As with the vast majority of Greek shipping companies, executive control is passed down the generations of the same owning families. Diana Shipping Inc. is no exception after its forerunner company, Diana Shipping Agencies (DSA), was incorporated on 27th January 1972 by Simeon P. Palios, Pandelis G. Margaronis, E. M. Veniamis and three other people with an office at Odos Felellinon in Piraeus. Semiramis Paliou is the daughter of Simeon Palios and currently is the Chief Executive Officer of Diana Shipping Inc., being appointed in February 2021. Theodore Veniamis is currently President of the Greek Federation of Shipowners, an important and influential position. Simeon P. Palios remains as the Non-Executive Chairman of Diana Shipping Inc.

The Palios family are from the Greek Aegean island of Chios, famous for its windmills and the export of mastic gum, with a nickname of the ‘Mastic Island’. Simeon P. Palios has served the shipping industry sInce 1969 after obtaining a degree in Marine Engineering from Durham University. He was the founder of Diana Shipping Agencies (DSA) in 1972 and served as Managing Director until November 2004. He has served as an ensign in the Greek Navy as he is a qualified naval architect for the inspection of passenger liners on behalf of the Greek Ministry of Merchant Marine. He serves as a member of leading worldwide classification societies and is also a director of the U.K. Freight Demurrage Association Ltd.

The name chosen for the company was Diana, the Roman goddess of the woods and hunting, her Greek counterpart was Artemis. This big Greek fleet has bright yellow funnels with a thin black top and a broad white band between two thin blue bands and carrying a stylised blue cross. The fleet is currently managed by Diana Shipping Services (DSS), formed in 1986 as the management arm of Diana Shipping Investment Corporation. Diana Shipping Inc. was formed in 1999 as the successor company of Diana Shipping Investment Corporation. Diana Shipping Agencies (DSA) was then dissolved on 26th November 2010.

Diana Shipping Inc. currently has eleven directors, recently increased from eight directors, with Simeon P. Palios as Chairman of Diana Shipping Inc., with his daughter, Semiramis Paliou, as Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), and with Anastasios C. Margaronis as President and Director, and Ioannis G. Zafirakis as Chief Financial Officer.

THE FIRST MANAGED CARGO SHIPS and BULK CARRIERS

These were former British, German and Japanese owned and built ships managed from 1972 onwards with a dozen ships managed in 1980. The Doxford built general cargo ship Pearl Trader of 15,350 dwt, completed as a closed shelterdecker in 1962 for Livanos of Greece, was purchased in 1979 and renamed Trader. She had six holds with hull dimensions of overall length 155.25 metres (509.0 feet), moulded beam of 20.53 metres, moulded depth of 12.4 metres, with a loaded draft of 9.2 metres. She had two masts and three sets of kingposts, with sixteen derricks of up to 25 tonnes capacity for working cargo, and her four cylinder Doxford diesel engine of 6,000 bhp gave her a service speed of 14.5 knots. She had eight bulkheads, and some of her double bottom tanks, forepeak and aft peak were filled with 3,000 tons of water ballast for voyages without cargo.

The Hain cargo liner Trebartha of 14,465 dwt and 508.0 feet overall length was completed by the John Readhead yard at South Shields in May 1962 for charter to liner companies and had a top speed of 16 knots from a five cylinder diesel from the Wallsend Slipway of 7,500 bhp. The five holds were served by a dozen derricks on three masts, ranging from five tonne capacity up to a heavy lift derrick of 50 tons capacity. She was renamed Zak in the Diana fleet, renamed from Strathtay after all of the P. & O. cargo-liners had been given a common ‘Strath’ nomenclature.

