Greece's Diana Shipping has fixed one of its panamax bulkers on a short-term period charter as spot rates are at multi-year highs.

The strength of the spot market and bullish outlook has helped the New York-listed shipowner secure a period at 57% more than its previous employment.

But earlier this week, analysts underlined that Diana's long-standing focus on 100% period-charter coverage for its fleet could cause it to lose out on a red-hot spot market in the first half of this year.

Diana has fixed its 77,901-dwt Ismene (built 2013) to operator Tongli Shipping of Singapore for seven to nine months at a gross daily rate of $16,500, minus 5% commission for third parties, from 7 March onwards.

The vessel was earning a gross rate of $10,500 per day during its previous employment with Phaethon International.

Spot market upturn

Meanwhile, spot rates for panamaxes are still at multi-year highs, despite cooling off slightly over the past week.

Baltic Exchange panellists assessed the weighted average spot rate for panamax vessels at $20,090 per day on Friday, down by $1,025 from the previous day.

The assessment hit a multi-year high of $27, 435 per day on 17 February and has fallen each trading day since then.

But the outlook for spot rates remains bullish for the rest of this year, which will translate to limited gains for Diana if it maintains its 100% period-charter coverage, analysts from Pareto Securities noted on Tuesday.

"While highly levered, older dry bulk ships might not be the worst thing to own in the current commodity boom, [Diana] remains committed to its TC-strategy which means limited benefit from current rates in [the first half of 2021]," Pareto said in a note on Tuesday.

Stock downgraded

Pareto Securities downgraded Diana's stock from its "hold" rating to "sell" on the back of its calculated 0.8 times yield-to-earnings ratio, which Pareto described as "more than rich enough".

The investment bank said it still sees Diana "as the relative funding candidate in the dry-bulk universe".

Diana's management is optimistic but has emphasised that dividends are out of the question until the company's stock trades above net asset value, which means further share buy-backs are possible, Pareto noted.

Other equity analysts have taken a more optimistic view on Diana, which saw its stock trading at $3.16 in midday trading New York on Friday.

On Monday, Diana confirmed that Semiramis Paliou has succeeded her father Simeon Palios as chief executive of the shipowner.

Palios formed Diana Shipping Agencies, Diana Shipping's predecessor, in 1972 and served as managing director until November 2004.