Nordic American Tanker Shipping Ltd. - (NYSE:NAT)
announces acquisition of its seventeenth vessel

Press release from Nordic American Tanker Shipping

Hamilton, Bermuda, October 5, 2009

Nordic American Tanker Shipping Ltd. (the "Company" or "NAT") today announced that the Company has agreed to acquire its seventeenth vessel, a double-hull suezmax tanker built in a first class Far Eastern shipyard in 2002 for a purchase price of $51.5 million. The vessel is expected to be delivered to us no later than November 30, 2009. This acquisition will be financed from cash on hand. No equity offering is being planned in connection with this acquisition.

The new vessel is expected to be operated in the spot market or on spot market-related charters.

Herbjørn Hansson, the Company's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, stated: "We are confident that this, our seventeenth suezmax vessel, will be accretive both to dividends and earnings per share. Therefore, dividends and earnings per share can be expected to be higher than had this vessel not been acquired. NAT is committed to continuing to build upon its successful operating model in which the elements of full dividend payout and accretive growth are central."

Nordic American Tanker Shipping