Nat News

Shipowner Nordic American Tankers (NAT) on Thursday said it has entered an agreement to purchase a secondhand suezmax tanker.The South Korean built vessel has been "operated and well maintained by a top shipowner the last 6 to 7 years", Herbjorn Hansson, NAT founder, chairman and CEO, wrote in a letter to shareholders and investors."The vessel is purchased on a charter free basis and we intend to finance the purchase with a sale leaseback financing – an arrangement that has worked very well for us in the past," NAT said.

Allianz just released its 12th Risk Barometer, an annual corporate risk survey incorporating the views of 2,712 risk management experts in 94 countries and territories, including CEOs, risk managers, brokers and insurance experts. The overall global results reveal Cyber incidents and Business interruption as the biggest company concerns for the second year in succession. Macroeconomic developments such as inflation, financial market volatility and a looming recession rose to the third spot followed by the impact of the Energy crisis…

Nordic American Tankers (NAT) announced it has sold a 2003-built suezmax tanker for $21 million net. The buyer is a major international energy company, NAT said without disclosing the name of the company.The vessel will be delivered to its new owner in the fourth quarter of 2022.NAT said it will use the cash proceeds from the sale to reduce its debt as the company aims to become debt free.

Nordic American Tankers Ltd (NAT) announced on Wednesday that one of its Suexmax tankers commenced a one-year time charter contract.The 2010-built tanker has gone to work with "one of the world’s largest energy companies" at a rate in excess of $ 30,000 per day, NAT said. The company did not reveal the name of the vessel."This is one example showing that NAT is well placed for the significant upswing we now see in rates for our ships," said Herbjorn Hansson, founder, chairman and CEO of Nordic American Tankers.The NAT fleet currently consists of 20 suezmax vessels, the company said, noting that the operating expenses of its vessels average $8,000 per day.

Nordic American Tankers said it has added two suezmax tankers to its fleet. The newbuilds, NAT's first delivered since 2018, both have long term contracts.The 157,094 dwt Nordic Harrier was delivered on May 13 from Samsung shipyard in South Korea. The second vessel, to be named Nordic Hunter, is 156,800 dwt and will be delivered from Samsung within the next few days, NAT said. The ships were ordered in 2020.Both tankers have six-year contracts with Oman's ASYAD Shipping Company. The time charters will generate an aggregate revenue of more than $100 million, New York-listed NAT said when it announced the deals in February.The newbuilds are fully financed via Ocean Yield, a company controlled by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR), which is headquartered in the U.S.

Tanker shipping company Nordic American Tankers on Friday took delivery of a suezmax newbuild from shipbuilder Samsung Heavy Industries in South Korea.The 157,000-dwt crude oil tanker is named Nordic Harrier, which was the first NAT ship when becoming stocklisted on the New York Stock Exchange in 1995.The ship, which is on a 10-year bareboat charter to NAT from Norwegian shipowner Ocean Yield, will commence a contract for six years to ASYAD Shipping Company of the Sultanate of Oman. "The contract is producing earnings and cashflow as from delivery from the yard, creating financial stability and a further foothold in this important area," New York-listed NAT said in a letter to investors and shareholders.

Tanker shipping company Nordic American Tankers (NAT) announced Wednesday it has lined up six-year time charters for a pair of Suezmax newbuilds scheduled to be delivered from South Korea later this year.The contracts for the 156,800 dwt tankers are with Oman-based ASYAD Shipping Company, and they will commence upon delivery from the shipyard in May and June.Herbjorn Hansson, NAT board chairman, president, CEO, said, “Our business is expanding in the Middle East, which is an important area for our operations.

Tanker shipping company Nordic American Tankers (NAT) announced on Wednesday it has sold the 164,236 dwt Suezmax Nordic Mistral.New York-listed NAT did not reveal the buyer, but said the vessel is slated to be handed over to the new owner later this month. The 274-meter-long ship was built in 2002 by Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries in South Korea.The sale is NAT's second in recent months. In October 2021, the company announced the sale of 2000-built Nordic Sirius, since renamed Ocean Peri.NAT, which in July 2021 revealed plans to sell the vessels as part of a fleet renewal program, said it sold the two ships for about $30 million combined.NAT now controls a fleet of 23 Suezmaxes, including two 156,800 dwt newbuilds scheduled to be delivered from South Korea in May and June this year.

