Hamilton, Bermuda, August 24, 2011
Nordic American Tankers Limited (the "Company") today took delivery of the Nordic Breeze,a suezmax newbuilding tanker of 158,000 deadweight tons built at Samsung Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. , South Korea.
The Nordic Breeze will be employed in the Gemini Suezmax cooperation.
One further vessel, the Nordic Zenith, is also under construction at Samsung. This suezmax vessel is expected to be delivered in October this year.
Going forward, the Company is seeking to increase its dividend and earnings capacity through further expansion. The Nordic Breeze newbuilding is an important addition to the NAT fleet. The Company has ample financial resources with one of the strongest balance sheets in the industry.
At the end of 2010, Nordic American had 15 vessels employed in the market. Through disciplined financial management and a well-defined operating model, the Company is expected to have a fleet of 19 suezmax vessels when the Nordic Zenith joins the fleet in October, representing a fleet increase of about 26% in less than a year.
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.
Contacts:
Scandic American Shipping Ltd
Manager for:
Nordic American Tankers 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 Tankers 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
Jacob Ellefsen, Head of Research
Nordic American Tankers Limited - United Kingdom
Tel: +44 2031 785 820 or +44 7827 929 411
Herbjørn Hansson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Nordic American Tankers Limited
Tel: +1 866 805 9504 or + 47 901 46 291