Herbjorn Hansson-led Nordic booked a loss of $32.53m in the quarter, not helped by a $12m writedown on one of its vessels.
Hansson explains the writedown was made as NAT is being overly cautious to ensure it complies with US accounting rules.
The red figure marks a tenth successive quarterly loss for the company.
Adjusted for the one-off charge, NAT booked a deficit of $0.39 per share, three cents deeper than Wall Street had predicted.
NAT, which has been linked with a newbuilding order in South Korea, saw its suezmax fleet drag in an average of $10,700 daily in the quarter, below the $12,000 it needs to break even.
Revenue at the New York-listed owner came in at $17.53m for the period, down from $19.26m in a stronger market a year ago.
NAT notes the acquisition of Scandic American Shipping last year has made Hansson its largest shareholder.
As TradeWinds has previously reported Hansson’s Burma Shipping is now sitting on 3.09 million shares in NAT.
This gives Burma, which Hansson runs with countrymen Rolf Ivar Amundsen and Axel Stove Lorentzen, a 5.64% slice.
Last month NAT announced it has all but halved its fourth quarter dividend as it prepared for fleet expansion.
TradeWinds has reported the owner is close to penning two newbuildings at Samsung Heavy Industries.
