Diana Shipping Inc. Reports Financial Results For The Fourth Quarter And Year Ended December 31, 2010

ATHENS, Greece, Feb. 22, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Diana Shipping Inc. (NYSE:DSX), a global shipping company specializing in the transportation of dry bulk cargoes, today reported net income of $32.3 million for the fourth quarter of 2010, compared to net income of $27.6 million reported in the fourth quarter of 2009.

Time charter revenues were $73.0 million for the fourth quarter of 2010, compared to $58.6 million for the same period of 2009, mainly due to the addition to the Company's fleet of the vessels m/v Melite, m/v New York and m/v Alcmene, delivered in January, March and November 2010, respectively, and the participation of the Company in Diana Containerships Inc., which was a majority-owned subsidiary during the fourth quarter 2010.

Net income to Diana Shipping Inc. for 2010 amounted to $128.8 million, compared to net income of $121.5 million for 2009. Time charter revenues were $275.4 million for 2010, compared to $239.3 million for 2009.

Fleet Employment Profile (As of February 22, 2011) ^
Currently Diana's fleet is employed as follows:
Vessel	Sister Ships*	Gross Rate (USD Per Day)	Com**	Charterer	Delivery Date to Charterer	Redelivery Date to Owners***	Notes
BUILT DWT
Panamax Vessels
CORONIS	C	$24,000	5.00%	Siba Ships Asia Pte. Ltd.	6-Apr-10	6-Mar-12 - 21-Jun-12	1
2006 74,381
ERATO	C	$20,500	5.00%	C Transport Panamax Ltd., Isle of Man	4-Mar-10	4-Dec-11 - 4-Mar-12
2004 74,444
NAIAS	B	$19,750	5.00%	J. Aron & Company, New York	24-Sep-10	24-Aug-12 - 24-Oct-12
2006 73,546
CLIO	B	$25,000	5.00%	Daelim Corporation, Seoul	8-May-10	8-Apr-12 - 8-Jun-12
2005 73,691
CALIPSO	B	$23,000	5.00%	Cargill International S.A., Geneva	4-Sep-10	20-Jul-11 - 19-Oct-11
2005 73,691
PROTEFS	B	$59,000	5.00%	Hanjin Shipping Co. Ltd., Seoul	18-Sep-08	18-Aug-11 - 18-Nov-11
2004 73,630
THETIS	B	$23,000	5.00%	Glencore Grain BV, Rotterdam	6-Mar-10	23-Feb-11	6
		$13,750	5.00%	Cargill International S.A., Geneva	23-Feb-11	23-Jan-12 - 23-Apr-12
2004 73,583
DIONE	A	$20,500	5.00%	Louis Dreyfus Commodities S.A., Geneva	26-Sep-10	26-Jul-12 - 26-Nov-12
2001 75,172
DANAE	A	$12,000	5.00%	Augustea Oceanbulk Maritime Limitada, Madeira	7-Apr-09	12-Apr-11 - 12-May-11	2,3,6
2001 75,106
OCEANIS	A	$19,750	5.00%	China National Chartering Co. Ltd. (Sinochart), Beijing	17-Sep-10	17-Aug-12 - 1-Nov-12
2001 75,211
TRITON	A	$17,000	5.00%	Intermare Transport GmbH, Hamburg, Germany	10-Oct-09	20-Nov-10	4
2001 75,336		$19,500	4.75%	Resource Marine Pte., Ltd, Singapore	11-Dec-10	11-Nov-13 - 11-Feb-14	5
ALCYON	A	$34,500	4.75%	Cargill International S.A., Geneva	21-Feb-08	21-Nov-12 - 21-Feb-13
2001 75,247
NIREFS	A	$21,000	5.00%	Louis Dreyfus Commodities Suisse S.A.	12-Feb-10	28-Dec-11 - 27-Mar-12
2001 75,311
MELITE		$24,250	5.00%	J. Aron & Company, New York	29-Jan-10	1-Feb-11
		$16,500	5.00%	Cargill International S.A., Geneva	1-Feb-11	1-Jan-13 1-Mar-13
2004 76,436
Post-Panamax Vessels
ALCMENE		$20,250	5.00%	Cargill International S.A., Geneva	20-Nov-10	5-Oct-12 - 4-Jan-13
2010 93,193
Capesize Vessels
NORFOLK		$74,750	3.75%	Corus UK Limited	12-Feb-08	12-Jan-13 - 12-Mar-13
2002  164,218
ALIKI		$45,000	4.75%	Cargill International S.A., Geneva	1-May-09	1-Mar-11	6
2005 180,235		$26,500	5.00%	Minmetals Logistics Group Co. Ltd., Beijing	1-Mar-11	1-Feb-16 - 1-Apr-16
SALT LAKE CITY		$55,800	5.00%	Refined Success Limited	28-Sep-07	28-Aug-12 - 28-Oct-12
2005 171,810
SIDERIS GS	D	$36,000	5.00%	BHP Billiton Marketing AG	30-Nov-09	16-Oct-10
2006 174,186		$30,500			16-Oct-10	16-Feb-13 - 16-Jun-13
SEMIRIO	D	$31,000	5.00%	BHP Billiton Marketing AG	15-Jun-09	30-Apr-11 - 30-Jul-11
2007 174,261
BOSTON	D	$52,000	5.00%	BHP Billiton Marketing AG	13-Nov-07	28-Sep-11 - 28-Dec-11	7
2007 177,828
HOUSTON	D	$55,000	4.75%	Shagang Shipping Co.	3-Nov-09	3-Oct-14 - 3-Jan-15	8
2009 177,729
NEW YORK	D	$48,000	3.75%	Nippon Yusen Kaisha, Tokyo (NYK)	3-Mar-10	3-Jan-15 - 3-May-15
2010 177,773
Vessels Under Construction
LOS ANGELES	E	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A N/A	9,10
2012 206,000
PHILADELPHIA	E	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A N/A	9,11
2012 206,000
* Each dry bulk carrier is a "sister ship", or closely similar, to other dry bulk carriers that have the same letter.
** Total commission percentage paid to third parties.
*** Charterers' optional period to redeliver the vessel to owners. Charterers have the right to add the off hire days, if any, and therefore the optional period may be extended.
1 Vessel off-hire for drydocking from November 11, 2010 to November 23, 2010.
2 Augustea Oceanbulk Maritime Limitada, Madeira is a guaranteed nominee of Augustea Atlantica Srl, Naples.
3 Vessel off-hire for drydocking from November 18, 2010 to December 8, 2010.
4 Vessel off-hire for drydocking from November 20, 2010 to December 11, 2010.
5 Resource Marine Pte., Ltd, Singapore is a guaranteed nominee of Macquarie Bank Limited.
6 Based on latest information received from charterers.
7 The charterer has the option to employ the vessel for a further 11-13 month period. The optional period, if exercised, must be declared on or before the end of the 42nd month of employment and can only commence at the end of the 48th month, at the daily time charter rate of $52,000.
8 Shagang Shipping Co. is a guaranteed nominee of the Jiangsu Shagang Shipping Group Co.
9 Year of delivery and dwt based on shipbuilding contracts.
10 Hull H1234
11 Hull H1235
^ Fleet employment data excludes employment information with respect to vessels owned by Diana Containerships Inc., a majority-owned subsidiary as of December 31, 2010.