The five hold engines ‘midships cargo ship Vrontados of 13,063 dwt was completed in Japan by the Fujinagata Shipbuilding yard in 1956 for the Meridian Shipping Company S.A. of Pandelis G. Margaronis on dimensions of overall length 483.0 feet, moulded beam of 62.0 feet, and moulded depth of 29.0 feet, with a service speed of 13 knots from a Mitsui-B. & W. diesel of 4,200 bhp. She kept her name in the Diana Shipping Agencies (DSA) fleet, and was named after a small village on the eastern side of the Greek Aegean island of Chios, with a population of only 5,300. She had made her maiden voyage to Vancouver to load grain, and tramped around the world for another 24 years until she arrived for breaking up at Kaohsiung on 25th May 1980.

The twin screw NYK owned engines ‘midships Yokohama Maru of 10,350 dwt of 1952, and engines ‘midships Yamasaki Maru of 12,575 dwt built in 1961 became Dora and Mersinidi in the Diana fleet.

Panagia was the former Yanagi Maru of 7,350 dwt built in 1968 with a well deck forward and was equipped with a tall, jumbo heavy lift derrick of 250 tons capacity ‘midships, with heavy cargo lifted onto her quarter deck. She traded worldwide until she caught fire off Rhodes on 1st August 1991 under the name of Aris, and arrived for breaking up at Aliaga in Turkey on 15th February 1992.

The cargo-liner Thorscarrier of 13,112 dwt, built by Uddevallavarvet in Sweden in 1959 of overall length 467.0 feet for the big fleet of Thor Dahl of Norway, was managed from 1978 when she was renamed from her Norwegian Amerika Line name of Vindafjord as Nordave. The Dutch cargo-liner Hilversum of 14,186 dwt, built at Bremerhaven in 1959 for Vinke had six holds and many derricks on seven masts and posts, was renamed as Lircay and managed by Diana Shipping Agencies (DSA). She could carry six passengers with a service speed of 16.5 knots, and had a sister named Ittersum.

Many bulk carriers were managed in the first years, including the Siemens turbine powered Katrin of 17,050 dwt and formerly Anna Katrin Fritzen built in Germany by A. G. Weser at Bremerhaven in 1958, Elmona of 18,300 dwt and formerly Belmona of Belships of Norway built in 1962, the six hold Green Park of 16,425 dwt and formerly Virginia Bolten built at Lubeck in 1958, the six hold Semi of 21,165 dwt, with three masts and a centre line mast in front of number one hold, having been built as Jalanta for Jahre of Norway in 1966, the ungeared six hold Aliki of 23,430 dwt and built as Jarilla for Jahre of Norway in 1959, the seven hold P. S. Palios of 31,807 dwt and built in Germany as Holthorn in 1963 with a goalpost mast up forward and five electric cranes, the seven hold Arietta of 33,320 dwt and built in Japan as Japana in 1965 with three masts, and the five hold Santa Pola of 18,716 dwt built as Ringvard in Norway for Olav Ringdal of Norway in 1968 with five electric deck cranes.

The early managed fleet of Diana Shipping Agencies (DSA) voyaged worldwide and carried specialised cargoes at times, as shown by the following voyages in February 1981:-

Name Voyage                                                                                             Dwt

Panagia – Hamburg to Havana and Cienfuegos (Cuba) to load sugar – 7,320

Semi – Yokohama to Los Angeles to Iquique (Chile) to load nitrates – 21,165

Yokohama to Los Angeles to Iquique (Chile) to load nitrates              – 21,165

Lircay – Mombasa to Algiers                                                                       – 14,185

Aliki – Yokohama to Singapore to Montevideo                                        -23,430

P.S. Palios – At Kobe laid up with damage                                               – 31,807

At Kobe – laid up with damage                                                                   – 31,807

Arietta – Hiroshima to Rio de Janeiro via the Panama Canal              – 33,220

Trader ex Pearl Trader – Tampa to Los Angeles to Inchon (Korea)    – 15,350

Zak ex Trebartha – Constantza to Lagos-Apapa, bunkered at Las Palmas – 14,465

Santa Pola – Yokohama and Tomakomai to Ro de Janeiro                     – 18,716

Agia Marina – Singapore to Alexandria                                                       – 16,670

