $2.1 billion, or $3.1 billion in total. For passengers and crew claims, the overall limit is $3.0 billion for any one event on any one vessel with a sub-limit of $2.0 billion for passengers. With the exception of pollution, passenger or crew claims, should any other P&I claim exceed Group reinsurance limits, the provisions of all International Group Club’s overspill claim rules will operate and members of any International Group Club will be liable for additional contributions in accordance with such rules. To date, there has never been an overspill claim, or one even nearing this level.

As a member of the P&I Associations that are members of the International Group, we will be subject to calls payable to the associations based on our individual fleet record, the associations’ overall its claim records as well as the claim records of all other members of the individual associations, and members of the pool of P&I Associations comprising the International Group. The P&I Associations’ policy year commences on February 20th. Calls are levied by means of Estimated Total Premiums (“ETP”) and the amount of the final installment of the ETP varies according to the actual total premium ultimately required by the club for a particular policy year. Members have a liability to pay supplementary calls, which might be levied by the board of directors of the club if the ETP is insufficient to cover amounts paid out by the club. Should a member leave or entry cease with any of the associations, at the Club’s Managers discretion, they may be also be liable to pay release calls or provide adequate security for the same amount. Such calls are levied in respect of potential outstanding Club/Member liabilities on open policy years and include but are not limited to liabilities for deferred calls and supplementary calls.

Uninsured Risks: Not all risks are insured and not all risks are insurable. The principal insurable risks, which nonetheless remain uninsured across our businesses, are “loss of hire”, “strikes,” except in cases of loss of hire due to war or a piracy event or due to presence of contraband on board, “defense,” and “credit risk. Specifically, we do not insure these risks because the costs are regarded as disproportionate. These insurances provide, subject to a deductible, a limited indemnity for hire that would not be receivable by the shipowner for reasons set forth in the policy. Should a vessel on time charter, where the vessel is paid a fixed hire day by day, suffer a serious mechanical breakdown, the daily hire will no longer be payable by the charterer. The purpose of the loss of hire insurance is to secure the loss of hire during such periods. In the case of strikes insurance, if a vessel is being paid a fixed sum to perform a voyage and the ship becomes strike bound at a loading or discharging port, the insurance covers the loss of earnings during such periods. However, in some cases when a vessel is transiting high risk war and/or piracy areas, we arrange war loss of hire insurance to cover up to 270 days of detention/loss of time. When our charterers engage in legally permitted trading in locations which may still be subject to sanctions or boycott, such as Iran, Syria and Sudan, our insurers may be contractually or by operation of law prohibited from honoring our insurance contract for such trading, which could result in reduced insurance coverage for losses incurred by the related vessels. Furthermore, our insurers and we may be prohibited from posting or otherwise be unable to post security in respect of any incident in such locations, resulting in the loss of use of the relevant vessel and negative publicity for our Company which could negatively impact our business, results of operations, cash flows and share price.

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There are no deductibles for the war loss of hire cover in case of piracy and contraband cover. We maintain strike and business interruption insurance for our port terminal operations.

Even if our insurance coverage is adequate to cover our losses, if we suffer a loss of a vessel, we may not be able to obtain a timely replacement for any lost vessel. Furthermore, in the future, we may not be able to obtain adequate insurance coverage at reasonable rates for our fleet. For example, more stringent environmental regulations have led to increased costs for, and in the future may result in the lack of availability of, insurance against risks of environmental damage or pollution. We may also be subject to calls, or premiums, in amounts based not only on our own claim records but also on the claim records of all other members of the protection and indemnity associations through which we receive indemnity insurance coverage. A catastrophic oil spill or marine disaster could exceed our insurance coverage, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. Any uninsured or underinsured loss could harm our business and financial condition. In addition, the insurance may be voidable by the insurers as a result of certain actions, such as vessels failing to maintain required certification.

Risk Management

Risk management in the shipping industry involves balancing a number of factors in a cyclical and potentially volatile environment. Fundamentally, the challenge is to appropriately allocate capital to competing opportunities of owning or chartering vessels. In part, this requires a view of the overall health of the market as well as an understanding of capital costs and returns. Thus, stated simply, one may charter-in part of a fleet as opposed to owning the entire fleet to maximize risk management and economic results. This is coupled with the challenge posed by the complex logistics of ensuring that the vessels controlled by Navios Holdings are fully employed.

Navios Holdings seeks to manage risk through a number of strategies, including vessel control strategies (chartering and ownership) and freight carriage. Navios Holdings’ vessel control strategies include seeking the appropriate mix of owned vessels, long- and short-term chartered-in vessels, coupled with purchase options, when available, and spot charters. Navios Holdings also enters into COAs, which gives Navios Holdings, subject to certain limitations, the flexibility to determine the means of getting a particular cargo to its destination.

