South Korea’s Samsung Heavy Industries has successfully delivered the first in a series of three oil tankers ordered by Nordic American Tankers (NAT), a Norwegian carrier, according to industry sources on Wednesday.

The three vessels were ordered in October 2016. The ship is 156,900 DWT being able to load one million barrels of crude oil. The second ship is scheduled for delivery at the end of August and the third one at the end of October.

In a letter to shareholders, the Bermuda-based and NYSE-listed NAT showed high confidence in the quality and accuracy of delivery, saying over the years it has received several new buildings from Samsung and all transactions have been performed in a flawless way.

The first new vessel was christened Nordic Aquarius.

The tanker fleet owner said the Nordic Aquarius will be employed in worldwide trading, with the first voyage expected to be from Singapore to Western Europe.

Including the new buildings of 2018, NAT now owns an industry leading Suezmax age fleet profile. The three new vessels this year will reduce the average age of the NAT fleet substantially to about 10 years per ship.

NAT and Samsung Heavy Industries cemented their long-time relationship with massive orders in 2016, when orders became extremely scarce in the shipbuilding industry.

By Woo Je-yoon and Minu Kim

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