The combined fleets of Diana Shipping Agencies (DSA) and the newly formed Diana Shipping Services (DSS) in 1986 were managing twenty vessels including the big seven hold bulker Zetta of 33,330 dwt built as Possehl at Lubeck in 1971, the seven hold bulker P.S. Palios of 31,807 dwt built at Emden in 1963, the seven hold bulker Arietta of 33,220 dwt built at Yokohama in 1965, the five hold bulker Rena of 24,090 dwt and built as Baron Wemyss for Hogarth of Glasgow at Haugesund in 1972, and the six hold Semira of 21,550 dwt built as Norse Carrier in Sweden in 1965.

The twin funnelled Baron Wemyss was equipped with four electric hydraulic deck cranes suitable for grab unloading, and made her maiden voyage from Haugesund to Casablanca to load phosphates for Japan, and arrived at Kaohsiung on 5th January 1987 for breaking up as Rena.

The first tanker to be managed by Diana was Urania, a former Shell VLCC of 210,770 dwt and built at St. Nazaire in 1969 as Miralda.

The combined fleets of Diana Shipping Agencies (DSA) and the newly formed Diana Shipping Services (DSS) in 1990 were managing ever bigger bulkers and tankers in the six hold bulker Kapetan Sideris of 58,788 dwt and formerly Keigo Maru, built in 1969 by Mitsubishi at Horoshima for the Yamashita -Shinnihon Steamship Co. Ltd. with a Mitsubishi diesel engine from her builders. She had a loaded draft of 12.3 metres and could load a big grain cargo of 67,990m3.

The tanker Sibelius of 117,950 dwt had been built in 1972 as Tamano Maru by Mitsui at Tamano and was purchased as Ohio with a service speed of 15 knots from a powerful nine cylinder B. & W. diesel engine of 23,200 bhp. The tankers Urania and Sibelius often loaded crude oil at the Sullom Voe terminal in the Shetlands for refineries in the U.S.A. or in Greece, discharging at Piraeus in the latter case.

The combined fleets of Diana Shipping Agencies (DSA) and Diana Shipping Services (DSS) in 1995 were managing the big seven hold bulkers Esperos of 66,136 dwt built at Hakodate in 1973 as Ingwi for Wigands Rederi A/S of Norway, and Captain Sarantis of 53,295 dwt built at Toyama in Japan in 1975 as World Courage for the big fleet of World-Wide Shipping Ltd. in Bermuda. Seven of these owned and managed bulkers were on the following voyages in July 1997:-

Name Voyage                                                                                                    Dwt

Delmas Joinville – Shanghai to Durban to Luanda on charter to Delmas     – 20,200

Drake – Richards Bay to Rotterdam with coal                                                     – 42,842

Elm – Portbury to Ventspils and then to Canadian ports to load                     – 21,978

Maple – Comeau Bay (Quebec) to Mersin in Turkey                                           – 19,020

Oak – Setubal to Gaspe                                                                                               – 21,951

Sonia – Busan to Yokohama to Valparaiso                                                              – 23,314

Targa – Antofagasta to Puerto Montt with nitrate                                                – 18,875

The bulker Elm carried an interesting cargo of white Carrara marble blocks from Marina di Carrara to Ashdod in Israel in July 1999.

Diana Shipping Inc. was formed on 8th March 1999 at Majuro in the Marshall Islands, hence all of the company bulk carriers are registered at Majuro. The company also began managing small numbers of container ships for Maersk, CMA-CGM, and Hanjin. Some of the Diana Shipping Inc. fleet of container ships and bulkers were engaged on the following voyages in December 2000:-

