Diana Shipping Inc. (NYSE:DSX) Q1 2023 Earnings Call Transcript May 26, 2023 9:00 PM ET
Company Participants
Edward Nebb - IR
Semiramis Paliou - Chief Executive Officer
Ioannis Zafirakis - CFO and CSO
Anastasios Margaronis - President
Conference Call Participants
Operator
Hello, and welcome to the Diana Shipping Inc. First Quarter 2023 Conference Call and Webcast. [Operator Instructions] A question-and-answer session will follow the formal presentation. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this conference is being recorded.
It's now my pleasure to turn the call over to Ed Nebb, Investor Relations. Please go ahead, Ed.
Edward Nebb
Thank you, Kevin, and thanks to everyone who is joining us today for the Diana Shipping Inc. 2023 first quarter conference call. With us today to lead the call from management is Semiramis Paliou, Chief Executive Officer, who will introduce the other executives of the company and begin the presentation.
Semiramis Paliou
Thank you, Ed. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Diana Shipping Inc.’s first quarter 2023 earnings call. My name is Semiramis Paliou, the CEO of the company, and it is a great pleasure to have the opportunity to present to you today.
As mentioned by Ed earlier, I'm joined by our esteemed team, Mr. Anastasios Margaronis, President of Diana Shipping; Mr. Ioannis Zafirakis, CFO and Chief Strategy Officer; Mr. Eleftherios Papatrifon, Director of Diana Shipping Inc.; Ms. Maria Dede, the company’s Chief Accounting Officer.
Before we begin, I would like to remind everyone to review the forward-looking statements applicable to today's presentation, which can be found on Page 4 of the accompanying first quarter 2023 presentation.
Q1 2023 has proven to be a profitable quarter for our company, despite less robust conditions prevailing in the market. Our disciplined chartering strategy, once again, have largely insulated us from the market weakening and has allowed us to generate positive free cash flows. In line with the guidance provided during the company’s end of year earnings call, we are pleased to declare the distribution of a dividend for this quarter amounting to $0.15 per share. We aim to continue rewarding our shareholders when the conditions allow us to do so.
Turning to Slide 5, I will provide an overview of the company's snapshot as of today. We currently own and operate an extended fleet of 42 vessels in the water with a carrying capacity of approximately 4.7 million deadweight tons. Our fleet utilization has remained consistently high reaching 99.4% for the first quarter of 2023. Additionally, we employed 1,013 people at sea and the shore by the end of the first quarter.