Exhibit
12.1




CERTIFICATION
OF THE PRINCIPAL EXECUTIVE OFFICER








I,
Herbjørn Hansson, certify that:





1. I have
reviewed this annual report on Form 20-F of Nordic American Tanker Shipping
Limited;





2. Based
on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue statement of a material
fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the statements made, in
light of the circumstances under which such statements were made, not misleading
with respect to the period covered by this report;





3. Based
on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial information
included in this report, fairly present in all material respects the financial
condition, results of operations and cash flows of the Company as of, and for,
the periods presented in this report;





4. The
Company’s other certifying officers and I are responsible for establishing and
maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules
13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) and internal control over financial reporting (as
defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) for the Company and
have:





(a) Designed such disclosure controls
and procedures, or caused such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed
under our supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the
Company, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to us by others
within those entities, particularly during the period in which this report is
being prepared;





(b) Designed such internal control over
financial reporting, or caused such internal control over financial reporting to
be designed under our supervision, to provide reasonable assurance regarding the
reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements
for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting
principles;





(c) Evaluated the effectiveness of the
Company’s disclosure controls and procedures and presented in this report our
conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures,
as of the end of the period covered by this report based on such evaluation;
and





(d) Disclosed in this report any change
in the Company’s internal control over financial reporting that occurred during
the period covered by this annual report that has materially affected, or is
reasonably likely to materially affect, the Company’s internal control over
financial reporting.








5. The
Company’s other certifying officers and I have disclosed, based on our most
recent evaluation of internal control over financial reporting, to the Company’s
auditors and the audit committee of the Company’s board of directors (or persons
performing the equivalent function):





(a) All significant deficiencies and
material weaknesses in the design or operation of internal control over
financial reporting which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the
Company’s ability to record, process, summarize and report financial
information; and





(b) Any fraud, whether or not material,
that involves management or other employees who have a significant role in the
Company’s internal control over financial reporting.








Date: May
8, 2009













Herbjørn
Hansson


Chairman,
Chief Executive Officer and President