Silverstream Technologies has surpassed 160 commercial vessel installations globally with air lubrication following the recent deliveries of Grimaldi’s Grande Oriente and Wallenius Wilhelmsen’s Arctic Tern. This milestone highlights the maritime industry’s accelerating adoption of air lubrication technology to immediately reduce fuel consumption and emissions across diverse vessel segments.
London, UK | July 30, 2026 – Air lubrication pioneer Silverstream Technologies has crossed a major commercial and technical threshold, announcing that its market-leading hull air lubrication technology has surpassed 160 active vessel installations globally.
The milestone, achieved at the end of July 2026, brings the total number of commercial vessels operating with the Silverstream® System to 164. This rapid expansion underscores the mainstream shipping sector’s accelerating pivot toward verified Energy Efficiency Technologies (EETs) as a immediate hedge against volatile bunker prices and tightening environmental regulations.
PCTC Sector Drives Recent Growth
The latest surge in operational deployment is anchored by prominent deliveries within the Pure Car and Truck Carrier (PCTC) segment:
- Grimaldi Group (Grande Oriente): Delivered in June 2026, this state-of-the-art PCTC represents the continuation of a long-term strategic partnership between Silverstream and Grimaldi. The collaboration aims to embed air lubrication across multiple vessel programs to construct one of the world’s most efficient and sustainable deep-sea fleets.
- Wallenius Wilhelmsen (Arctic Tern): Delivered in July 2026, this methanol dual-fuel, Shaper-class vessel integrates Silverstream’s technology as a core component of its next-generation, low-emission machinery setup.
Proving Versatility Across the Global Fleet
Since its initial commercial introduction, the Silverstream® System has broken out of early-adopter silos to achieve cross-sector deployment. The system, which generates a uniform carpet of microbubbles to drastically cut frictional resistance between the hull and water, has now been successfully integrated across a diverse spectrum of vessel classes, including:
- Cruise ships
- Container vessels
- LNG carriers
- Ro-Ro / RoPax vessels
- PCTCs
This operational diversity highlights the scalability of air lubrication, proving that hull-air technologies are adaptable to varying hull forms, operational profiles, and draft requirements.
Industry Leadership Perspective
Reflecting on the commercial trajectory, Noah Silberschmidt, Founder and CEO of Silverstream, emphasized the urgency driving shipowners toward immediate efficiency solutions:
“Reaching more than 160 vessels on the water is a significant achievement and I am grateful to our customers, colleagues and partners who have played a huge role in this success. Shipowners increasingly look for solutions that can provide a hedge against rising fuel costs by reducing fuel consumption and emissions immediately. The growth of our installed fleet shows that air lubrication is a trusted and proven part of future-proofing strategies.”
With an independently verified net fuel and emissions saving profile ranging between 5% and 10% depending on the vessel type, air lubrication is fast transitioning from an optional add-on to a baseline specification. Silverstream maintains that the technology will soon be considered a mandatory design feature for all newbuilds, as well as a vital retrofit tool for upgrading the efficiency legacy of the existing global fleet.
About Silverstream Technologies
Silverstream Technologies is the market leader in hull air lubrication, providing a fuel-agnostic clean technology that generates a uniform carpet of microbubbles to minimize frictional resistance between a ship’s hull and the water. Suitable for both newbuilds and retrofits across a diverse range of commercial vessel classes, the Silverstream® System unlocks a proven net fuel and emissions saving of 5% to 10%, helping major shipping operators future-proof their fleets against rising costs and strict environmental mandates.
Source: Silverstream Technologies