Silverstream and Orient Marine Co., Ltd. (Orient Marine) have signed a new Agency Agreement for sales support of the Silverstream^® System within Japan.

The agreement will allow Orient Marine to act as an agent for Silverstream in Japan, providing local representation for marketing and promoting the company’s air lubrication technology to all segments, across both newbuild and retrofit applications. 

The move builds on the Memorandum of Understanding signed between Silverstream, Orient Marine and Mitsui & Co. Europe Plc. in July 2022. The MoU was signed to spur uptake of the Silverstream^® System within the Japanese ship owning community.

The Agency Agreement will leverage Orient Marine’s extensive market knowledge and reach across Japan’s shipping sector. It will facilitate sales support for the Silverstream^® System across the Japanese-owned fleet and with Japanese shipyards for newbuild and retrofit orders. 

Orient Marine’s longstanding ties with the Japanese shipping industry, including charterers, owners and shipyards in Japan, will also help to accelerate system uptake, enabling more rapid decarbonisation within the Japanese maritime market. 

Speaking on the announcement, Noah Silberschmidt, Founder & CEO, Silverstream Technologies, said: “As we deepen our links with Southeast Asia’s shipping community and its key maritime nations, we need partners that we can rely on to support us with local expertise, industry knowledge and the same first-rate service that the industry associates with Silverstream Technologies.

“This new Agency Agreement with Orient Marine will provide us with a smooth path to engaging with Japan’s key shipowners, yards, ship designers and charterers. We are excited by the opportunity to support more of these key players to embrace the Silverstream^® System and to enable them to make progress on their decarbonisation journeys.”

Naoki Shinohara, Executive Vice President, Orient Marine, added: “We are delighted to be able to sign this Agency Agreement with Silverstream Technologies. It builds on the MoU we agreed in July 2022 and will enable us to use our expertise and connections across the Japanese shipping market to propel the uptake of the Silverstream System to meet a growing need for decarbonisation.”

The agreement comes ahead of a programme of engagement with the Japanese market planned by Silverstream to take place across Spring 2023. In April, Silverstream’s team will travel to Japan and engage with charterers, shipowners and shipyards.