Greetings and welcome to Diana Shipping Inc. 2022 Third Quarter Conference Call and Webcast. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A question-and-answer session will follow the formal presentation. [Operator Instructions] It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Mr. Ed Nebb, IR Advisor. Thank you, sir. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Donna and thanks to everyone who is joining us for the Diana Shipping, Inc. 2022 third quarter conference call. With us today, from management are Semiramis Paliou, Chief Executive Officer; Anastasios Margaronis, President; Ioannis Zafirakis, CFO, and Chief Strategy Officer, Treasurer, and Secretary; Eleftherios Papatrifon, Chief Operating officer; and Maria Dede, Chief Accounting Officer. Without further ado, I will turn it over to Ms. Paliou.

Thank you, Ed. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Diana Shipping Inc.'s third quarter 2022 earnings call. My name, as Ed said, is Semiramis Paliou, the company's CEO, and it is an honor to have the opportunity to present to you today. Before I begin, I kindly ask everyone to review the forward-looking statements applicable to today's presentation, which can be found on page four of the accompanying third quarter's presentation. The third quarter of 2022 has been another very profitable quarter for our company, but also has been a very busy and productive one with the acquisition of the nine vessel Ultramax fleet in August. While market conditions have become less robust, especially towards the end of the third quarter, our disciplined chartering strategy has allowed us to continue generating attractive free cash flows. As a result, we have announced another attractive dividend for this quarter continuing to reward our shareholders. Turning to slide five, I will review with you the company snapshot as of today. This time around we do have changes since last quarter and we find ourselves owning an operating an expanded fleet of 40 vessels in the water, with a carrying capacity of approximately 4.7 million deadweight tons. As already announced, we expect our fleet to increase to 43 vessels by the end of the year as we take delivery of the remaining three Ultramaxes within December. Our fleet utilization has remained at very high levels coming in at 99.1% for the nine months of 2022. 36 vessels in our fleet are managed in-house by Diana Shipping Services and four vessels are managed by a 50/50 joint venture, Diana Wilhelmsen Management Limited. At the end of the third quarter, we employed 860 people at sea and ashore. Moving on to slide six and…

Thank you, Semiramis. This has been another very strong quarter for our company. The time charter revenues stood at $73.8 million with an average number of vessels at 34.9 compared to $57.3 million with an average number of vessels of 36.3 at the same quarter last year. The time charter equivalent rate for this quarter was $23,289 compared to $17,143 at the same quarter the previous year. I think what is also notable is the decrease in our operating expenses of approximately $130 per day compared to the previous year's quarter. If we move to slide 11, you can see that the same picture applies -- and we the same picture for the nine months. The time charter revenues were $214 million compared to only $145 at the same period last year even with a smaller average number of vessels. Looking at the average time charter equivalent, it was at -- this quarter it was $23,363 approximately $10,000 more than the previous year. Operating expenses for the nine months were more or less the same at around $5,500 per day. Slide number 12. On this slide, we can see the $0.39 being the basic earnings per share and $0.37 per share on a diluted basis. We remind you that the last year same indicators to the -- at only $0.17 and $0.16 per share respectively. Again, for the nine months, the same picture, $1.15 per share basic and $1.10 diluted compared to only $0.15 and $0.14 respectively last year. As always, our balance sheet has been on pristine condition with -- I'm choosing only one number from the balance, the net debt being at approximately $349 million. And in -- as of December 31st last year, it was $305 million. Very, very healthy. Slide number 15. Again, you have seen…

Thank you, Ioannis. Let's start with looking at what has happened during the -- this geopolitically turbulent year with the bulk carrier earnings across all the bulk carriers size ranges. In this first slide that I'd like to point out at class and summarize recent developments by reminding us that after the strongest year for the sector in 13 years, that was 2021 bulk markets have softened in 2022. The main reasons, as we've mentioned below were problems with demand for commodities and easing port congestion. After rebounding by 2.5% to 5.5 billion tons in 2021. Seaborne dry bulk trade will probably increase only marginally by 0.06% in ton-mile this year. According to Howe Robinson, there are a number of contributory factors behind the recent fall in dry cargo rates. But the unwinding during October of a record number of vessels tied up in China has certainly been significant. Congestion in China peak near the end of September at around 640 vessels. Today, this figure has come down to around 427 across all size ranges. The release of over 200 additional vessels onto the international market has clearly led to a shift in the supply demand balance in the Pacific with a knock on effect globally. Even though the gradual easing of COVID restrictions has been partially responsible for the lower congestion in Chinese ports, the sharp drop over the last month in particular has more to do with fewer vessels arriving in China. These arrivals were down 22% in October on a year-on-year basis. To put things in perspective, at its peak in October 2021 the Baltic Cape index reached 10,485 yesterday's closed at $1,333. The Baltic Panamax index peaked last October at $4,328 and closed yesterday at $1,618 [ph]. The BSI reached $3,624 in October of last year…

Thank you, Stasi. Now before we open it -- before we open up the call to question-and-answer session, I would like to provide a summary of what I believe to be the most important points. Firstly, we remain focused on taking advantage of favorable market conditions for securing positive free cash flows that allow us to continue rewarding our shareholders with attractive dividends. We believe that the payout of $1 of cash dividends since last November, in addition to the stock dividends relating to OceanPal Inc., firmly exemplifies our efforts to reward shareholders. Secondly, we remain vigilant in maintaining a strong balance sheet that allows us to entertain creative growth and fleet renewal opportunities. We have demonstrated our ability to deliver on this point with our recent three modern vessel acquisition. Finally, we are committed to our long-term strategy of providing relevant stability in a cyclical business with an emphasis on maximizing shareholder value. Now, I will turn the call over to the operator to commence the Q&A session.

No, I would just like to thank everyone for joining us today and we look forward to talking to you again in our next financial results call. Thank you very much.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your participation. This concludes today's event. You may disconnect your lines or log off the webcast at this time and enjoy the rest of your day.