It’s been a significant week for intelligent maritime solutions and services provider Ocean Power Technologies Inc (NYSE-A:OPTT).
It announced the signing of an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) agreement with Teledyne Marine, a division of maritime technology provider Teledyne Technologies, which is set to enhance its product offerings and drive innovation.
The company was also selected as preferred supplier for a PowerBuoy equipped with its AI-Maritime Domain Awareness Solutions Merrows for immediate delivery for an opportunity in the Middle East.
And notably, the company announced it has reached an agreement in principle on a sole source contract award for multiple WAM-Vs for delivery to a US government department, an award expect to lead to further growth with the US government.
Investors welcomed the slew of updates, with OPT’s shares on track to gain more than 30% for the week as of Friday afternoon.
CEO Philipp Stratmann joined Proactive to discuss the US government contract win.
Proactive: We're discussing another US government contract. This business continues to be a good one for the company.
Phillip Stratmann: Absolutely. Our buoy and vehicle businesses continue to grow, both on the commercial side and within the US government, as well as overseas. We’re very excited to maintain both of those business lines and our ability to satisfy our US government customers.
It sounds like they appreciate having a platform that’s ready to go. You can sort of plug and play, and it scales up quickly.
Exactly. Our customers, especially on the US government side, appreciate that this is a fully commercialized platform with no additional R&D required. They can deploy multiple units concurrently. The ability to have that interplay between buoys and vehicles is a game changer for offshore autonomy.
Having these types of customers must be good for your growth. Government involvement often leads to interest from other governments. Do you see this as a catalyst for growth?
Yes. We’ve been executing our growth strategy for the past few years and are now seeing a ramp-up. We have multiple vehicles operating within the US government, and our shareholders should be excited about our continued scaling and upward trend.
Maritime security is becoming more talked about globally. How important is it to secure our waters?
Ocean security is key. Events like disruptions in shipping lanes by terrorist organizations affect the entire economic system. It is vital we maintain that leading edge and deploy our autonomous systems to help maintain freedom of navigation at a fraction of the cost and carbon emissions of traditional systems.
Quotes have been edited for clarity and style