Athens-based dry bulk owner has received two 208,500 dwt Newcastlemax newbuildings, the MV San Francisco and the MV Newport News, that were contracted in May 2013.

MV San Francisco is time chartered to Singapore's Koch Shipping at a gross charter rate of US$11,750 per day for a period of 12 to about 16 months.

Expected to commence on Jan. 6, 2017, this employment is anticipated to generate around US$4.23m of gross revenue for the minimum scheduled period of the time charter.

The second Newcastlemax bulker, MV Newport News, is scheduled to start working for SwissMarine Services on Jan. 9 under a charter deal for a period of 22 to 26 months.

In addition, Diana Shipping said it completed a drawdown of US$57.24m from its previously announced term loan facility with The Export-Import Bank of China.

The purpose of this drawdown is to partially finance the acquisition cost of the two Newcastlemax newbuildings.

Diana Shipping's fleet currently consists of 48 dry bulk vessels with a combined carrying capacity of 5.7 million dwt.