Nordic American Tankers Limited (NYSE:NAT) - Adjustment of the fleet - Dividend to be prioritized

Hamilton, Bermuda, May 3, 2018

Message to shareholders and investors

Dear Friends,

For some time we have considered to adjust the size of the NAT fleet.  Yesterday, we went into the tanker sale and purchase market with the view to selling two vessels, adjusting the fleet from 33 to 31 units.  We expect that the sales will take place over the next couple of weeks.  From a Far Eastern shipyard, we have 3 newbuildings joining our fleet in early July, end of August and end of October 2018 - 3 vessels in total.  The adjustment of our fleet should be seen in this light.

The message described above will assist in retaining the flexibility of NAT going forward.  Our solid vetting performance, i.e. inspections of the ships by the oil companies continue.  We regard our customers together with our shareholders as the main constituencies of NAT.  We can assure you that we will prioritize dividend payments as in the past.  At the time of this message, there are optimistic views on the tanker market going forward. 

Best regards,

Herbjørn Hansson
Chairman  & CEO
Nordic American Tankers Ltd.

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.

Attachment

• Press release (PDF).pdf