Nordic American Tanker Shipping Ltd. (NAT)-(NYSE:NAT) Announces Pricing of Public Offering to Provide for Further Acquisitions.

Press release from Nordic American Tanker Shipping

Hamilton, Bermuda, January 22, 2010

Nordic American Tanker Shipping Ltd. (the "Company") today announced the pricing of its previously announced underwritten public offering of 4,000,000 common shares at a price of $30.50 per share. The common shares are being offered pursuant to the Company's effective shelf registration statement. Morgan Stanley is acting as the bookrunning manager for the offering and DnB NOR Markets, Inc. is acting as co-manager of the offering. The Company expects to close the sale of the common shares on January 27, 2010, subject to customary closing conditions. The Company has granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to 600,000 additional shares to cover over-allotments.

As previously announced, the Company is conducting the offering in order to fund future acquisitions and for general corporate purposes. As of January 21, 2010, the Company owned or agreed to acquire 18 modern double-hull Suezmax tankers, including one secondhand vessel that it has agreed to acquire and expects to take delivery of no later than March 1, 2010 and two newbuildings that it expects to take delivery of in 2010. The net proceeds of the offering, together with other financing sources available to the Company are expected to enable the Company to make accretive acquisitions, based on present asset prices, of at least four additional vessels.

The Company also repeated its announcement that it expects its dividend per share in respect of the fourth quarter of 2009 to be in the region of $0.23 per share compared to a dividend of $0.10 per share for the third quarter of 2009. This estimate is based on fourth quarter 2009 charter rates for the Company's vessels and estimated levels of operating costs. The estimated dividend per share in respect of the fourth quarter of 2009 is calculated based on a weighted average of 42,204,904 common shares outstanding during the fourth quarter of 2009. The Company expects to pay the same dividend per share in respect of the fourth quarter of 2009 for the shares sold in this offering.

The average spot market rate for modern Suezmax tankers as reported by IMAREX was $13,012 per day in the third quarter of 2009 and was $23,682 per day during the fourth quarter of 2009. Generally, there is a certain time lag between the actual rates earned by the Company's vessels and those rates quoted by IMAREX. The average spot market rates so far in 2010 are well above the rates for the fourth quarter of 2009.

About the Company
The Company is an international tanker company that owns 15 modern double-hull Suezmax tankers and has agreed to acquire an additional three double-hull Suezmax tankers, of which two are newbuilding Suezmax tankers and one is an existing Suezmax tanker.

Nordic American Tanker Shipping