CGM Sevilla – Genoa to Santos with containers – 22,990

Delmas Joinvile – Singapore to Le Havre on charter to Delmas of France – 20,200

Drake – Kwangyang (China) to Jiangyin – 42,842

Elm – Thunder Bay to Italian ports – 21,978

Hanjin Savannah – Shanghai to Felixstowe via Suez Canal with containers – 42,900

The directors of the Diana Shipping Agencies (DSA) and Diana Shipping Services (DSS) in Millennium year included members of the Palios, Margaronis, Zafirakis, Sarantis, and Colakis families, along with a Marine Superintendent and a Port Captain. Diana Shipping Services (DSS) was managing and operating in 2005 eight Panamax bulkers named Alcyon, Calipso, Danae, Dione, Nirefs, Oceanis, Protefs, and Triton, as well as the Capesize bulker Pantelis S.P. of 180,000 dwt. Diana Shipping Inc. acquired Diana Shipping Services (DSS) on 1st April 2006, and was operating and managing a big fleet of 26 bulkers in 2012, with seventeen Panamax bulkers named Alcmene, Alcyon, Arethusa, Calipso, Clio, Coronis, Danae, Dione, Erato, Leto, Melite, Naias, Nirefs, Oceanis, Protefs, Thetis and Triton, as well as 9 Capesize bulkers named Aliki, Boston, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Norfolk, Salt Lake City, Semirio and Sideris G.S.

Unfortunately, Thetis was found guilty on 5th December 2013 by an American Court of Enquiry at Norfolk (Va) of discharging illegal bilge water in that harbour by her Chief Engineer and her Second Engineer. Diana Shipping Services (DSS) was fined $1.1 million and placed on a probation period of three and a half years. The big Capesize bulker JK Pioneer was purchased later in October 2013 and renamed P.S. Palios.

DIANA CONTAINERSHIPS Inc.

A small number of containerships had been managed and operated in the decade after the Millennium by Diana Shipping Inc., including for Maersk Line, CMA-CGM, and Hanjin Line, with a new company formed in July 2010 as Diana Containerships Inc. to own, operate and charter container ships to Maersk Line, Hamburg Sud, APL, Yang Ming, CSAV of Chile and other container lines. On formation, Diana Shipping Inc. made an investment of US$50 million in Diana Containerships Inc., representing approximately 55% of the issued and outstanding shares of the new entity, with the balance of the common shares held by banks and investors in private transactions.

The funnel colours were white with a red cross on a white panel between narrow red bands, with hulls black, blue or operator colours. Post Panamax container ships were of 6,500 TEU size and were named Great, Hamburg, March, Pucon, Puelo, and Rotterdam, while Panamax size container ships were named APL Spinel, APL Sardonyx, Cap San Marco, Cap San Raphael, Cap Domingo, Cap Doukato, Centaurus (on charter to Hapag Lloyd and then CSAV), Maersk Merlion, Maersk Malacca, Pamina, Sagitta (on charter to Maersk Line), YM Los Angeles and YM New Jersey. In April 2015, Diana Containerships Inc. had a fleet of thirteen container ships in four Post-Panamax ships and nine Panamax ships.

However, container ship freight rates were very low and widely erratic giving poor returns over the period of 2015 to 2016, with debts built up by this fleet. YM Los Angeles of 4,923 TEU capacity was sold for breaking up in October 2016 for $6.69 million under the name of Angeles after only eleven years of service, leaving a dozen container ships in the fleet.

Seven of these were sold on 5th October 2017 by Diana Containerships Inc. for gross proceeds of around $104 million, enough to pay off most of the company debt. The remaining five container ships were also sold off for around $30 million to bring the company out of debt. Diana Shipping Inc. then focussed entirely on bulk shipping.

DIANA SHIPPING Inc. DURING THE LAST TEN YEARS

During the ten year period from 2013 to 2022, the Diana Shipping Inc. fleet has fluctuated from a low figure of 35 ships to a high figure of 50 ships, with 36 ships (2013), 39 ships (2014), 43 ships (2015), 46 ships (2016), 50 ships (2017), 48 ships (2018), 44 ships (2019), 41 ships (2020), 38 ships (2021) and 35 ships in April, 2022. The average size of the fleet over this ten year period was 42 bulkers, and included Panamax size, Kamsarmax size, Post Panamax size, nine hold Capesize and nine hold Newcastlemax size, the latter being the largest size of 206,000 dwt that bulkers can safely enter the beautiful harbour of Newcastle (NSW) to load coal from the huge Hunter River coalfields.

