Nordic American Tanker Shipping Ltd. (NAT) - (NYSE: NAT) Expands the Fleet to Six Vessels

Hamilton, Bermuda, February 1, 2005

 

Nordic American Tanker Shipping Ltd. (the "Company") today announced that the Company has agreed to acquire a double hull suezmax vessel presently under construction in Daewoo shipyard in Korea. The newbuilding is expected to be delivered from the yard at the end of March this year, after which it is expected that the vessel will be employed in the spot market.

 

The Company completed the transformation from a financial lease company into an operating company in mid October 2004. Since then, the fleet of the Company has doubled - from three to six ships - including the acquisition of this newbuilding.

 

MAIN DETAILS OF THE FLEET OF THE COMPANY

 

Original vessels since the formation of the Company:

Nordic Hunter (1997 - 151,458) - spot related contract

Nordic Hawk  (1997 - 151,458) - spot related contract

Gulf Scandic  (1997 - 151,458) - long term contract

 

Ships acquired after the Company became an operating company in October 2004:

 

Wilma Yangtze             (1997 - 149,591) - spot employment as from February 2005.

                                    Acquired in November 2004

 

Acquisition                   (1998 - 153.181) - expected spot employment as from end March 2005.

                                    Acquisition announced January 21, 2005            

 

Newbuilding                  (2005 - 159,500) - expected spot employment as from end March 2005.

                                    Acquisition announced today

 

It is important to note that the addition of the top modern newbuilding to the existing fleet will reduce the average age of the fleet of the Company to 5.7 years - among the youngest in the tanker industry. The price of the vessel is USD 81 mill. At this time the Company has an undrawn credit facility of USD 300 mill.

 

Mr Herbjørn Hansson, Chairman of the Company, noted that this addition to the 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 of accretive acquisitions to bolster dividend and earnings per share.

 

 

 

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.