Diana Shipping Inc. Announces Direct Continuation of Time Charter Contract for mv Newport News with Koch
Diana Shipping Inc. (NYSE: DSX), a global shipping company specializing in the ownership of dry bulk vessels, Tuesday (Dec07) announced that, through a separate wholly-owned subsidiary, it has entered into a time charter contract with Koch Shipping Pte. Ltd., Singapore, for one of its Newcastlemax dry bulk vessels, the m/v Newport News.
The gross charter rate is US$28,000 per day, minus a 5% commission paid to third parties, for a period until a minimum of July 1, 2023, up to a maximum of September 30, 2023. The new charter period is expected to commence on December 16, 2021.
The m/v Newport News is currently chartered, as previously announced, at a gross charter rate of US$18,400 per day, minus a 5% commission paid to third parties.
The “Newport News” is a 208,021 DWTNewcastlemax dry bulk vessel built in 2017.
The employment of “Newport News” is anticipated to generate approximately US$15.57 million of gross revenue for the minimum scheduled period of the time charter.
Diana Shipping Inc.’s fleet currently consists of 33 dry bulk vessels (4 Newcastlemax, 11 Capesize, 5 Post-Panamax, 5 Kamsarmax, and 8 Panamax). The Company also expects to take delivery of one Kamsarmax dry bulk vessel and one new-building Capesize dry bulk vessel by the end of February 2022 and by the end of the first quarter of 2022, respectively. As of today, the combined carrying capacity of the Company’s fleet, excluding the two vessels not yet delivered, is approximately 4.3 million DWT with a weighted average age of 10.28 years.
In addition to these important factors, other important factors that, in the Company’s view, could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements include the severity, magnitude and duration of the COVID-19 pandemic, including impacts of the pandemic and of businesses’ and governments’ responses to the pandemic on our operations, personnel, and on the demand for seaborne transportation of bulk products; the strength of world economies and currencies, general market conditions, including fluctuations in charter rates and vessel values, changes in demand for dry bulk shipping capacity, changes in the Company’s operating expenses, including bunker prices, drydocking and insurance costs, the market for the Company’s vessels, availability of financing and refinancing, changes in governmental rules and regulations or actions taken by regulatory authorities, potential liability from pending or future litigation, general domestic and international political conditions, potential disruption of shipping routes due to accidents or political events, vessel breakdowns and instances of off-hires and other factors.
Securities and Exchange Commission for a more complete discussion of these and other risks and uncertainties. The Company undertakes no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statement, or to make any other forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.