Last year I provided a list of my favorite historical ships as my contribution to the Great Ships issue. Even though I received some pushback on the list, I see no need to amend it.I created that list to avoid having to judge today’s Great Ships, but the second time around I suppose I cannot evade my mission and should focus on present day vessels, and there is a lot of interesting stuff being produced in the U.S. and globally.But behind every Great Ship there are a lot of great people that stood at her cradle…

For the Design issue Greg Trauthwein asked me to write about a favorite ship design. I have no favorite ship design, or should say there are simply too many that are truly worthy of mention. But when considering favorite designs, ship designers (and builders) do carry a strange curse. Unique among engineers (and artists, architects, and industrial designers) their creations only live for about 30 years. With very few exceptions, in their own life time, ship designers get to see the disassembly of most of their creations. I am not aware of any other creations that are so readily tossed aside.

The recent slowdown in the oil tanker market is expected to be short-lived, shipowner Nordic American Tankers (NAT) said Friday in a letter to shareholders.NAT, which owns 25 suezmaxes including the two newbuilds on order from South Korean shipbuilder Samsung Heavy Industries for delivery in 2022, said it has been receiving many comments and questions regarding the current market situation."There has been a certain lull in the market recently, which we regard as a short term phenomenon," the company said. "NAT is in a positive phase of development."NAT, which is preparing to publish its results on November 16, said, "A company can go three ways: sideways, downwards or upwards.

Nordic American Tankers (NAT) told investors on Friday that it has lined up full financing for two new tankers on order from South Korea's Samsung Heavy Industries. The newbuilds are the first to be ordered by NAT since 2016.The shipowner said it entered into a financing agreement with a subsidiary of Ocean Yield ASA for the Suezmax pair, which are due for delivery in the first half of 2022. "It is an advantage to secure the long term financing for these two newbuildings at an early stage and with an existing lender," NAT said, adding it aims to become a debt free company.The financing is for up to 80% of the newbuilding price, and the agreements are based on a 10-year bareboat charter for each vessel.

Nordic American Tankers (NAT) said it has ordered two suezmax newbuilds from South Korean shipbuilder Samsung Heavy Industries, the shipowner's first newbuild orders in four years as slumping shipbuilders lower prices to attract business."The combination of specifications, quality of yard, price, payment terms and deliveries make this an attractive investment for NAT and is consistent with our strategy to expand and renew our fleet," the company said in a letter to shareholders.The two new tankers, scheduled to be delivered in the first half of 2022, will grow NAT's suezmax fleet to 25 vessels.NAT said it will consider various financing alternatives prior to delivery.The payment terms of the newbuildings are 10/10/10/10 with 60% of the building price on deliveries…

Singapore's Keppel Offshore & Marine has said that converted FLNG vessels save approximately 33% of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions compared to an FLNG new build, citing a study by environmental consultants, Environmental Resources Management (ERM).Commissioned by Keppel O&M, the study by ERM assesses the converted and new build FLNG across three stages of the project life cycle, namely the end of life of the LNG tanker, repurposing, or shipbuilding of the FLNG, and maintenance…

UK-based offshore support services provider CWind has signed a long-term charter deal with Dalby Offshore for several offshore vessels that will support offshore wind farms in the UK North Sea.The deal will see CWind immediately add four new vessels to its fleet with the option of an additional two vessels later in the year.Also, CWind said it that supported throughout negotiations by vessel procurement advisor Colebrook Offshore, It has already chartered some of the new vessels…

Bermuda-based international tanker company Nordic American Tanker (NAT) said that it has  the strongest tanker market that it has seen in decades.In NAT fleet of 23 suezmaxes, 21 are in the short term market, providing immediate benefit for nat. The fourth quarter is building a strong momentum for 2020."We expect this to continue. Political frictions often lead to a stronger tanker market," said the company.About 70% of the spot trading days of our fleet for 4Q19 have been booked at an average TCE of $34,000/day. Spot rates are continuing its upward momentum.The Time Charter equivalent (TCE) for our ships for the third quarter came in at $15…

Bermuda-headquartered Nordic American Tankers (NAT) said that its tanker segment is on upswing mode following he strong market improvement for its Suezmax tankers."However, seeing is believing and if anyone had doubts, last week, the international shipbroking firm of Clarkson Platou Research reported the largest week-on-week increase in the history of their freight index,"pointed out the company.From Thursday to Friday last week, reported Suezmax rates jumped 60% on the day and 400% on the month, it said.NAT’s uniform fleet of 23 Suezmax tankers have 21 units trading in the open spot market, ready to benefit from strengthening freights.Presently the Suezmax spot market is reported to about $68,000/day, and rising.

