Hamilton, Bermuda, January 7, 2009

In order to fund further acquisitions under planning, Nordic American
Tanker Shipping Ltd. (the "Company") today announced an  underwritten
public offering of  3,000,000 common shares.   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.  The Company  expects to close the  sale of the  common
shares on January 13, 2009, subject to customary closing conditions.
The Company has granted the underwriters a 30-day option to  purchase
up to 450,000 additional shares to cover over-allotments.

The common shares purchased by  Morgan Stanley are being offered  for
resale from time to time in negotiated transactions or otherwise,  at
market prices on the New York  Stock Exchange prevailing at the  time
of sale,  at  prices related  to  such prevailing  market  prices  or
otherwise.

The Chairman & CEO of the Company, Herbjorn Hansson commented:

"In our view, the present  markets offer attractive opportunities  to
increase the  Company's  fleet  further.  Because  of  the  financial
turmoil internationally, ship  values have been  reduced. We  believe
that our  past  acquisitions  have been  accretive,  that  is,  after
acquisitions our dividend  and earnings  per share  have been  higher
than under a scenario where  such acquisitions had not taken  place.
We announced an agreement to buy a double hull Suezmax tanker earlier
this week, which  is expected  to be  financed with  funds that  were
available to the  Company before  this offering.   Going forward,  we
expect this  offering to  strengthen the  Company`s equity  base  and
increase the Company's capacity to make further acquisitions. So  far
in 2009 the spot charter contracts which have been concluded for  our
Suezmax vessels,  have  on  average  been  above  the  average  level
achieved for  the 4th  quarter of  2008. As  a matter  of policy  the
Company does not predict future spot rates."

The offering is being made only by means of a prospectus and  related
prospectus  supplement.  A  prospectus  supplement  related  to   the
offering will be filed with  the Securities and Exchange  Commission.
When available, copies  of the prospectus  and prospectus  supplement
relating to the offering may be  obtained from the offices of  Morgan
Stanley at 180 Varick Street, Second Floor, New York, New York 10014,
Attention:    Prospectus     Department     or    by     email     at
prospectus@morganstanley.com.

About the Company

The Company is an  international tanker company  that owns 12  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  that  the
Company has agreed to acquire.


      CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Matters   discussed   in   this   press   release   may    constitute
forward-looking statements.  The Private Securities Litigation Reform
Act of  1995 provides  safe  harbor protections  for  forward-looking
statements in  order to  encourage companies  to provide  prospective
information about their business.  Forward-looking statements include
statements concerning  plans, objectives,  goals, strategies,  future
events  or  performance,   and  underlying   assumptions  and   other
statements, which are other than statements of historical facts.

The Company desires to take  advantage of the safe harbor  provisions
of the  Private  Securities Litigation  Reform  Act of  1995  and  is
including this  cautionary statement  in  connection with  this  safe
harbor legislation.  The  words  "believe,"  "anticipate,"  "intend,"
"estimate,"  "forecast,"  "project,"   "plan,"  "potential,"   "may,"
"should,"  "expect,"  "pending"  and  similar  expressions   identify
forward-looking statements.

The forward-looking statements in this  press release are based  upon
various assumptions, many of which  are based, in turn, upon  further
assumptions,   including   without   limitation,   our   management's
examination of  historical operating  trends, data  contained in  our
records and other  data available  from third  parties.  Although  we
believe that  these assumptions  were reasonable  when made,  because
these assumptions are inherently subject to significant uncertainties
and contingencies which  are difficult or  impossible to predict  and
are beyond our control, we cannot assure you that we will achieve  or
accomplish these expectations, beliefs or projections.  We  undertake
no obligation to update any  forward-looking statement, whether as  a
result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Important factors that, in  our view, could  cause actual results  to
differ  materially  from  those  discussed  in  the   forward-looking
statements include the  strength of world  economies and  currencies,
general market conditions,  including fluctuations  in charter  rates
and vessel  values, changes  in demand  in the  tanker market,  as  a
result of changes  in OPEC's  petroleum production  levels and  world
wide oil consumption and storage, changes in our operating  expenses,
including bunker prices, drydocking  and insurance costs, the  market
for our vessels, availability  of financing and refinancing,  changes
in governmental rules and regulations or actions taken by  regulatory
authorities, potential liability from  pending or future  litigation,
general domestic  and international  political conditions,  potential
disruption of shipping routes due  to accidents or political  events,
vessels breakdowns and instances of off-hire, failure on the part  of
a seller  to  complete a  sale  to  us and  other  important  factors
described from time to time in the reports filed by the Company  with
the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the prospectus  and
related prospectus supplement,  our Annual Report  on Form 20-F,  and
our Reports on Form 6-K.

Contacts:
Scandic American Shipping Ltd
Manager for:
Nordic American Tanker Shipping Limited
P.O Box 56, 3201 Sandefjord, Norway
Tel: + 47 33 42 73 00 E-mail:  nat@scandicamerican.com

Rolf Amundsen, Investor Relations
Nordic American Tanker Shipping Limited
Tel: +1 800 601 9079 or + 47 908 26 906

Gary J. Wolfe
Seward & Kissel LLP, New York, USA
Tel: +1 212 574 1223

Herbjørn Hansson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Nordic American Tanker Shipping Limited
Tel:  +1 866 805 9504 or + 47 901 46 291


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