Nordic American Tankers

Hamilton, Bermuda, July 7, 2008

 

Letter to Shareholders from the Chairman and CEO

 

Dear Shareholder,

 

The first half of 2008 has produced excellent results for our company.  The strong market has continued throughout the second quarter.  The average spot market rate for modern suezmax tankers, according to the Imarex Tanker Index (“Imarex”), was $70,625 per day for 2Q08 compared to $43,635 per day during 1Q08. The Imarex numbers give an indication of the level of the spot tanker market. However, the rates as reported by Imarex may differ from the actual rates that we achieve in the market. Going forward, spot freight rates can be expected to fluctuate significantly as in the past.

 

Our dividend and earnings report will be released before opening of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) August 8th 2008.  Payment of our dividend is expected to take place September 2nd 2008 to shareholders of record as of August 21st 2008.

 

You will recall that our dividend for the first quarter was $1.18 per share. We would like to inform you that the dividend payment for the second quarter can be expected to be above $1.50 per share.

 

The strong market is continuing into the third quarter at the time of this writing.

 

We thank you for your continued interest in Nordic American and we wish you all the best for the summer!

 

 

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