Nordic American Tankers

Hamilton, Bermuda, April 2, 2008

 

 

Dear Shareholder,

 

As of the end of the first quarter I wish to write to you personally to comment on the present situation.

 

In our report to shareholders of February 12th, we commented upon the spot market tanker rates the Company achieved for January 2008, which were about $45,000 per day per vessel. In contrast, during the fourth quarter of 2007 the time charter equivalent was $27,000 per day per vessel.

 

The strong market in January 2008 has continued throughout the rest of the first quarter. At this time we see that our earnings and dividend payments for the first quarter of 2008 can be expected to be appreciably higher than the fourth quarter of 2007 when dividend was $0.50 per share.  As of this writing, we expect that NAT will be able to declare dividend to shareholders which can be expected to exceed $1.00 for the first quarter.

 

The strong spot tanker market appears to be continuing into the second quarter of 2008.  As a matter of policy, we do not predict short term spot rates for tankers above all because short term freight rates are notoriously difficult to predict.  Our engagement in the spot market, where we have 11 ships, is based on our analysis showing that the spot market over time can be expected to produce higher revenues on average than the time charter market.

 

The instability in the financial markets does not appear to have impacted trade flows in the crude oil business to any noticeable extent.  We see a strong underlying demand for oil in major economies. Far Eastern countries and other emerging areas including South America, are showing solid economic growth, which to some extent is balancing out the economic challenges in the United States and elsewhere in the Western World.

 

Our earnings and dividend for the first quarter are expected to be announced Monday May 5th before the opening of the New York Stock Exchange.  Payment of our dividend is expected to take place May 30th 2008 to Shareholders of record as of May 19th 2008.

 

We wish you all the best!

 

Sincerely,

Herbjørn Hansson

Chairman & Chief Executive Officer

 

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,” “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-hire, failure on the part of a seller to complete a sale to us 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, our Annual Report on Form 20-F, and our Reports on Form 6-K.

 

Scandic American Shipping Ltd 

Manager for:

Nordic American Tanker Shipping Limited

P.O Box 56, 3201 Sandefjord, Norway

Tel: + 47 33 42 73 00 E-mail:  nat@scandicamerican.com

 

Rolf Amundsen, Investor Relations
Nordic American Tanker Shipping Limited
Tel: +1 800 601 9079 or + 47 908 26 906

 

Gary J. Wolfe

Seward & Kissel LLP, New York, USA

Tel: +1 212 574 1223

 

Turid M. Sørensen, CFO

Nordic American Tanker Shipping Limited

Tel:  + 47 33 42 73 00 or + 47 905 72 927

 

Herbjørn Hansson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Nordic American Tanker Shipping Limited

Tel:  +1 866 805 9504 or + 47 901 46 291