Welcome to the Diana Shipping 2024 Second Quarter Conference Call and Webcast. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. The 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 call over to Edward Nebb, Investor Relations Advisor. Thank you. You may begin.

Thank you, Darrell, and thanks to everyone who is joining us today for the Diana Shipping Inc. 2024 second quarter conference call. With us today from management is Semiramis Paliou, Chief Executive Officer who will introduce the other members of the management team. And so, without further due, I will turn the call over to Ms. Paliou.

Thank you, Ed. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Diana Shipping Inc.’s second quarter 2024 financial results conference call. I'm as Ed said, Semiramis Paliou, the CEO of Diana Shipping, and it's my pleasure to present alongside our esteemed team, Mr. Stasi Margaronis, Director and President; Mr. Ioannis Zafirakis, Director, CFO and Chief Strategy Officer; Mr. Lefteris Papatrifon, Director; and Ms. Maria Dede, Chief Accounting Officer. Before we begin, please review the forward-looking statements on Page 4 of the accompanying investor presentation. After a strong first quarter, the second quarter has remained resilient. The average Baltic time charter rates called Capesize vessels fell around 7%, while Panamax rates increased by 6% and Supramax rates arose by 16%. Compared to recent years, the end of the second quarter and the start of the third quarter are somewhat muted, but sentiment remains strong as shown by the time charter rates in our most recent period fixtures. Turning to Slide 5, let's review our company snapshot, founded in 1972 and listed on the New York Stock Exchange since 2005, Diana Shipping Inc, operates a fleet of 39 dry bulk vessels, five of which are mortgage-free with an average age of 11 years, and the total deadweight of approximately 4.4 million tons. We are expecting the delivery of two methanol dual-fuel newbuildings Kamsarmax dry bulk vessels in around 2027 and 2028. Our fleet utilization reached 99.5% in the second quarter of 2024, reflecting our efficient vessel management. As of the end of June, we employed 1,000 people at sea and the shore. Financially, our net debt stands at 38% of market value with 140 million in cash reserves and total secured revenues of approximately US$145 million. On Slide 6, we highlight key developments from the second quarter. We recharted eight vessels year-to-date…

Thank you. Here, we are again for our conference call for the results and we are going to be talking about the second quarter of 2024 financials. I think this slide, the most important point for someone to notice is the net loss of $2.8 million. However, this has been influenced from some non-cash items like the pricing of the warrants and also our shareholding in OceanPal calculation accounting-wise. Otherwise, we would have been on the positive side of as guided net income. Our cash and cash equivalent stands at $140 million and our long-term debt and finance liabilities, net of defer financing cost has decreased and that is at $613.5 million. Moving to the next slide. Our ownership days have decreased compared to the ownership days for the same quarter in 2023. But we have kept the utilization very high and of course, the time charter equivalent rate has decreased to US$15,106 compared to US$17,311 in the same quarter the year. Now in the six-month period, again, you can see the ownership days that have increased and also the decrease -- sorry, I beg your pardon. Also, the time charter equivalent that has decreased to 15,000 approximately from 17,900 in the previous six months. The daily operating expenses we have kept at very similar levels. Moving to our debt profile, we are very happy, as we have said in the past, the way we have managed our credit facilities. Together, we be sharing leaseback facilities and also the senior unsecure bond. Basically, the way now the debt profile is that we don't have basically we have maturity is accepted, a small one in 2028, and we start having maturities in 2029. Also, if you notice at the bottom graph the projected senior and secure bond balance together with the sale and lease back, and amortized balance in the loan balances supposed to be decreasing steadily and slowly 2029 almost. In the next slide, here again, we show that based on our fixed days and our unfixed days, if we were to project using the FFA rates as of July 26, 2024, there is some room to have a profit in 2024 and also in cashflow and also in 2025. As regards our dividend policy, we are very happy also that managed to accumulate since 2021, the third quarter of 2021, US$2.634 per common share and this is you can see that and also our CEO also mentioned that we just announced another $0.075 per share. I think that Stasi Margaronis is going to follow now with the drive bulk market overview.

Thank you, Ioannis. As mentioned in our last call, geopolitical developments have continued to have a profound effect on the developments in the drive bulk carrier market during the second quarter of this year as well. The 12-month time charter rate for Capes started a year at US$19,500 per day, and the latest fixtures were around US$22,100 per day. For Kamsarmax, the figures were US$14,500 per day and US$15,600 respectively, and for Supramax rates started a year at US$13,000 a day, and recent fixtures were around US$14,000 per day. The highest levels for Capes and Kamsarmax were reached in March this year at US$27,000 a day and US$17,000 a day respectively. Rates reached their highest level early this month for Supramax at around $16,000 a day. As reported by Clarksons, during the first five months of this year, average sector earnings were US$15,750 per day, up 40% on a year-on-year basis. The main reasons for this firmness were firm bulker demand in the Atlantic, created by firstly Brazilian iron ore exports; secondly, Guinea bauxite exports; thirdly, Brazilian grain exports; fourth, U.S. East coast coal and grain exports; and finally, manganese ore shipments from West Africa, mainly Ghana and Gabon. According to Braemar due to its use in steel making, China remains the dominant driver for manganese imports, while shipments to India might be rising soon as well. Growth in this group of commodity shipments mentioned above is expected to add 500 billion ton-miles to dry bulk demand this year alone, which would represent about 45% of dry bulk demand growth in ton-mile. Added to the above have been the positive impact from the Red Sea and Panama Canal disruptions, which according to Clarksons have increased bulk of demand by about 1.2% over the last 12 months. As regard the Panama…

Thank you, Stasi. Before summarizing to today's presentation, I'd like to highlight our ESG initiatives. We are committed to promoting eco-friendly technologies, modernizing our fleet, and transparently sharing our mission data. We build on partnerships and collaborations to further our goals. We have developed an equity, diversity, and inclusion program, and we continuously invest in our people. For the past four years, we have published our ESG report and remain committed to embracing and improving our standards. So, moving on to Slide 20. In summary, Diana Shipping Inc., with over 50 years of experience and nearly 20 years on the NYSE has an experienced management team ready to tackle industry challenges. We maintain strong stakeholder relationships and a discipline strategy, focusing on a solid balance sheet, a counter cyclical approach, fleet modernization, rewarding our shareholders whenever possible, and the robust ESG strategy. Thank you for joining us today. We now look forward to addressing your questions during the Q&A session.