Summary of Selected Financial & Other Data
	Three Months Ended December 31,		Years Ended December 31,
	2010	2009	2010	2009
	(unaudited)	(unaudited)
INCOME STATEMENT DATA (in thousands of US Dollars):
Time charter revenues	$ 72,976	$ 58,640	$ 275,448	$ 239,342
Voyage expenses	3,514	2,896	12,392	11,965
Vessel operating expenses	14,927	11,310	52,585	41,369
Net income attributed to Diana Shipping Inc.	32,321	27,589	128,779	121,498
FLEET DATA
Average number of vessels	24.5	19.7	22.9	19.2
Number of vessels	25.0	20.0	25.0	20.0
Weighted average age of drybulk fleet (in years)	5.4	4.9	5.4	4.9
Weighted average age of containerships (in years)	0.6	--	0.6	--
Ownership days	2,251	1,813	8,348	7,000
Available days	2,198	1,798	8,208	6,930
Operating days	2,188	1,779	8,180	6,857
Fleet utilization	99.5%	98.9%	99.7%	98.9%
AVERAGE DAILY RESULTS
Time charter equivalent (TCE) rate (1)	$ 31,602	$ 31,003	$ 32,049	$ 32,811
Daily vessel operating expenses (2)	$ 6,631	$ 6,238	$ 6,299	$ 5,910
(1) Time charter equivalent rates, or TCE rates, are defined as our time charter revenues less voyage expenses during a period divided by the number of our available days during the period, which is consistent with industry standards. Voyage expenses include port charges, bunker (fuel) expenses, canal charges and commissions. TCE is a non-GAAP measure. TCE rate is a standard shipping industry performance measure used primarily to compare daily earnings generated by vessels on time charters with daily earnings generated by vessels on voyage charters, because charter hire rates for vessels on voyage charters are generally not expressed in per day amounts while charter hire rates for vessels on time charters are generally expressed in such amounts.
(2) Daily vessel operating expenses, which include crew wages and related costs, the cost of insurance, expenses relating to repairs and maintenance, the costs of spares and consumable stores, tonnage taxes and other miscellaneous expenses, are calculated by dividing vessel operating expenses by ownership days for the relevant period.

Conference Call and Webcast Information

Diana Shipping Inc. will conduct a conference call and simultaneous Internet webcast to review these results at 9:00 A.M. (Eastern Time) on Tuesday, February 22, 2011.