Wednesday, November 29, 2023
Dear Shareholders and Investors,
Highlights:
- For decades, the experience is that uncertain times create demand for our ships. We see that there is a scarcity of tankers. The NAT fleet is busy supplying energy to many parts of the world. NAT has not loaded Russian oil for several years. Our main customers, the major oil companies know that our ships are first class and they know they can always rely on Nordic American.
- Inflation in the US came in at 3.2% in October, down from 9.1% a little more than a year ago. The US economy is on the right track and China is also taking steps to stimulate its economy. Oil will continue to be an important commodity for all major economies for a long time. It is anticipated that world oil demand will grow also in 2024.
- The net income for the first nine months of 2023 is more than $100 million higher than for the same period last year. The net income for the first nine months of 2023 totaled $81.2 million compared to the net loss of -$20.9 million during the first nine months of 2022. The third quarter in 2023 came in with a net income of $7.5 million.
- The average Time Charter Equivalent (TCE) for our spot vessels (15) during the third quarter of 2023 came in at $32,832 per day per ship. Including vessels on term contracts (4), the total average NAT TCE was $31,235 per day per ship. During the same quarter last year the TCE was $27,850 per day per ship. Similar to the other quarters this year, this is one of the strongest third quarter TCE’s ever achieved in NAT’s 28-year history as a listed company. The operating costs per day per ship are about $9,000.
- Bookings for the fourth quarter of 2023 indicate a strong fourth quarter. About 73% of our spot voyage days for the fourth quarter of 2023 have now been booked at an average TCE of $43,160 per day per ship. There is a scarcity of our type of ships, leading to better results and higher dividend.
- We are scheduled to take delivery of the recently purchased suezmax tanker, to be named “Nordic Hawk”, on December 4, 2023. Nordic Hawk is the name of the first vessel in the NAT fleet following our US stocklisting in 1995. Including Nordic Hawk our fleet stands at 20 Suezmax tankers.
- The dividend for the third quarter of 2023 is 6 cents ($0.06) per share. The dividend is payable January 17, 2024 to shareholders of record as of December 20, 2023. Higher earnings will result in higher dividends.
- NAT has one of the lowest debt levels among publicly listed tanker companies. Our net debt stood at $170.8 million, equal to $9 million per ship at September 30, 2023. The objective of NAT clearly remains to become free of debt.
- The NAT fleet of versatile suezmax tankers offer flexibility in loading and discharging ports. Through careful voyage planning and adjustment of speed of our vessels, we reduce emissions. Each individual ship in the NAT fleet is of excellent technical quality, as demonstrated in the vetting performance, the score board undertaken by our customers.
Sincerely,
Herbjorn Hansson
Founder, Chairman & CEO
Nordic American Tankers Ltd. www.nat.bm
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 worldwide 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:
Bjørn Giæver, CFO
Nordic American Tankers Ltd
Tel: +1 888 755 8391
Alexander Kihle, Finance Manager
Nordic American Tankers Ltd
Tel: +47 91 724 171
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