Legal Proceedings

Navios Holdings is not involved in any legal proceedings that it believes will have a material adverse effect on its business, financial position, results of operations and liquidity.

From time to time, Navios Holdings may be subject to legal proceedings and claims in the ordinary course of business. It is expected that these claims would be covered by insurance if they involved liabilities such as those that arise from a collision, other marine casualty, damage to cargoes, oil pollution and death or personal injuries to crew, subject to customary deductibles. Those claims, even if lacking merit, could result in the expenditure of significant financial and managerial resources.

Refer to “Item 8. Financial Information” in “Legal Proceedings”.

Crewing and Shore Employees

Navios Holdings crews its vessels primarily with Greek, Ukrainian, Georgian, Filipino, Polish, Romanian, Indian and Russian officers and Filipino, Georgian, Indian, Romanian, Ethiopian and Ukrainian seamen. Navios Holdings’ fleet manager is responsible for selecting its Greek officers. Other nationalities are referred to Navios Holdings’ fleet manager by local crewing agencies. Navios Holdings is also responsible for travel and payroll of the crew. The crewing agencies handle each seaman’s training. Navios Holdings requires that all of its seamen have the qualifications and licenses required to comply with international regulations and shipping conventions. Navios Logistics crews its fleet with Argentinean, Brazilian and Paraguayan officers and seamen. Navios Logistics’ fleet managers are responsible for selecting the crew. Employees of the Navios Holdings provide assistance to Navios Containers and its operating subsidiaries pursuant to the Management Agreement and the Administrative Services Agreement; therefore Navios Containers does not employ additional staff.

As of December 31, 2018, with respect to shore-side employees, Navios Holdings and its subsidiaries employed 250 employees in its Piraeus, Greece office, 11 employees in its New York office, seven employees in its Antwerp, Belgium office, three employees in its Monaco office and one employee in its Singapore office. Navios Logistics employs 50 employees in the Asuncion, Paraguay office, 21 employees at the port facility in San Antonio, Paraguay, 99 employees in the Buenos Aires, Argentina office, eight employees in the Montevideo, Uruguay office, 196 employees at the port facility in Nueva Palmira, Uruguay and 10 employees in the Corumba, Brazil office.

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Facilities

Navios Holdings and its affiliates currently lease the following properties:

Navios Logistics and its subsidiaries currently lease, (or occupy as free zone users, as the case may be), the following premises:

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CNSA owns premises in Montevideo, Uruguay. This space is approximately 112 square meters and is located at Juan Carlos Gomez 1445, Oficina 701, Montevideo 1100, Uruguay.

Petrolera San Antonio S.A. owns the premises from which it operates in Avenida San Antonio, Paraguay. This space is approximately 146,744 square meters and is located between Avenida San Antonio and Virgen de Caacupe, San Antonio, Paraguay.

Compania Naviera Horamar S.A. owns two storehouses located at 880 Calle California, Ciudad Autonoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina and at 791/795 Calle General Daniel Cerri, Ciudad Autonoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina of approximately 259 and 825 square meters, respectively. Compania Naviera Horamar S.A. also owns approximately 1,139 square meters of office space located in 846 Avenida Santa Fe, Ciudad Autonoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Petrovia Internacional S.A. owns three plots of land in Nueva Palmira, Uruguay, two of approximately 29 acres each and one of 23 acres.

Navios Containers and its subsidiaries currently lease the following premises:

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C. Organizational structure

Navios Holdings and/or its subsidiaries maintain offices in Monaco, Piraeus, Greece, Antwerp, Belgium, New York and Singapore. Commercial ship management, risk management, operation and technical management of Navios Holdings’ owned vessels are conducted through wholly-owned subsidiaries of Navios Holdings. Navios Logistics maintains offices in Montevideo - Uruguay, Buenos Aires - Argentina, Asuncion - Paraguay, and Corumba - Brazil. Navios Logistics conducts the commercial and technical management of its vessels, barges and pushboats through its wholly-owned subsidiaries. Navios Logistics holds the rights to operate the ports and transfer facilities in Nueva Palmira indirectly through its Uruguayan subsidiary, CNSA, and Granos and owns the San Antonio port facility through its Paraguayan subsidiary, Petrosan.

As of December 31, 2018, all subsidiaries included in the consolidated financial statements are 100% owned, except for Navios Logistics and its subsidiaries, which is 63.8% owned by Navios Holdings and Navios Containers and its subsidiaries, which is 3.7% owned by Navios Holdings.

The table below sets forth Navios Holdings’ corporate structure as of December 31, 2018.

Subsidiaries included in the consolidation: