Diana Shipping Inc., a global shipping company specializing in the ownership of dry bulk vessels, today announced that yesterday it signed, through a separate wholly-owned subsidiary, a Memorandum of Agreement to acquire from an unaffiliated third party seller, a new-building Capesize dry bulk vessel of approximately 180,000 dwt, built by Qingdao Beihai Shipbuilding Heavy Industry Co., Ltd., Qingdao, People’s Republic of China, for a purchase price of US$50 million. The vessel (Hull No. BC18.0-51) is expected to be delivered to the Company by mid-January 2015, the company said in its press release.
Excluding the newly acquired vessel, as well as two new-building Newcastlemax dry bulk vessels and one new-building Kamsarmax dry bulk vessel expected to be delivered to the Company during the second quarter of 2016, Diana Shipping Inc.’s fleet currently consists of 39 dry bulk vessels (2 Newcastlemax, 11 Capesize, 3 Post-Panamax, 3 Kamsarmax and 20 Panamax). As of today, the combined carrying capacity of our fleet, excluding the four vessels not yet delivered, is approximately 4.4 million dwt with a weighted average age of 6.99 years.
About the Company
Diana Shipping Inc. is a leading global provider of shipping transportation services through its ownership of dry bulk vessels. The Company’s vessels are employed primarily on medium to long-term time charters and transport a range of dry bulk cargoes, including such commodities as iron ore, coal, grain and other materials along worldwide shipping routes.