Daily freight rates have varied enormously during this period, depending on the cargo, length of charter, charterer requirements, age of ship and other factors from lows of around US$10,000 per day to highs of just over US$30,000 per day. In order to charter ships profitably using chartering brokers, the owners need to know the cost of all elements that a ship will be charged during the chartering contract with accurate figures e.g. ship agents, chandlery, demurrage, dockers costs, bunkering costs, crew costs, suppliers costs, and port entry, towage and pilotage costs.

The seven hold Panamax bulker Atalandi arrived at the EMO Terminal at Rotterdam with 77,500 tonnes of coal on 7th January 2015, and sailed on her next voyage after four days of discharge on 12th January 2015. Unfortunately, the seven hold Panamax bulker Melite of 76,436 dwt grounded in the Malacca Straits on 26th July 2017 at the end of a long voyage from the Maasvlakte in Rotterdam. She could not be refloated and was abandoned to insurers ‘as is’, and was eventually towed off with much bottom damage and sold to breakers at Chittagong, arriving there at the end of a slow 3.5 knot tow on 7th December 2017. She had been built in 2004 by Tsuneishi Shipbuilding at Tadotsu as Maritime Christine, and was purchased in 2010 as Theresa Hebei. She had a big grain capacity of 91,357m3, and a service speed of 14.5 knots from a seven cylinder B. & W. diesel of 12,000 bhp.

During 2021, a large fleet of 35 bulkers of 5.24 million tonnes deadweight of an average age of ten years carried 21.8 million tonnes of cargo, voyaging 2.542 million nautical miles and made 653 port calls. These were seven Panamax bulkers of 75,000 dwt named Artemis, Atalandi, Crystalia, Ismene, Maera, Melia and Selina, seven Kamsarmax of 82,000 dwt named Astarte, Leto, Leonidas P.C., Maia, Myrsini, Medusa, and Myrto, five Post-Panamax of 96,000 dwt named Alcmene, Amphitrite, Electra, Phaidra and Polymnia, twelve Capesize of 180,000 dwt named Aliki, Baltimore, Boston, Florida, Houston, New York, New Orleans, P.S. Palios, Santa Barbara, Seattle, Semirio and G.P. Zafirakis, the latter named after a long serving director. Finally, four Newcastlemax bulkers of 206,000 dwt named Los Angeles, Newport News, Philadelphia and San Francisco.

The huge amount of cargo carried by this fleet during 2021 of 21.8 million tonnes was in three main categories:-

ORES and other BULKS – 12.23 Mtonnes

COAL – 7.70 Mtonnes

GRAIN – 1.87 Mtonnes

Grain charterers included Cargill International and Bunge S.A., coal charterers included Glencore Commodities and Uniper Global Commodities of Dusseldorff, ore charterers included BHP Billiton of Australia and Vale S.A. of Brazil. Bulk shipowners such as CLdN Cobelfret, Norden of Denmark, Oldendorff of Germany, and NYK of Japan and other owners charter Diana bulkers, as do commodity traders around the world in Geneva, Singapore, Shanghai, Bermuda, London and other financial cities. A workforce of 819 seafarers, with Greek officers and Filipino crews, and office workers in Athens and at International House in the World Trade Centre in St. Katharine’s Way in London was employed on 13th April 2022.

The Capesize bulker Florida is bareboat chartered in for a period of ten years at $13,500 per day, and is chartered out for five years to carry grain for Bunge S.A. at $29,500 per day until May 2027. Some of the bulker fleet are used on ‘spot’ trading for short periods, while the majority of the fleet are on one year to 18 month charters. The Capesize bulker P.S. Palios was undergoing an extended repair and dry docking at Qinhuangdao in China for six weeks from the end of April 2022 to 5th June 2022, when she was delivered on charter for one year at $26,500 per day.

