Greetings. Welcome to Diana Shipping Inc. Third Quarter 2023 Conference Call and Webcast. [Operator Instructions]. Please note this conference is being recorded. I will now turn the conference over to Ed Nebb, Investor Relations. Thank you. You may begin.

Well, thank you very much, and thanks to everyone joining us for the Diana Shipping Inc. 2023 Third Quarter Conference Call. With us today from management are Semiramis Paliou, Chief Executive Officer; and other members of the management team, whom she will introduce. And so without further ado, I will turn the call over to Ms. Paliou.

Thank you, Ed. So good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Diana Shipping Inc.'s Third Quarter 2023 Financial Results Conference Call. I'm Semiramis Paliou, the CEO of the company. And it is my pleasure to present alongside our esteemed team, Mr. Stasi Margaronis, Director and President; Mr. Ioannis Zafirakis, Director, CFO and Chief Strategy Officer; Mr. Eleftherios Papatrifon, Director; and Ms. Maria Dede, Chief Accounting Officer. Before we begin, I'd like to remind everyone to review the forward-looking statement on Page 4 of the accompanying presentation. Q3 2023 has proven to be a profitable quarter for our company. Despite less robust market conditions. Our disciplined chartering strategy once again has largely insulated us from market weakening, enabling us to generate positive free cash flows. In line with the guidance provided during the company's previous earning calls, we are pleased to declare the distribution of a dividend for this quarter amounting to $0.15 per share payable as common stock. Since November 2021, we have paid $1.45 per share, a total of USD 130 million in cash dividends. In addition to that, we have distributed to our common shareholders in-kind dividends in the form of newly issued Diana Shipping Inc. common shares as well as OceanPal Inc. common and preferred shares. Turning to Slide 5. Our fleet comprises of 42 vessels with a total deadweight of approximately 4.7 million deadweight tons. Our fleet utilization has remained consistently high, reaching 99.7% for the 9 months ending September 30, 2023, attributed to our prudent and efficient management of our vessels. Additionally, as of the end of the third quarter, we employed 1,040 people at sea and the shore. Moving on to Slide 6. Let's go over the key highlights from the third quarter and recent developments. We recently announced our intention to order…

Thank you, Semiramis. The financial highlights of this quarter can be summarized in this table. And we think that what is worth mentioning is the fact that our time charter revenue stood at $62 million compared to $73.8 million in the same 3 months in the previous year. And our earnings per common share on a diluted basis were $0.06 compared to $0.37 at the same quarter the previous year. At the same time, our cash, cash equivalent, time deposits, and restricted cash at the end of September 2023, it was -- they were $173 million point something. And during the end of the year in 2022, it was $143.9 million. Our long-term debt and finance liabilities. This is net of deferred financing cost, was $657.4 million compared to $663.4 million in December 31, 2022. Moving to the next slide. You can see what we said earlier, the decrease on the time charter revenues and the increased number of vessels. Although the operating expenses have been kept more or less at the same level, the TC equivalent rate has fallen due to market conditions to $15,891 per day compared to $23,289 per day in the previous year for the same 3-month period. The same applies to the next slide, in the 9-month period, where, again, you can see the increased number of vessels compared to a lower time charter revenue that we had in this 9-month period, and that has resulted to a time charter equivalent rate of $17,235 compared to $23,363 in the same 9 months in the previous year. The operating expenses more or less the same, and we said $5,691 compared to $5,580. The facts described earlier, had as a result the drop of our earnings per common share to $0.36 compared to $1.10 in the same…

Thank you, Ioannis. So dry bulk shipping earnings have exhibited interesting and somewhat surprising trends recently. Mainly due to the geopolitical developments and tight monetary policies pursued by most central banks around the globe with the exception perhaps of the China Central Bank. Spot dry bulk earnings have alternated widely, particularly in the last few weeks. But let's show the 12-month time charter rates, and these are shown on this slide. Capesize 1-year employment hire rates at around $15,250 per day. And the most recent peak being $30,000 a day in March 2022. Today, the 12-month rate for Kamsarmax's is $14,250 a day. That was around $29,500 a day at the end of March last year. For Ultramax's, the 12-month hire rate is $13,500 per day, and the most recent peak was again $29,250 per day in March '22. So back then, it looked like for approximately the same daily hire, charterers could pick the most suitable vessel size for their needs. On the next slide, we look at dry bulk demand. It has been well established by now that world GDP growth has a direct impact on demand for dry bulk carriers. The long-term average rate of annual GDP growth according to Clarkson stands at about 0.7% below the average long-term dry bulk growth rate expressed in ton miles. This helps us place into perspective the size of the long-term multiplier effect of about 1.25x GDP growth rate on dry bulk carrier demand growth. Latest statistics now from the IMF show forecast for China's GDP growth at 4.6% in 2024; for India, 6.3%; for the U.S. 1.5%; the euro area, 1.2%; and for the world, 2.9%. According to statistics published by Clarksons research demand for dry bulk cargo transportation in 2024 is estimated to grow by about 1.8% in…

Thank you, Stasi. So before we open the call to the question-and-answer session, I would like to summarize the key points from today's presentation. First, our continual emphasis is on generating and securing positive free cash flows. We uphold a robust balance sheet through proactive management of our capital structure. With these opportunities to renew and modernize our fleet, capitalizing on appealing sustainable shipping projects as part of our opportunistic approach. And thirdly, our dedication persists in adhering to a strategy that offers stability in a cyclical business while striving to maximize long-term shareholder value. So we look forward to addressing your questions during the Q&A session.

[Operator Instructions]. Our first question is from [indiscernible] with Clarksons Securities.

With regards to the CSOV joint venture, you mentioned that this is sort of the initial phase with the two firm vessels and the two new-builds -- or the two options. How should we think about Diana going forward in terms of growth between the bulker market and the offshoring market?

This is Ioannis Zafirakis speaking. As we have said many times in the past and during this call, we are interested in green projects, but everything has to be in a manageable scale. Our core business certainly remains dry bulk. Having said that, all projects related to green and they have a green element into them, it's something that we look carefully into and we may have an interest. We are not in a position to tell you that this may end up as a major investment for us or not. Currently, what you see is what it is. We are participating with a percentage in the building of two CSOV's and there is still the pending option for another two.

Okay, perfect. And do you have any color to give us on the structure of that joint venture?

Can you repeat your question because you are breaking up.

Yes, sorry. Can you tell us anything about the structure of that joint venture in terms of percentage share who the other parties are?

At the moment, you have to stay with the press release. Certainly, in the future, you will be able to have more information on that. But whatever you read in the press release that we have issued, I think it's the major information that you can have today.

[Operator Instructions]. There are no further questions at this time. I would like to turn the conference back over to management for closing comments.

Thank you all for joining us today, and we look forward to talking to you again on our next earnings call in a few months. Thank you very much.

Thank you. This will conclude today's conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time, and thank you for your participation.