Hamilton Bermuda May 30, 2018
Dear shareholders and investors,
As announced in our press release of May 3, 2018, the company indicated a possible sale of two vessels. Today, we confirm the sale of two vessels, adjusting the fleet from 33 to 31 suezmaxes in the short term.
The sale of vessels is, however, a part of the company's plan to expand as NAT has three newbuildings coming from a Korean yard. The newbuildings are joining our fleet during the second half of 2018.
The commercial life of a suezmax could be 20 years or more. Therefore, such transactions are a natural part of our business. The total cash to NAT from the sale of these two vessels is between $9 million and $10 million per vessel.
This message is an indication of the commercial and financial flexibility of NAT. As communicated earlier, further sales of vessels may be expected in the process. 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.
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: | ||
| Gary J. Wolfe Seward & Kissel LLP New York, USA Tel: +1 212 574 1223 | ||
| Bjørn Giæver, CFO Nordic American Tankers Limited Tel: +1 888 755 8391 or +47 91 35 00 91 | ||
| Herbjørn Hansson, Chairman & CEO Nordic American Tankers Limited Tel: +1 866 805 9504 or +47 90 14 62 91 | ||
| Web-site: www.nat.bm | ||
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