The world Suezmax fleet (excl. shuttle, product & Jones Act tankers) counts 517 vessels at the end of 2Q2019, said Nordic American Tankers (NAT).During 2018, 28 suezmax vessels were delivered from the shipyards and 21 vessels were scrapped, the international tanker company said in an announcement."For 2019 we expect a similar number of new deliveries as in 2018. In 2020 we currently see 22 vessels scheduled for delivery," it said.The supply of tanker tonnage is inelastic in the short-term. When there are too many ships in an area, rates tend to go down. When there is scarcity of ships, rates tend to go up. Short-term spot tanker rates may be expected to be volatile.NAT pointed out that in light of trade war headlines currently…

Bermuda-based international tanker company Nordic American Tankers Limited (NAT) has reiterated that it believes scrubbers are not a solution for the company based upon a conservative financial policy."NAT does not take on risk it does not have to," it said.An increased number of ports now prohibit or impose strict requirements on the use of scrubbers, which purify emissions from large ships.The scrubber cleans the exhaust from vessels for Sulfur and emit impure water into the sea, and that is what the ports now will put an end to. Therefore, we still do not see that this new requirement is an issue for NAT.Nordic American Tankers points to a Reuters article of July 04 on the potential ban by Norwegian authorities of scrubbers.NAT recalled its statement on  October 24…

Bermuda-based Nordic American Tankers Limited (NAT) said in a press release that the last 12 months have been the busiest period for the international tanker company.Sale of 10 suezmax vessels and delivery of 3 new suezmax units took place in the last six months of 2018 and ensured a renewal of its fleet which count suezmaxes only. The operating costs for the NAT fleet came down further, a release said."Maximizing dividend is our strategy. We also aim at reducing the debt level and thereby lowering the cash break even further," NAT said.The new 5-year loan of $306 million that NAT announced in February this year, is a key element in this strategy of maximizing dividend and reducing debt…

Nordic American Tankers Limited (NAT) has fixed a one year or more time charter (TC) for one of the NAT suezmax vessels.NAT's Samsung built suezmax, the Nordic Zenith, has obtained a term contract. The new contract is expected to commence on expiration of the present spot employment and it could last 12 to 15 months.The contract was entered into with the first-class charterer, Equinor, an energy company headquartered in Norway. Equinor is a major stocklisted company and one of the largest of its type worldwide."Last year we entered into a term contract with the same user for a period of minimum 3 years," said a press release from the Bermuda-based tanker company.Over the years, NAT has bought several vessels built at Samsung Shipyard in South Korea, including the Nordic Zenith.

The world Suezmax fleet (excl. shuttle, product & Jones Act tankers) counts 514 vessels at the end of 1Q2019, said Nordic American Tankers (NAT).The total delivery during 2018 was 28 vessels, said a report by the  international tanker company."For 2019 we expect a similar number of vessels as in 2018, and in 2020 we currently see 22 vessels scheduled for delivery. During 2018, 21 Suezmax vessels were scrapped," it said.According to the report, the world economy is enjoying its strongest upswing since 2010. What is good for the world economy and world trade is by nature positive for the crude oil tanker business. In addition to the role of major oil companies…

The increased risk of large, more complex and costly claims has the potential to impact all marine underwriting sectors in 2019, said the International Union of Marine Insurance (IUMI).Although the global fleet continued to grow at around 3% in 2018, the number of total losses (vessels over 500GT) stood at a 20-year low. Only 21 total losses were recorded last year and this is on the back of a general downward trend witnessed since 2010. The reduction was seen across all vessel classes.Serious casualties (excluding total losses) have stabilised over the past three years but are still higher, on average, than in 2014. There is likely to be a spike in Q1 2019 when numbers have been finalised.