Hamilton, Bermuda, February 16, 2006.
Nordic American Tanker Shipping Ltd. (NYSE: NAT) today announced that its Treasurer and Controller, Turid M. Sorensen, has been appointed as Chief Financial Officer of the Company. The Company's current Chief Financial Officer, Rolf Amundsen, has been appointed as its Chief Investor Relations Officer and will serve as Advisor to the Chairman.
Turid M. Sorensen (45), with over 20 years of experience in the shipping industry, has served as the Company's Treasurer and Controller since October 2004. Prior to that time, she occupied accounting and information technology positions at shipping companies both in Norway and the United States. Ms. Sorensen holds a bachelor degree in Business Administration from the Norwegian School of Management.
Rolf Amundsen (61), with an extensive background in international shipping, investment banking and brokerage, has served as the Company's Chief Financial Officer since June 2004. Mr. Amundsen previously served as the chief executive officer of a Nordic investment bank of which he was the founder. Mr. Amundsen has served as the president of the financial analyst society in Norway, and holds an M.B.A. in economics and business administration. In his new functions, Mr. Amundsen will have less than a full time position
Herbjorn Hansson, the Company's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, stated: "Ms. Sorensen's caliber and background make her an excellent choice to serve as our Chief Financial Officer. In her new position her extensive experience will help us in developing this company further. Rolf Amundsen's broad background in the capital markets, with wealth of experience, will be essential in advancing our transparency to investors. In addition, we will be able to call upon Mr. Amundsen's talents as an advisor on the various projects with which the Company may be involved with particular emphasis on strategic planning."
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 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, our Annual Report on Form 20-F, and our reports on Form 6-K.
