Nordic American Tankers Limited (NYSE: NAT) – New suezmax vessel delivered to NAT today – impacting earnings and dividend capacity positively

Hamilton, Bermuda, October 25, 2018

Dear Shareholders,

The third 2018 suezmax newbuilding from Samsung Shipbuilding in South Korea was delivered today, October 25, 2018.  The first one was delivered to NAT July 10, 2018.  The second ship was delivered August 31, 2018.

This third vessel has the name of Nordic Tellus, which means the planet Earth in Latin. The sponsor of the vessel is Mrs. Hyun Hee Chung, the wife of Dr.Whan Chang, owner and Chairman of the the media group Maekyung, the largest publishing house in Korea.

Over the years, NAT has received several newbuildings from Korea.  A suezmax is able to load one million barrels of crude oil.  At this time NAT has 25 suezmaxes.  

The Nordic Tellus will be employed in worldwide trading.  This third newbuilding has also been financed via a company in the Aker Group (Ocean Yield) with close to 80% in debt of the delivered price of about $54 million.

Including the three newbuildings of 2018, NAT has a sound suezmax age profile along with one of the best balance sheets in the tanker industry. 

There are improved conditions in the tanker sector.  Rates for the fourth quarter are three to four times as high as for the first 9 months of 2018. Rate indexes for suezmax tankers are now in excess of $20,000 per day on a TC basis, which is a good indication of the level of the market.

NAT is well positioned for the upswing in the market that we now see.   

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING 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,” “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 worldwide 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, our Annual Report on Form 20-F, and our reports on Form 6-K.

Contacts:  
Gary J. Wolfe
Seward & Kissel LLP
New York, USA
Tel: +1 212 574 1223

 
Bjørn Giæver, CFO
Nordic American Tankers Limited
Tel: +1 888 755 8391 or +47 91 35 00 91

 
Herbjørn Hansson, Chairman & CEO
Nordic American Tankers Limited
Tel: +1 866 805 9504 or +47 90 14 62 91

 
Web-site:  www.nat.bm  

Press release (PDF)