Western Bulk Chartering AS — Capital/Financing Update 2017

Jan 4, 2017

Western Bulk Chartering AS – Ex. date share subscription rights

Oslo, 4 January 2017

Reference is made to the announced plan to issue new shares in Western Bulk Chartering AS (the "Company") and the extraordinary general meeting held on 15 December 2016 which authorized the board of directors in the Company to issue up to 4 million new shares in order to raise the NOK equivalent of USD 15 million in new equity (the "Offering").

As previously communicated to the shareholders, the Offering of new shares will be directed only to the 149 largest shareholders in the Company.

The board of directors has resolved to direct the Offering towards the 149 largest shareholders of the Company as of 30 December 2016, as registered in the Norwegian Central Securities Depositary (the "VPS") on 3 January 2017 (the "Record Date") with the exception of shareholders that are resident in a jurisdiction outside Norway where such offering would be unlawful, or would require a full prospectus, registration or similar action (the "Eligible Shareholders"). Each shareholder account in VPS will be treated separately and not combined for investors owning shares through different VPS accounts. Shares purchased or sold after 30 December 2016 will be exclusive of the right to subscribe for new shares.

Based on the shareholder register on the Record Date, any Eligible Shareholders holding 251 shares or more on their VPS account as of 30 December 2016 will receive an offer to subscribe for shares in the Company.

The Company will complete the Offering before end of Q1-17, and the Eligible Shareholders will receive information about the offer in due course. The two largest shareholders, Kistefos AS and Ojada AS, have provided a guarantee for the full amount, with USD 13.8 million and USD 1.2 million respectively.

For more information, please contact: Jens Ismar, Chief Executive Officer Tel: +47 9009 0897 E-mail: jens.ismar@westernbulk.com

About Western Bulk Chartering:

Western Bulk Chartering AS is a major dry bulk shipping operator. The company is privately owned by a group of about 250 shareholders. See www.westernbulk.com for more information.

Western Bulk Chartering AS has an outstanding bond loan trading on Nordic ABM under the ticker symbol "WBULK01 PRO".

DISCLAIMERS

This press release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and may be identified by words such as "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "intends," "estimate," "will," "may," "continue," "should" and similar expressions. The forward-looking

statements in this release are based upon various assumptions, many of which are based, in turn, upon further assumptions. Although Western Bulk Chartering believes that these assumptions were reasonable when made, these assumptions are inherently subject to significant known and unknown risks, uncertainties, contingencies and other important factors which are difficult or impossible to predict and are beyond its control. Such risks, uncertainties, contingencies and other important factors could cause actual events to differ materially from the expectations expressed or implied in this release by such forward-looking statements.

The information, opinions and forward-looking statements contained in this release speak only as at its date, and are subject to change without notice Western Bulk Chartering disclaims any obligation to update and revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.