The Panamax bulker Crystalia was employed on charter to Uniper Global Commodities of Dusseldorff in Germany to carry coal from September 2021 to November 2022. She loaded Russian coal at Ust-Luga near St. Petersburg three times in late March and April 2022 for discharge at Immingham on the Humber, for delivery by rail to the coal fired 2,000 megawatt power station at Ratcliffe-on-Soar near Nottingham. This is one of the few remaining coal fired power stations in the U.K., and received almost 200,000 tonnes of coal, three cargoes of 65,900 tonnes, at the beginning and end of April 2022, when sanctions had already been demanded to be put in place to ban the import of Russian coal to the U.K. because of the devastating invasion and war by Russia against Ukraine.

The largest U.K. power station at Drax near Selby converted to biomass or wooden pellets some years ago, which it receives from both the ports of Immingham and the Tyne. It was also surprising that coal was still being burnt in some U.K. power stations to accelerate the serious global climate crisis, when so much effort had been made to stop the burning of coal in the U.K. power stations. The British Steel and Tata Steel plants had ceased the import of coal, while EDF coal fired power station at Burton on Trent was relying on its existing stocks of coal until these ran out. Uniper has stated that no Russian coal will be imported after the end of 2022, and the turbines of the Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station will be shut down in mid 2024.

DIANA WILHELMSEN MANAGEMENT Ltd.

Wilhelmsen of Norway is one of the biggest shipping companies in the world with major fleets in ro-ro shipping. This shipping company was founded in Norway in 1st October 1861 and currently trades as a comprehensive global maritime group with offices in over sixty countries. They provide crew and technical assistance to many other dry bulk shipping companies, and have a seafaring staff of over nine thousand.

Diana Wilhelmsen Management Ltd. was set up in May 2015 as a joint 50/50 venture and provides further management services to the dry bulk shipping industry with a Head Office in Limassol in Cyprus, and other offices in Kallithea (Athens), South Korea, Malaysia, United States of America, Singapore and London. Dimos Halcoussis is General Manager of this separate ship management company from Diana Shipping Inc.

Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics has a fleet of two hundred PCC (Pure Car Carriers) and PCTC (Pure Car and Truck Carriers), with traditional ‘T’ names and red hulls for the Wilhelmsen ships registered in Norway, and ‘Opera’ names and green hulls for the Wallenius ships registered in Sweden.

The Eukor Car Carriers fleet of South Korea with ‘Morning’ and ‘Asian’ prefixes to their names is also part of Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics, as is American Ro-Ro Carriers (ARC) in the United States of America. The Wilhelmsen Marine Group also includes ships agency, ship management, technical assistance to shipowners, and marine products such as steel and rope mooring hawsers, fuel power cells, and hold cleaning fluids for use on bulk carriers.

The Wilhelmsen Group employs 9,200 seafarers on 450 owned and managed ships, with 21,000 employees in 75 countries.

Examples of ships managed by Diana Wilhelmsen Management Ltd. include the twin Supramax bulkers Stove Friend and Stove Tide of 62,000 dwt owned by Stove Shipping A/S of Norway. Also, the largest purpose-built semi-submersible heavy lift ships in the world in the sisters GPO Grace, GPO Amethyst, GPO Sapphire and GPO Emerald, owned by GPO Heavy Lift and built at Taiwan in 2017 on dimensions of overall length 225.0 metres, moulded beam of 48.0 metres, moulded depth of 13.8 metres, and loaded draft of 10.68 metres. They have a free deck space area of 183 metres by 48 metres, and can carry jack-up oil rigs weighing up to 35,000 tonnes at a loaded speed of 8.7 knots. Their speed when running free of heavy lift cargoes is 16.5 knots.

DIANA SHIPPING Inc. SHORE BASED FUNCTIONS

The most important function of the shore-based staff is the Chartering and Operations Department in order to keep the company profitable. The directors of the company are supplied with daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly reports in order to assess whether more profitable charters can be obtained in the same or different market areas and conditions.

