Nordic American Tankers is experiencing lower daily charter rates for its fleet of 30 Suezmax tankers during this quarter than it did in the first three months of the year.

However, Herbjørn Hansson, chief executive officer, said the rates remain well above the Bermudian-based company’s break-even rate of $11,500 per day per ship.

During a conference call he gave robust responses to questions from analysts and investors about the state of the company, which has seen its stock price more than halved from $13.07 a year ago to $5.96 yesterday.

The company has only one class of tanker in its fleet, Suezmax, which can each carry one million barrels of crude oil.

Nordic American touts its homogenous and interchangeable fleet as a strength allowing it to achieve operational efficiencies, which Mr Hansson estimated to be between $500 and $1,000 per day per vessel.

The conference call on Tuesday followed a May 29 message to shareholders and investors which stated the company has a “strong cash flow and solid financial position”.

In the first quarter it achieved an average daily time charter equivalent of $22,700 per day per vessel. Mr Hansson said this is expected to be lower for the current quarter, but well above the break-even rate.

He said the summer months tend to be a “little bit dull”, but with 30 vessels in its fleet, and three more being built, it is the biggest owner of Suezmax class tankers in the world, making it an important operator for oil companies and traders.

“Going forward I’m optimistic. When all 33 ships are in action we make a lot of money,” he said, adding that major users wanted to work with Nordic American because of its high quality ships and their level of trust in the company.

The company, which was incorporated in 1995, has paid out 79 quarterly dividends. When quizzed about future dividend payments, Mr Hansson said: “We will continue paying dividends going forward. I cannot envisage we will not pay dividends.”

Nordic American has a credit facility of $500 million, maturing in December 2020. Its net debt based on its current 30-strong fleet is $10.2 million per vessel.

The company’s three new tankers are being built at Samsung shipyards and are expected to be delivered in the second half of next year. It has paid 30 per cent of the purchase price in cash up front. Nordic American expects to use cash on hand and increased debt to pay the outstanding $116 million, which will be due on delivery.

Mr Hansson pointed out that the company can make $60 million per quarter in a strong market, therefore two strong quarters would cover the remaining cost of the new builds.

“We know how to manoeuvre in this business,” he said.

Mr Hansson also gave an insight on the Nordic American fleet deployment. He said about 20 of its vessels are operating in the Far East, while about ten are “in the western world”.

One of the company’s longest routes is between Venezuela and China, while it also serves routes between West Africa and the Far East.

“Suezmax are very versatile. We do not tell people what we are doing all the time. We are good at hiding what we doing marketwise, because we don’t want others snapping at us,” said Mr Hansson.

Disclosure: the author owns shares in Nordic American Tankers