Judging Nordic American Tankers’ (NAT) announcement of a new $306m credit facility with a US bank may be the classic example of whether one sees the glass half empty or half full.

Half full: Herbjorn Hansson’s company found a pocket of capital that will see it through the next five years at a time when bank lending is constrained.

Half empty: The loan comes from Texas-based Beal Bank, which is little known in shipping, and raises the question of whether NAT has slipped from the ranks of owners who can attract financing from traditional maritime banks.