Diana Shipping Purchases New Japanese-Built Kamsarmax Bulk Carrier

ATHENS, GREECE – Diana Shipping Inc. (NYSE: DSX), a global shipping company specializing in the ownership and operation of dry bulk vessels, announced that on December 20, 2012 it signed, through a separate whollyowned subsidiary, a Memorandum of Agreement to acquire a new-building Kamsarmax dry bulk carrier of 82,131 dwt, built by Tsuneishi Shipbuilding Co., Ltd., Japan, from an unaffiliated third party seller for a purchase price of US$26.5 million.

The vessel, to be named “Myrto”, is expected to be delivered at the end of January 2013.

Separately, the Diana Shipping also announced that yesterday it signed a term loan facility with Nordea Bank Finland Plc, London Branch, and today completed the drawdown of US$20 million. The purpose of this facility was to partially finance the acquisition costs of the two newly built Post-Panamax dry bulk carriers, the M/V Amphitrite and M/V Polymnia, which were delivered on August 14, 2012 and November 20, 2012, respectively.

The Kamsarmax was developed in 2002 by Tsuneishi Shipbuilding in response to an order received for a Panamax bulk carrier.  Designed to meet the specified requirements, the Kamsarmax was so named since it is the largest vessel that can enter Port Kamsar in the Republic of Guinea.

Including the M/V Myrto, Diana Shipping Inc.’s fleet currently consists of 31 dry bulk carriers (17 Panamax, 1 Kamsarmax, 3 Post-Panamax, 8 Capesize and 2 Newcastlemax), as well as 2 new-building Ice Class Panamax vessels expected to be delivered to the Company during the fourth quarter of 2013. As of today, the combined carrying capacity of our current fleet, excluding the three vessels not yet delivered, is approximately 3.4 million dwt with a weighted average age of 6.0 years.

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