Excel Maritime Announces Pricing of Public Offering of Common Stock

ATHENS, GREECE – August 6, 2009 -- Excel Maritime Carriers Ltd (NYSE: EXM), an owner and operator of dry bulk carriers and a provider of worldwide seaborne transportation services for dry bulk cargoes, announced today that it has priced its offering to the public of 6,000,000 shares of its Class A common stock. As part of the offering, the Company has granted the underwriters an over-allotment option to purchase up to 900,000 additional shares of the Company’s Class A common stock.

The Offered Shares have been priced at $8.00 per share. The net proceeds from the Offered Shares will be approximately $45.1 million (approximately $51.9 million if the underwriters exercise in full the over-allotment option). The Company expects to use the net offering proceeds for repayment of debt as well as to build up its committed capital expenditure reserve account, which the Company may utilize for future capital expenditure requirements.

The joint book running managers for this offering are Citi, Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. and UBS Investment Bank. Dahlman Rose & Company and DVB Capital Markets are acting as co-managers.

Copies of the prospectus supplement and accompanying base prospectus related to this offering may be obtained from: Citi, Brooklyn Army Terminal, 140 58th Street, 8th Floor, Brooklyn, NY 11220 (tel: 1-800-831-9146), Deutsche Bank Securities, Attention: Prospectus Department, 100 Plaza One, Jersey City, NJ 07311 (tel: 1-800- 503-4611) and UBS Investment Bank, Attention: Prospectus Department, 299 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10171 (tel: 1-888-827-7275)

This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy the Offered Shares, nor shall there be any sale of the Offered Shares in any state or jurisdiction in which such an offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction.

ABOUT EXCEL MARITIME CARRIERS LTD
Excel is an owner and operator of dry bulk carriers and a provider of worldwide seaborne transportation services for dry bulk cargoes, such as iron ore, coal and grains, as well as bauxite, fertilizers and steel products. Excel owns a fleet of 40 vessels and, together with 7 Panamax vessels under bareboat charters, operates 47 vessels (5 Capesize, 14 Kamsarmax, 21 Panamax, 2 Supramax and 5 Handymax vessels) with a total carrying capacity of approximately 3.9 million DWT. Excel Class A common shares have been listed since September 15, 2005 on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the symbol EXM and, prior to that date, were listed on the American Stock Exchange (AMEX) since 1998.

Excel Maritime press release