RE: Vard11 Mar 2023 14:18
Pitlick,
Buying shipping vessels is not like buying a new phone. Shipping companies will take a lot of time doing DD, especially on a new technology vessel. The first thing they will do is sign NDA's with VARD, so that news can only be released when the buyer says so, as the buyer will want to control the PR for their own gain.
After that they will spend months working with Vard on the specific design features and configuration that they want on their vessels. Discussing pricing, maintenance, support, guarantees, etc.
I suspect VARD have a lot of clients reviewing the vessel that uses AFC Fuel Cells. Some might want to see a real vessel as a showcase, others might be more open to ordering early, based on their own emissions reduction ambitions, but might want it kept secret until the vessel is built and tested, in order to avoid any egg on face.
AFC currently do not have the 600kW systems to put into the vessels, all we know they were building is 100kW and 200kW. So any order would require AFC to upscale the 200kW system and build it, which is likely a 6-12 month task.
It would be great to see AFC advise that Vard have several customers interested in AFC based Zerocoaster vessels, as just one order would have huge implications for AFC. However, I would not get too far ahead of ourselves with something that could still take a while to appear, due to those NDA's.