The negotiation of charter party rates of remuneration, and terms and conditions, is a skilled two-way on-line transfer of documents until the charter party is finally concluded on the basis that ‘your word is your bond’.

The department that employs the largest number of staff is the Technical Department, which is basically the marine superintendence of the maintenance, dry docking and repairs via regular inspections by the company Marine Superintendents, who draw up a list of repairs to be carried out after the end of each voyage.

The Finance and Accounting Department run sophisticated financial accounting computer systems designed to promote the financial wellbeing of the company, as well as to collect the charter revenue from the charterers of the vessels.

This department follows internationally agreed accounting standards (US GAAP) to maintain excellent relations with worldwide banks as regards loans and repayment terms and conditions.

The remaining shore-based functions include Insurance and Claims for the important three insurance policies each vessel must hold of Hull, P. & I. functions, and War Risks insurances. The Crewing Department sources highly trained Greek Masters and crews from the Philippines, while the important HSQE Department maintains high standards of Health, Safety, Quality and the Environment to protect all employees and third-party contractors.

Diana Shipping Services (DSS) uses the ABS Environmental Monitor System to provide transparent reporting on the waste stream discharges, spills and emission data of the fleet. At the end of 2020, 90% of the company bulk carriers were using ballast water exchange procedures, and 57% of the fleet had installed ballast water treatment systems. By 2023, it will be a legal requirement for all vessels trading worldwide to have ballast water treatment systems installed, as the loading and unloading of untreated water ballast poses serious environmental contamination, ecological, economic and health risks to the clean seas of the world.

The Capesize bulk carrier Aliki grounded in the Suez Canal for a few hours on 29th December 2020 during very foggy conditions after the Suez Canal pilot had not been able to board the vessel, and the onboard harbour pilot stayed onboard for the passage of the canal. After refloating, the Class Surveyor boarded the vessel and found her seaworthiness had not been affected and she continued her planned voyage.

The names of many of the company bulk carriers are taken from Greek and Roman mythology, with the important Temple of Diana standing on the Aventine Hill in Rome and constructed by Servius Tullius during the 6th century BC. Although demolished long ago, the street of Via del Tempio di Diana commemorates the site of the temple today, with parts of walls still visible inside other buildings.

Names of gods and goddesses such as Alcmene, Amphitrite, Artemis, Astarte, Electra, Ismene, Leto, Maia, Myrsini, Medusa, Myrto, Selina, Phaidra, Polymnia, Thetis and other classical names are regularly used for the company bulk carriers.

The time charter revenues for the year ending 31st December 2021 were $214.2 million, an increase compared to $169.7 million for the year of 2020.

The year net income was a profit of $57.4 million compared to a loss of $134.2 million for the year of 2020. There were 84.67 million shares of common stock in Diana Shipping Inc., with cash dividends for all shares paid quarterly. A wholly owned subsidiary had been set up on 19th October 2021 as OceanPal Inc. to which three older bulkers were transferred, as the company was specially set up to trade older bulkers.

The Chartering and Operations Department fixed the company bulkers for the following voyages in April 2022:-

           Name Voyages                                                                           Size

