Diana Shipping Inc., a global shipping company specializing in the ownership of dry bulk vessels, today announced that on June 24, 2014, it signed through a separate wholly-owned subsidiary, a Memorandum of Agreement to acquire from an unaffiliated third party seller, a new-building Capesize dry bulk vessel of approximately 180,000 dwt, built by Qingdao Beihai Shipbuilding Heavy Industry Co., Ltd., Qingdao, People's Republic of China, for a purchase price of US$58 million. The vessel (Hull No. BC18.0-50) is expected to be delivered to the buyer by mid-August 2014. Excluding the newly acquired vessel, as well as two new-building Newcastlemax dry bulk vessels and one new-building Kamsarmax dry bulk vessel expected to be delivered to the Company during the second quarter of 2016, Diana Shipping Inc.'s fleet currently consists of 38 dry bulk vessels (2 Newcastlemax, 10 Capesize, 3 Post-Panamax, 3 Kamsarmax and 20 Panamax). As of today, the combined carrying capacity of our fleet, excluding the four vessels not yet delivered, is approximately 4.21 million dwt with a weighted average age of 6.83 years.