Nordic American Tankers Ltd (NYSE

NAT) – Comments on the current blocking of the Suez Canal

 

March 25, 2021

Dear Shareholders and Investors, 

NAT is a Suezmax specialist – each vessel of 150,000/160,000 tons can carry one million barrels of oil. Our fleet consists of 25 Suezmax tankers (including 2 newbuildings).

A Suezmax tanker is the largest tanker that can transit the Suez Canal.

The Suez Canal is now blocked by a large vessel. We cannot predict how long the current situation in the Suez Canal will last. 

A closure of the Suez Canal, over a prolonged period of time, would require vessels to divert around Africa going from West to East and vice versa. This is a materially longer distance.

A longer voyage will lock up more shipping capacity, reducing the effective number of voyages the world fleet can perform over a period. This means reduced availability of shipping capacity, which in turn would imply higher freight rates.

 

Sincerely,

Herbjorn Hansson
Founder, Chairman & CEO

Nordic American Tankers Ltd.                                                           www.nat.bm  

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