Nordic American Tankers (NAT) has tapped South Korea’s Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) to build three suezmax tankers of about 157,000 dwt each to be delivered during the second half of 2018.
“This is another large step forward for Nordic American,” said Herbjørn Hansson, the chairman and CEO of the company. “By adding these ships, we substantially increase the dividend capacity and bolster our earnings potential. We believe that our solid balance sheet as well as our well-defined and transparent operating model are elements supporting the competitive position of NAT.
The stock issue of about $120m that we completed September 30, will part finance this transaction.
A 33 vessel homogenous suezmax fleet is making NAT stronger and the company becomes even more attractive for our customers.”
For SHI which has had a miserable year to date in terms of bagging new orders the order is a huge boost, albeit it will still fall far short of its annual targets.
