Paragon Shipping Inc. Takes Delivery of Its Tenth Vessel

News was prepared under the information support of Online Daily Newspaper on Hellenic and international Shipping "Hellenic Shipping News".

29 Nov 2007

Paragon Shipping Inc.  announced yesterday that it took delivery of its tenth drybulk carrier, the Coral Seas, on November 21, 2007 This 74,477 dwt 2006-built Panamax vessel has been chartered to Bunge S.A. pursuant to a time charter with a remaining period of approximately 23 to 25 months at a rate of $54,000 per day.  The Company purchased the vessel for $89 million from an unaffiliated third party. The acquisition was financed primarily through bank debt under the Company’s existing credit facility and with available cash on hand. Michael Bodouroglou, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Paragon, commented, ''We are pleased to add our tenth drybulk carrier to the fleet. This modern vessel has been chartered to a first class customer at a very attractive rate, and will be immediately accretive to both earnings and cash flow. We also look forward to the delivery of our other contracted vessel, the 2006-built Panamax drybulk carrier Golden Seas, in the coming weeks. Both of these vessels will reduce the average age of our fleet and provide additional stable cash flows going forward.” With the addition of this vessel, the Company's fleet consists of six Panamax drybulk carriers, three Handymax drybulk carriers and one Supramax drybulk carrier, with an aggregate capacity of approximately 631,883 deadweight tons. As previously announced on October 8, 2007, the Company had agreed to purchase both the Coral Seas and the Golden Seas from unaffiliated third parties for an aggregate purchase price of $178 million.