NTA expands its tanker fleet

NTA EXPANDS ITS TANKER FLEET On Thursday, June 3, the second of the Swedish tanker shipping company N&T Argonaut's newbuildings was delivered. During the spring, NTA has thus taken delivery of the two 158,000 deadweight ton (dwt) tankers M/T Nord Hope and M/T Nord Horn, which were built at the Daewoo Shipyard in South Korea. The vessels are "Suezmax" size oil tankers, built according to the latest rules and with modern technology such as double hulls and state-of-the-art computerized equipment for navigation, engine operation and cargo handling. Like the cargo tanks, all fuel tanks are protected by double hulls, that is, both the bottom and sides of the vessels are double, with a distance of 2-3 meters between the outer and inner hull. "In addition to hull safety, we have also chosen to enhance the vessel's environmental protection systems to ensure safer operation and work," says Anders Berg, NTA's President and CEO. The vessels each have a total length of 274 m, a beam of 48 m and a maximum draft of 17 m. Fully loaded, their speed is 15.2 knots. Today NTA thus has a fleet consisting of 18 tanks, totaling 3,617,000 dwt. The fleet includes one Ultra Large Crude Carrier (ULCC), seven Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs), five Suezmax and five Aframax vessels. Early next year, an additional newbuilding is scheduled for delivery to NTA: a 300,000 dwt crude oil tanker in the VLCC size category. Stockholm, June 3, 1999 N&T ARGONAUT AB (publ) For further information, please contact: Anders Berg, President and CEO, tel: +46-8-613 19 00. PHOTO MATERIAL: Available at our Web site, www.ntargonaut.com under the heading Press Releases, where you will find our photo archive. ------------------------------------------------------------ Please visit http://www.bit.se for further information The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/1999/06/03/19990603BIT00110/bit0001.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/1999/06/03/19990603BIT00110/bit0002.pdf