Exhibit
12.1


CERTIFICATION




I,Simeon Palios, certify
that:





1. I have reviewed this annual report on
Form 20-F ofDiana Shipping Inc.;





2. Based on my knowledge, this report
does not contain any untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a
material fact necessary to make the statements made, in light of the
circumstances under which such statements were made, not misleading with respect
to the period covered by this report;





3. Based on my knowledge, the financial
statements, and other financial information included in this report, fairly
present in all material respects the financial condition, results of operations
and cash flows of the company as of, and for, the periods presented in this
report;





4. The company’s other certifying officer(s) and I are
responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures
(as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) and internal control
over financial reporting (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f) and
15d-15(f)) for the company and have:





(a) Designed such disclosure controls
and procedures, or caused such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed
under our supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the
company, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to us by others
within those entities, particularly during the period in which this report is
being prepared;





(b) Designed such internal control over
financial reporting, or caused such internal control over financial reporting to
be designed under our supervision, to provide reasonable assurance regarding the
reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements
for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting
principles;





(c) Evaluated the effectiveness of the
company’s disclosure controls and procedures and
presented in this report our conclusions about the effectiveness of the
disclosure controls and procedures, as of the end of the period covered by this
report based on such evaluation; and





(d) Disclosed in this report any change
in the company’s internal control over financial
reporting that occurred during the period covered by the annual report that has
materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the
company’s internal control over financial
reporting; and





5. The company’s other certifying officer(s) and I have
disclosed, based on our most recent evaluation of internal control over
financial reporting, to the company’s auditors and the audit committee of
the company’s board of directors (or persons
performing the equivalent functions):





(a) All significant deficiencies and
material weaknesses in the design or operation of internal control over
financial reporting which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the
company’s ability to record, process, summarize
and report financial information; and





(b) Any fraud, whether or not material,
that involves management or other employees who have a significant role in the
company’s internal control over financial
reporting.





Date: February27, 2009











/s/Simeon
      PaliosSimeon
    PaliosChairman and Chief Executive
      Officer














SK
23159 0002 969857