Nordic American Tankers

Hamilton, Bermuda, April 5, 2005

 

Nordic American Tanker Shipping Ltd. (the “Company”) today announced that the Company has taken delivery of the two suezmax vessels that it agreed to acquire earlier this year, thereby increasing the fleet from 4 to 6 vessels.  The 1998 suezmax Nordic Fighter was taken over on March 21st and the suezmax newbuilding on March 29th.  Both vessels are in the spot market.

 

Mr Herbjørn Hansson, Chairman & CEO of the Company, noted that the increased fleet represents an important step in the further development of the Company. He commented that this transaction is in line with the Company’s growth strategy with focus on dividend and earnings per share.  During the whole 2nd quarter of 2005 NAT is expected to have 5 vessels in the spot market as against 3 vessels in the spot market during most of the 1st quarter of 2005.  The addition of these two vessels to the fleet is bolstering the earnings capacity of the Company.  One of the six vessels in the NAT fleet is on long term contract.

 

 

 

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,” “intend,” “estimate,” “forecast,” “project,” “plan,” “potential,” “will,” “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, our management’s examination of historical operating trends, data contained in our records and other data available from third parties.  Although we believe 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 our control, we cannot assure you that we will achieve or accomplish these expectations, beliefs or projections.  We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

 

Important factors that, in our 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 in the tanker market, as a result of changes in OPEC’s petroleum production levels and world wide oil consumption and storage, changes in our operating expenses, including bunker prices, drydocking and insurance costs, the market for our 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 important factors described from time to time in the reports filed by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the prospectus and related prospectus supplement and our Annual Report on Form 20-F.