Diana Shipping Inc. Announces New Short Term Charter Contract

Diana Shipping Inc., a global shipping transportation company specializing in dry bulk cargoes, announced that it has entered one of its Panamax dry bulk carriers, the Oceanis, into a time-charter contract with J.B. Ugland Dry Bulk A/S for a period of approximately 24 days, estimated to begin on August 22, 2005, at a gross rate of $12,500 per day plus a $198,000 one-time payment. Applying the above mentioned one-time payment to this fixture, and based on the estimated duration of 24 days, the effective gross time charter rate per day increases by approximately $8,250 per day to approximately $20,750 per day. The Oceanis is a Panamax dry bulk carrier of 75,211 dwt built in Korea in 2001.