Bermuda, December 7, 2018
Dear Shareholders,
We refer to our message of November 22, 2018, regarding the sales of our two 1999 built tankers, the Nordic Aurora and the Nordic Sprite. The sales are now in the process of being finalized. The ships have been sold at a price of about USD10 million per unit. 30 % of the price was paid by the buyer today. The ships are scheduled to be delivered to the new owners later this month when the balance of the purchase price will be paid. The contracts contain provisions related to the Hong Kong Convention (2009) for ships.
Since the summer of 2018, 10 ships have been sold by NAT. The total gross sales proceeds are USD 98.8 million including inventories and before costs of the transactions. The sales are a part of our commercial strategy and represent an important modernization of the fleet, which now stands at 23 units. The NAT fleet has an average age of about 10 years.
The tanker market for our suezmaxes is strong. The payment of dividend will continue to remain a key element in NAT. Our fleet is well positioned to benefit from the buoyant conditions.
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 |
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| Bjørn Giæver, CFO Nordic American Tankers Limited Tel: +1 888 755 8391 or +47 91 35 00 91 |
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| Herbjørn Hansson, Chairman & CEO Nordic American Tankers Limited Tel: +1 866 805 9504 or +47 90 14 62 91 |
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| Web-site: www.nat.bm | ||