Exhibit
12.2




CERTIFICATION




I, Andreas Michalopoulos, certify
that:





1. I have reviewed this annual report on
Form 20-F of Diana 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: February 27, 2009








/s/
      Andreas
      MichalopoulosAndreas
      MichalopoulosChief Financial Officer and
      Treasurer














SK 23159 0002
969858