Nordic American Tankers Ltd (NAT) 2008 Q3 法說會逐字稿

-- first on CNBC, Herbjorn Hansoon, CEO of Nordic American Tanker Shipping. Good morning, good to see you again.

Thank you, Mark.

I'm mystified. How are you doing this? You're a tanker company; demand for oil worldwide is down. How are you still making money?

We are making a lot of money.

How?

And the main reason is that oil is moving in all directions. We take oil from the West to the East and from the East to the West. The big question is where oil is being produced and where it's consumed. Take, for instance, Venezuela now, the president there, he doesn't like the man in the White House. Therefore, he sends his oil to China. And then more transportation capacity is needed. Then compared with the situation in which you send it to America. So we carry oil over longer distances, and that is the mystery.

The main reason is that oil is moving in all directions. We take our oil from the west to the east and from the east to the west and the big question is where oil is being produced and where it is consumed. Take for instance the Miss will announce the president there he doesn't like the man in the White House and therefore he sends his oil to China and then more transportation capacity is needed then compared with the situation in which you send it to America so we carry oil over longer distances and that is the mystery.

That is fascinating. So you are profiting from the fact that Hugo Chavez is a nut job.

Yes.

I've got to ask you because there's been so many stories about goods sitting in ports around the world because companies can't get access to letters of credit in order to move those goods overseas. Is it different because you are shipping oil? Is that need for that letter of credit in order to move that oil across the ocean, that doesn't exist for this?

The letter of credit problems, they are associated with the dry cargo business, which is now in an extremely precarious situation. It doesn't relate to the tanker business. We have, when we deal with the major companies like Exxon, British Petroleum and Shell, when they discharge the cargo we get a so-called bill of lading. Because the person owning the bill of lading, he owns the cargo. And if we are in doubt about the payment ability, we have a so-called BBV provision before breaking belt. We don't discharge the cargo unless we have the money, and it's different for the tanker business than the dry cargo business.

Now what sort of future for say the next year are you planning on? What do you expect to happen in the next year? Any changes for the better or for the worse?

I think for us as a company, we will become much more stronger during the next year, because many shipping companies are now in big trouble. The shipping companies having no credit, they are leveraged, they are in big trouble. And to be blunt about it, we may be in a position to take advantage of such a situation.

Two shipping companies were coming to me one week ago asking if I would like to buy them, because they are up in a corner.

And what did you say?

I say I sit back and wait and watch. That is what I am doing. The tanker business is great at this time. Markets are good. And then this quarter is the best -- number three best quarter we have had since 1977, and we are going nicely into the fourth quarter.

We have to leave it there, but we thank you very much for your time.