Nordic American Tanker Shipping Ltd. - (NYSE: NAT) Announces Delivery of its 16th Vessel- Bolstering the Company's

HAMILTON, BERMUDA, Jul 07 (MARKET WIRE) --

http://hugin.info/201/R/1327517/312767.pdf

Hamilton, Bermuda, July 7, 2009

Nordic American Tanker Shipping Ltd. (the "Company") today took delivery
of the suezmax vessel that the Company announced in May this year it had
agreed to acquire. The double hull suezmax vessel has been named Nordic
Grace. Including the Nordic Grace, the fleet of the Company consists of
16 suezmax vessels of which two are newbuildings. The vessel will be
employed in the Company's cooperative arrangement with the Stena Group of
Gothenburg, Sweden.

Herbjorn Hansson, the Company's Chief Executive Officer, commented: "Our
policy is to grow when it is profitable and accretive to do so. That is,
after the acquisition of a vessel, the Company should be able to pay a
higher dividend per share compared to the situation in which an
acquisition had not taken place - irrespective of the level of the spot
market, and so long as we remain above our average cash breakeven which
is currently less than $10,000 per day per ship. We believe that the
purchase of this vessel is an example of such an accretive acquisition.
Over time, the Company's fleet continues to grow faster than its share
count."

This transaction is in line with the Company's growth strategy. The
purchase of this vessel is financed by cash on hand. Having one of the
strongest balance sheets in the industry, the Company is committed to
continuing its full dividend policy and transparent operating model.

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," "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-hire, failure on the part of a seller to complete a sale to us 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 Tanker Shipping 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 Tanker Shipping 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

Turid M. Sorensen, CFO
Nordic American Tanker Shipping Limited
Tel: + 47 33 42 73 00 or + 47 905 72 927

Herbjorn Hansson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Nordic American Tanker Shipping Limited
Tel: +1 866 805 9504 or + 47 901 46 291

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