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TWST: Can we begin with a brief historical sketch and introduction to Tsakos Energy Navigation (NYSE:TNP)?

Mr. Tsakos: Tsakos Energy Navigation is listed in the New York Stock Exchange under symbol TNP and currently operates one of the most modern fleet of tankers in the world with an average age of about six and one-half years. It's a fleet that has been built in the last six years and consists mainly of double/double ships that are environmentally friendly and technologically advanced. We currently operate 25 vessels, of which 17 are of the double/double design. The company went public in 1993 on the Oslo Stock Exchange and last year we were proud to be able to raise the company's flag on the New York Stock Exchange. The company has a continuous streak of profitability in a very cyclical market environment. As a public Company, we have been profitable each year, even 1999, which for shipping was quite a difficult year. When we converted our accounting into GAAP for our New York listing, a small reported loss resulted for 1999, mainly due to a swap gain that we had to amortize for the future. We are very proud of the fact that operationally the company has been profitable since inception and it's one of the very few companies that can stay in a very cyclical market. The way we try to protect our income stream is by time-chartering our ships and employing them on a medium to long-term approach, rather than using the spot markets, which has larger fluctuations.

TWST: How much of your business is tied into medium and long-term contracts, what’s the duration, and how much operates in the spot market?

Mr. Tsakos: As we speak, currently 60% of our business is fixed for six months and above; it's between 6 months and 15 years. The remaining 40% of the fleet operates in the spot market, and one of the reasons is because we have had a very extensive new building program in order to take advantage of the soft new building prices that have been available in the last couple of years. And we have said that we do not have any sort of exclusivity on medium-term business. This is a policy. When the spot market is on a higher level, we try to find longer-term business for our ships. We have been blessed in the last year to have a very good mix in this respect because of our new buildings coming onto the market.

TWST: Can you briefly walk us through some of the highlights from your financials?

Mr. Tsakos: Yes, in 10 years the public company has grown 10 fold. We started with four ships of 250,000 dwt of carrying capacity, and currently we have 30 vessels, including those currently on order, with almost 3 million dwt of carrying capacity. I think, that's quite good growth over 10 years, especially when we have been able to do it profitably. The company made the decision in 1996 to grow the fleet predominately by building new vessels. We have built all our ships ourselves in yards in Japan and Korea, where we have very close relationships; I hope at the right time most of the time. And we have built those ships for our client's needs. So I think this is something for our shareholders to be aware of. We have a very modern and attractive fleet. We call ourselves the Jet Blue of shipping because of the quality of our tonnage.