Illustration; Image Courtesy: Diana Shipping

Greek dry bulk ship owner Diana Shipping has reached an agreement to reduce the contract price and change the delivery date for two Newcastlemax dry bulk carriers currently under construction in China.

Namely, the company signed two addenda with China Shipbuilding Trading Company, Limited and Jiangnan Shipyard (Group) Co., Ltd., to decrease the contract price for two bulkers, to be named San Francisco and Newport News, by USD 1 million for each of the ships. The contract price for the Newcastlemaxes was USD 48.7 million a piece, Diana Shipping informed.

Additionally, the delivery date of the two 208,500 dwt bulkers is now expected to be on January 4, 2017. Data provided by VesselsValue shows that the ships were previously scheduled to join their owner in December 2016.

Furthermore, Diana Shipping has secured a time charter contract for Newport News with Geneva-based SwissMarine Services for a period of minimum twenty-two to maximum twenty-six months.

The company said that the daily gross charter rate will be 24% above the BCI_2014 average of the five pre-determined time charter routes as published by the Baltic Exchange, minus a 5% commission paid to third parties. The charter is expected to commence on January 9, 2017.

Diana Shipping also agreed time charter contracts for two of its Panamax dry bulk vessels, the 81,297 dwt MV Leto and the a 73,546 dwt MV Naias, with Glencore Agriculture B.V.

MV Leto would be chartered out for a gross charter rate of USD 7,750 per day for a period of nine to thirteen months. The charter is expected to commence on December 30, 2016.

The second charter deal for MV Naias was agreed at a gross charter rate of USD 7,500 per day for a period of seven to ten months, with the charter expected to commence on December 27, 2016.