On December 9, 2014, Nordic American Tankers Ltd. announced that preliminary contracts had been entered into with a South Korean shipyard, for the construction of two suezmax tankers to be delivered in the third quarter 2016 and first quarter 2017. The final documents were signed December 19, 2014. The contracts are now firm, bringing the NAT fleet to 24 suezmax crude oil tankers, being able to transport one million barrels of oil each.
The purchase price of the two newbuilding vessels is in the region of $65 million each, which is expected to be financed by the internal resources of NAT. The stage payments to the yard by NAT during construction will be guaranteed by a bank.