Star Bulk Announces the Sale of the Capesize Vessel Star Ypsilon and Settlement of the Claim With Deiulemar

ATHENS, GREECE--(Marketwire - Feb 24, 2012) - Star Bulk Carriers Corp. (the "Company" or "Star Bulk") (NASDAQ: SBLK) today announced that the Company has entered into an agreement to sell the Star Ypsilon, a 150,940 dwt Capesize vessel, built 1991, to a third party for a contracted sale price of $9.12 million. The Company plans to deliver the vessel to the buyers within March 2012.

Furthermore, Star Bulk today announced that its subsidiary Star Beta LLC and Deiulemar Shipping S.p.A ("Deiulemar") agreed to settle all claims that were the subject of an ongoing arbitration. In connection with the settlement, the Company received a major portion of its arbitration claim and the arbitration proceedings were discontinued. In addition, the cash collateral posted by the Company as security in the arbitration proceedings was released and returned to the Company.

The settlement of the claim with Deiulemar is considered an adjusting subsequent event in accordance with U.S. GAAP and the Company will include the settlement amount in its audited financial statements that will appear in its annual report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2011. The net effect of this adjustment in our Statement of Operations was a write-off of $0.69 million.

About Star Bulk
Star Bulk is a global shipping company providing worldwide seaborne transportation solutions in the dry bulk sector. Star Bulk's vessels transport major bulks, which include iron ore, coal and grain and minor bulks such as bauxite, fertilizers and steel products. Star Bulk was incorporated in the Marshall Islands on December 13, 2006 and maintains executive offices in Athens, Greece. Its common stock trades on the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol "SBLK". Currently, Star Bulk has an operating fleet of fifteen dry bulk carriers, consisting of seven Capesize, and eight Supramax dry bulk vessels with a combined cargo carrying capacity of 1,625,945 deadweight tons. The average age of our current operating fleet is 10.7 years.

Forward-Looking Statements
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, examination by the Company's management of historical operating trends, data contained in its records and other data available from third parties. Although the Company believes 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 the Company's control, the Company cannot assure you that it will achieve or accomplish these expectations, beliefs or projections.

In addition to these important factors, other important factors that, in the Company's 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 dry bulk shipping capacity, changes in the Company's operating expenses, including bunker prices, drydocking and insurance costs, the market for the Company's vessels, 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. The information set forth herein speaks only as of the date hereof, and the Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update any forward-looking statements as a result of developments occurring after the date of this communication.