Diana Shipping has chartered one of its capesize vessels to Singaporean shipowner Berge Bulk.
The James Marshall-led company will take the 176,186-dwt Sideris GS (built 2006) until 15 December 2019 with the potential to extend the deal until 30 March 2020.
The deal is for $8,500 per day for the first month, reflecting the present soft market, before rising to $15,350 per day.
The Sideris GS was previously chartered to Rio Tinto Shipping at $13,000 per day.
Last week, capesize rates dipped to $8,458 per day, with analysts continuing to expect growth in 2019 and 2020.
The New York-traded Diana has announced a slew of new charters in recent weeks.
Last week, it announced charters for the 73,600-dwt panamax Thetis (built 2004) at $10,650 per day for between 14 and 17 months and for the 82,193-dwt Maia (built 2009) at $13,300 per day from yesterday through at least 2019 and up through March 2020.
Berge Bulk is the world's fifth largest capesize owner and has been linked with a major transaction.
Chatter in shipbroking circles last week was around a $98m en bloc deal involving a quartet Cosco managed ships.
The deal with Diana comes at a time capesize rates have experienced a counter-seasonal decline just as a recovery looked to be taking hold.
Noah Parquette of JP Morgan said: "Chinese steel margins have contracted sharply in recent weeks . This has occurred amidst good domestic demand, partly as a result of worse-than-expected execution of the winter suspension policy."
Fotis Giannakoulis of Morgan Stanley says Chinese winter cuts, a rising US dollar, high port inventories and a BHP train derailment are some of the causes of the collapse.
"However, fundamentals are good as China appears ready for stimulus, fleet growth is low and IMO 2020 is nearing," he said.
