Greetings and welcome to Diana Shipping Inc. 2022 Fourth Quarter and Year End 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] As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to your host, Edward Nebb, IR Advisor. Please go ahead.

Well, thank you, Brock and thank you everyone who is joining us for the Diana Shipping, Inc. fourth quarter year end conference call. With us today from the company are, Semiramis Paliou, Chief Executive Officer; and in a moment she will introduce the other persons present from the company. And so 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 fourth quarter and end of the year 2022 earnings call. My name is Semiramis Paliou, the company's CEO, and it is an honor to have the opportunity to present to you today. Joining me today this morning, we have Mr. Anastasios Margaronis, President of Diana Shipping; Mr. Ioannis Zafirakis, CFO, and Chief Strategy Officer; Mr. Eleftherios Papatrifon, Director of Diana Shipping Inc. and Ms. Maria Dede, the company’s Chief Accounting Officer. Before I begin, I kindly ask everyone to review the forward-looking statements applicable to today's presentation, which can be found on Page 4 of the accompanying fourth quarter and end of the year presentation. 2022 has been another profitable year for our company, it has also has been a very busy and productive one. While market conditions have become less robust, over the last quarter and into 2023, our disciplined chartering strategy has allowed us to continue generating attractive free cash flows. As a result, not only have we announced another cash dividend for this quarter, but for the first time since our public listing, we have also provided guidance of our intention to declare cash dividend of at least $0.15 per share for the next three quarters. Additionally, as a result of prudent and creative sale and purchase activity, the company announced today another special dividend in kind in the form of OceanPal Series D Convertible Preferred Shares. We believe that the combination of the cash and the in kind dividend is a true testament of our will to keep rewarding our shareholders when conditions are favorable. Turning to Slide 5, I will review with you the company snapshot as of today. Once again, we find ourselves owning and operating an expanded fleet of…

Thank you, Semiramis. Clearly, this has been a great year and a nice quarter. Our time charter revenues for the quarter stood at US$75.7 million, compared to US$68.8 million at the same quarter in 2021. The time charter equivalent rate was approximately the same as for the last quarter of 2021. That was US$21,000 approximately compared to US$21,300 in 2021. Moving to the next slide. Slide 11, we can see the year's results. And again, clearly, that was a very profitable year with US$113.3 million of net income attributable to common stockholders, compared to US$51.6 million in 2021. For the full year, the time charter equivalent rate stood at US$22,735 per day. We remind you that the same rate in 2021 was US$15,759 per day. We want also to mention here that we have managed to keep our weighted average age to only 10.2 years, reduced from the previous year, which was at 10.4 years for our fleet. Slide number 12. Our earnings per common share diluted was for the last quarter of 2022 equal to US$0.27 compared to US$0.48 in the same quarter of 2022. However, just to clarify that the quarter in 2022 included gain in 2021, sorry – included a gain from OceanPal spinoff, which was equal to approximately US$0.15, which is more or less the current difference. Slide number 13. As we have already mentioned, 2022 has been a very profitable year with a net income of US$113.2 million, compared to only US$51.6 million of the previous year. That is equal to US$1.36 per share, compared to only US$0.67 per share. At this stage, I would like to remind everyone that the last time we were close to this number, and we had US$1.33 per share net income, earnings per share. That was back in 2011…

Great. Thanks, Ioannis, and welcome to all the participants of this first earnings conference call of 2023. Slide 20. The bulk shipping market started the year in the same mood as it was at the close of 2022. Macroeconomic factors and geopolitical developments had their influence on the freight market and produce certain extreme results, as will be mentioned below. The BDI, the Baltic Dry Index, which has reached a high of 3,368 on 23rd May 2022, closed yesterday, February 21 at US$594. Similar moves to place with the Baltic Cape Index, which dropped from 4,602 in May last year to 303 yesterday. The Baltic Panamax Index came down from 3,416 in March 2022 to 843 yesterday. Period time charter employment came down as well, but certainly not as much as the spot market. From just over US$30,000 a day in the first half of 2022 for one to two year employment contracts, Capes commanded around US$15,000 per day as related fixture reports for similar period employment. Ultramaxes showed similar declines in 12-month employment daily earnings dropping from over US$32,000 a day in the first quarter of 2022 to around US$14,000 a day this month. The Panamax Kamsarmax 12-month time charter rate dropped from US$31,000 per day in 2022 to US$14,750 per day recently. Let's have a quick look at what may have caused the apparent collapse in spot market earnings, particularly of large bulk carriers. Two of the most obvious and visible reasons. First has been the collapse of Brazilian iron ore exports in January and early February of this year due to exceptionally heavy seasonal rainfall that have been reducing volumes since late 2022. These adverse weather conditions have contributed to the building up of Capesize capacity in Brazilian loading ports in early February. Congestion in Brazil has…

Thank you, Stacy. So before we open the call up to questions and answers, I would like to provide a summary of what I believe to be the most important points presented today. The company has been distributing substantial cash and in-kind dividends since November 2021 and have additionally provided clear guidance of its intention to declare a cash dividend of US$0.15 per share per quarter for the next three quarters. . At the same time, the company is maintaining a strong balance sheet allowing it to entertain creative growth and fleet renewal opportunities. Also, the company remains committed to its long-term strategy of providing a relevant stability in a cyclical business with an emphasis on maximizing shareholders' value. Now I will turn it over to the operator to commence the questions-and-answer session.

Thank you all for joining us today, and we look forward to talking to you again in our next financial results call. Thank you very much.

This concludes today's conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.