Diana Shipping Inc., a global shipping company specializing in the ownership and operation of dry bulk vessels, today announced that it has signed, through a separate wholly-owned subsidiary, a Memorandum of Agreement, to acquire a new-building Post-Panamax dry bulk carrier of 98,697 dwt, built by Tsuneishi Group (Zhoushan) Shipbuilding Inc., from a third party seller for a purchase price of US$25 million.

The vessel, to be named “Amphitrite”, is expected to be delivered to the Company by the sellers in mid-August 2012.

Including the aforementioned vessel Diana Shipping Inc.’s fleet currently consists of 29 dry bulk carriers (17 Panamax, 2 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 3.2 million dwt with a weighted average age of 5.9 years.