Greece’s Diana Shipping has penned a time charter deal with commodity trading giant Cargill for the 2013-built panamax bulk carrier Maera.
.The charter, which kicked off last week, will bring in $12,000 per day through to between October 28, 2023 and December 28, 2023. The minimum the New York-listed company could earn has been estimated at around $3.74m.
The 75,403 dwt vessel earned more than twice as much with ASL Bulk Shipping from September 2021 until October 14 this year. Before its scheduled drydocking, the ship also had a short-term fixture with Oriental Pal Shipping until November 12 at $14,500 per day.
The Semiramis Paliou-led bulker owner also recently took a 24% rate cut on a time charter extension with Singapore’s SwissMarine for the 2010-built post-panamax Alcmene. The 93,193 dwt vessel will be earning $13,000 per day from December 27 at least until January 10, 2024.
Deals struck at higher time charter rates last year netted Diana Shipping $93.4m income for the first nine months of 2022 against $16.3m same time in 2021, with revenues of $214.3m, compared to $145.4m for the same period of 2021. However, the dry bulk shipping market suffered a major slump in Q3 this year and faces significant headwinds in the short-term, as the slowdown in the western economies intensifies and China faces a volatile period phasing out its zero-covid policy.
Shipbrokers at Arrow estimated that, on average, next year should be a decent year for bulkers, but with the recovery skewed towards the later part of the year. “In the near term, however, headwinds will persist,” Burak Cetinok, head of research, recently told Splash Extra.