• Artemis – Banda Aceh to Rotterdam, bunkered at Gibraltar – Panamax
• Atalandi – Karaikal to Krishnapatnam – Panamax
• Crystalia – Ust-Luga to Immingham with coal – Panamax
• Ismene – Jorf Lasfar to Tubarao in ballast to load iron ore, bunkered at Las Palmas – Panamax
• Maera – Santos to Bayuquan and Yingkou – Panamax
• Melia – Ghent to Itaqui -Panamax
• Selina – Kukup Island to Shanghai – Panamax
• Astarte – Dhamra to Bakar – Kamsarmax
• Leto – Singapore to Kariangau and Paradip Garh – Kamsarmax
• Leonidas – Port Kembla to Ghent, bunkered at Las Palmas P.C. – Kamsarmax
• Maia – Quequen to Singapore and Huangpu with grain – Kamsarmax
• Myrsini – Hay Point to Santos with coal – Kamsarmax
• Medusa – Kawasaki to Vancouver and Santos – Kamsarmax
• Myrto – Bahia Blanca to Rotterdam with grain -Kamsarmax
• Alcmene – Gladstone to Marmagao with coal to Richards Bay to load more coal -Post-Panamax
• Amphitrite – Maputo to Singapore to Taicang – Post-Panamax
• Electra – Mutsure to Singapore to Lumut – Post-Panamax
• Phaidra – Baltimore to Antwerp and Amsterdam – Post-Panamax
• Polymnia – Matola to Shanghai to Kinuura – Post-Panamax
• Aliki – Singapore to Mundra to Sepetiba to load iron ore – Capesize
• Baltimore – Singapore to Porto Sudeste – Capesize
• Boston – Taicang to Singapore to Port Hedland to load iron ore -Capesize
• Florida – Bahia Blanca to Hamburg with coal- Capesize
• Houston – Singapore to Mundra – Capesize
• New York – Singapore to Port Hedland to load iron ore – Capesize
• New Orleans – Shanghai to Port Hedland to load iron ore – Capesize
• P.S. Palios – Undergoing repairs and dry docking at Qinhuangdao -Capesize
• Santa Barbara – Surabaya (Java) to Singapore and Krishnapatnam with sugar – Capesize
• Seattle – Port Hedland to Qingda with iron ore -Capesize
• Semirio – Subic Bay to Richards Bay to load coal – Capesize
• G.P. Zafirakis – Porto du Acu to Ijmuiden – Capesize
• Los Angeles – Port Hedland to Majishan with iron ore – Newcastlemax
• Newport News – Port Hedland to Shanghai with iron ore – Newcastlemax
• Philadelphia – Port Hedland to Taicang with iron ore – Newcastlemax
• San Francisco – Port Hedland to Qinhuangdao with iron – Newcastlemax
• The Newcastlemax quartet can also equally be chartered to transport Hunter River coal from the beautiful harbour of Newcastle (NSW) to Japan or China.

SUMMARY

The history of Diana Shipping Inc. extends back over fifty years to the setting up of Diana Shipping Agencies, which managed general cargo ships, bulk carriers, tankers, heavy lift ships and other specialised ships such as reefers and cement carriers. Diana Shipping Inc. today is a major transporter of 22.5 million tonnes of bulk cargoes worldwide, with Diana Wilhelmsen Management Ltd. managing many more types of ships including big semi-submersible heavy lift ships. Unfortunately, through no fault of its own, Diana Shipping Inc. has become embroiled in April 2022 in a situation with one of its bulk carriers bringing in 27% of the U.K. coal imports from Russia during the savage war period following a massive and deadly invasion by Russia into Ukraine, with sanctions to prevent the U.K. financing this war by importing Russian coal, oil and gas.

The name of Aliki has been used by the Diana Shipping Inc. fleet, but the general cargo ship Aliki of 12,800 dwt that ran aground on the Black Middens at Tynemouth on 1st September 1974 in heavy seas and gale force winds was not managed by Diana Shipping Services (DSS), but instead by E. Pothitos of Piraeus. She was quickly refloated and berthed at Sutherland Quay at Tyne Dock, where she loaded her next cargo. She had been built at Burntisland in 1953 as Master Nicos for the Phocean Ship Agency (Michael N. Eustathiou) of Piraeus and then sold in 1958 to the Chios Navigation S.A. (I.C. & D.C. Caroussis) and renamed Khios Belle. She had then been purchased and renamed in 1972 by the Cia Dapo S.A. of Piraeus and renamed Aliki after being declared a constructive total loss (CTL) in 1971 as Khios Belle.

The directors of Diana Shipping Inc. declared an excellent set of financial results for the First Quarter of 2022 on 24th May 2022, and this webcast was accompanied by an excellent investor presentation.