Clearlake Charters Diana Bulk Vessel

Diana Shipping Inc., a global shipping company specializing in the ownership of dry bulk vessels, announced that yesterday through a separate wholly-owned subsidiary, it entered into a time charter contract with Clearlake Shipping Pte., Ltd., Singapore, a member of the Gunvor Group, for one of its Capesize dry bulk vessels, the m/v Houston. The gross charter rate is $20,500 per day, minus a 4.75% commission paid to third parties, for a period of about 11 months to about 14 months. The charter commenced yesterday.

The Houston is a 177,729 dwt Capesize dry bulk vessel built in 2009.

This employment is anticipated to generate approximately $6.5 million of gross revenue for the minimum scheduled period of the charter.

As the company previously announced on November 27, 2013, the Houston was redelivered to the owner by the previous charterer when it purported to terminate the charter early.

Diana Shipping Inc.'s fleet currently consists of 36 dry bulk vessels: two Newcastlemax, 10 Capesize, three Post-Panamax, three Kamsarmax and 18 Panamax. The company also expects to take delivery of two new-building Ice Class Panamax dry bulk vessels during the first quarter of 2014, and two newbuilding Newcastlemax dry bulk vessels during the second quarter of 2016. As of today, the combined carrying capacity of our fleet, excluding the four vessels not yet delivered, is approximately 4.1 million dwt with a weighted average age of 6.51 years.

dianashippinginc.com