Diana Shipping is continuing its solid relationship with Koch Shipping, having fixed a third capesize bulker to the commodities trader.
On Wednesday, the Semiramis Paliou-led owner of 41 dry bulk vessels signed a deal with Koch to employ the 179,492-dwt GP Zafirakis (built 2014) for at least 16 months at $13,200 per day.
That rate is well above the weighted time-charter equivalent average for these ships, which are fetching $5,267 per day, according to the Baltic Exchange.
Cape rates are on an upward trend, gaining steadily from $3,228 per day on Thursday.
Diana Shipping expects to make at least $6.34m off the fixture, which may be extended through to December 2021.
The New York-listed owner previously fixed the ship to SwissMarine Services for 17 months at $17,000 per day.
Diana Shipping's two other capes fixed to Koch are the 180,235-dwt Aliki (built 2005), at $11,300 per day into May 2021, and 177,343-dwt Baltimore (built 2005), at $15,000 per day into April 2021.
The Athens-based company also has the 74,381-dwt Artemis (built 2006) on charter to Koch through to late October 2021.
Good charter coverage
Diana Shipping has all of its ships on charters except for the 76,225-dwt Melia (built 2005) and 75,700-dwt Selina (built 2010) panamaxes, according to its website.
It has four ships coming off charters in the next two months, with the first two being two panamaxes — the 75,403-dwt Maera (built 2013) on 6 June and 77,529-dwt Atalandi (built 2014) on 9 June.
The other two are newcastlemaxes — the 206,104-dwt Los Angeles (built 2012) to 15 June and 208,021-dwt Newport News (built 2017) to 25 July.
These four ships are on respective charters to Glencore Agriculture at $9,450 per day, Uniper Global Commodities at $12,250 per day and SwissMarine Services at $13,250 per day and $16,500 per day.
The company's shares, which trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol DSX, gained 21.4% to $1.79 by midday on Wednesday.
