Paragon Shipping Inc. Announces New Three Year Charter Agreement for Diamond Seas With Bunge S.A.

ATHENS, Greece, October 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Paragon Shipping Inc. (Nasdaq: PRGN), a global shipping transportation company specializing in drybulk cargoes, announced today that it has entered into a new three year time charter contract for the Diamond Seas. The vessel has been forward fixed on period time charter for 23 to 25 months at a gross daily rate of $16,250 with Bunge S.A., who also has the option to charter the vessel for a further 11 to 13 months at a gross daily rate of $18,500 during the option period.

Commenting on these developments Michael Bodouroglou, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Paragon Shipping, stated, "We are pleased to announce this new chartering agreement with Bunge. Not only have we secured a lucrative time charter during these challenging times, but we have done so with one of the world's leading chartering companies. This contract is scheduled to commence between April and July 2010 immediately after the expiration of the present charter, thus allowing us to forward fix our revenue stream."

Mr. Bodouroglou concluded, "This new charter arrangement will increase our fixed revenue days in 2010 and 2011 from 92% and 72% to 96% and 81%, respectively. This is fully in line with our strategic objective of providing our shareholders with solid and visible earnings. We only have one vessel scheduled to come off charter during 2010, the supramax bulkcarrier Sapphire Seas, which we are actively marketing for charter now."

About Paragon Shipping Inc.

Paragon Shipping Inc. is an Athens, Greece-based international shipping company specializing in the transportation of drybulk cargoes. The Company's current fleet consists of twelve vessels with a total carrying capacity of 765,137 dwt.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statement

Matters discussed in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements. The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides safe harbor protections for forward-looking statements in order to encourage companies to provide prospective information about their business. Forward-looking statements include statements concerning plans, objectives, goals, strategies, future events or performance, and underlying assumptions and other statements, which are other than statements of historical facts.

The Company desires to take advantage of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and is including this cautionary statement in connection with this safe harbor legislation. The words "believe," "anticipate," "intends," "estimate," "forecast," "project," "plan," "potential," "may," "should," "expect," "pending" and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements.

The forward-looking statements in this press release are based upon various assumptions, many of which are based, in turn, upon further assumptions, including without limitation, our management's examination of historical operating trends, data contained in our records and other data available from third parties. Although we believe that these assumptions were reasonable when made, because these assumptions are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies which are difficult or impossible to predict and are beyond our control, we cannot assure you that we will achieve or accomplish these expectations, beliefs or projections.

In addition to these important factors, other important factors that, in our view, could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements include the strength of world economies and currencies, general market conditions, including fluctuations in charter rates and vessel values, changes in demand for drybulk shipping capacity, changes in our operating expenses, including bunker prices, dry-docking and insurance costs, the market for our vessels, charter counterparty performance, availability of financing and refinancing, changes in governmental rules and regulations or actions taken by regulatory authorities, potential liability from pending or future litigation, general domestic and international political conditions, potential disruption of shipping routes due to accidents or political events, vessels breakdowns and instances of off-hires and other factors. Please see our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a more complete discussion of these and other risks and uncertainties.

    Contacts:

    Christopher Thomas
    Chief Financial Officer
    Paragon Shipping Inc.
    15 Karamanli Ave.
    GR 166 73
    Voula, Greece
    Tel: +30-(210)-8914-600

    Eric Boyriven, Alexandra Tramont
    FD
    Tel: +1(212)-850-5600

SOURCE Paragon Shipping Inc