Hamilton, Bermuda, January 14, 2009

Nordic American Tanker Shipping Ltd. (the "Company") announced  today
that, in connection with its previously-announced follow-on  offering
of 3,000,000 common shares, the  underwriters have exercised in  full
the over-allotment option  granted to  them by the  Company and  have
purchased an additional 450,000  common shares on  the same terms  on
which the 3,000,000 common shares were sold to the underwriters.  The
Company also announced that the closing of the follow-on offering and
the exercise by  the underwriters of  the over-allotment option  took
place simultaneously yesterday. Accordingly, 3,450,000 common  shares
have been  sold by  the  Company to  the underwriters,  resulting  in
aggregate net proceeds  to the Company,  before expenses relating  to
the  offering,  of  approximately   $107.5  million.  Following   the
offering, the Company has 37,893,679 common shares outstanding.

The common  shares  are  being  offered  pursuant  to  the  Company's
effective shelf registration statement.  Morgan Stanley acted as  the
bookrunning manager for the offering.

As previously announced, the Company conducted the offering in  order
to fund further acquisitions under planning.

The offering is being made only by means of a prospectus and  related
prospectus  supplement.  A  prospectus  supplement  related  to   the
offering has been filed with the Securities and Exchange  Commission.
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 modern 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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