30 May ABS Issues Technology Feasible Statement of Maturity for SeaTrain Autonomous Submersible Cargo System
PRESS RELEASE
ABS Issues Technology Feasible Statement of Maturity for SeaTrain Autonomous Submersible Cargo System
Certificate WO0304642, dated May 30, 2025 — American Bureau of Shipping confirms feasibility and authorizes advance to Concept Verification
BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. — May 30, 2025 — SeaTrain Technology, LLC today announced that the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) has issued a Statement of Maturity — Technology Feasible — for the company’s Autonomous Submersible Cargo System. Certificate Number WO0304642 was issued May 30, 2025, and electronically published by ABS Houston. The statement certifies that the proposed technology concept is considered feasible with respect to its intended functions and that the technology may proceed to the Concept Verification Stage of the ABS New Technology Qualification (NTQ) program.
ABS reviewed the system in accordance with Part 1D of the ABS Rules for Alternative Arrangements, Novel Concepts and New Technologies, Appendix 2 — Guidance on Qualifying New Technologies; the ABS Rules for Building and Classing Underwater Vehicles, Systems and Hyperbaric Facilities; and the ABS Requirements for Autonomous and Remote Control Functions. The design qualification is bounded at an operating depth of 5,000 feet of seawater (FSW) and a maximum allowable working pressure (MAWP) of 15.3 MPa.
“We are ecstatic that ABS issued this Feasibility Statement today,” said Randy M. Durst, Founder and Chairman of SeaTrain Technology. “I am not surprised. Variable-buoyancy propulsion is a mature technology already in use in the ocean. SeaTrain did not invent the physics. We scaled proven buoyancy change — ballast chambers and wing pitch — into autonomous cargo gliders that American yards can build in series. When class reviews a system that already works at sea and finds it feasible at commercial scale, that is the natural next step, not a leap of faith.”
What ABS Found Feasible
The certificate describes SeaTrain’s Autonomous Submersible Cargo System as designed to redefine commercial and defense waterborne transportation and logistics with variable-buoyancy propulsion, modular cargo architecture, hydro-electric regeneration, and autonomous navigation. The overall system consists of a command module, cargo modules, and a tail module. It uses variable-buoyancy propulsion with onboard ballast chambers and wing pitch. It is powered by battery banks capable of recharging via onboard hydro generators and operates with full autonomy, monitored by an onshore command center, using onboard processors to execute mission plans and respond to changing conditions.
ABS’s scope of review included the design basis and functional specification; basic engineering drawings and principles associated with further development; the System Requirements and Description Document (SRDD); and the risk-mitigation plan, failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA), and risk-response plan. The statement was approved by Michael Kei, ABS Vice President, Technology.
The Feasibility Statement is the first Statement of Maturity in the five-stage ABS NTQ sequence. It is not class notation, type approval, or authorization to construct. It records that the architecture has been screened, found feasible against defined performance requirements, and cleared to enter Concept Verification.
| Stage | ABS NTQ stage | Status — WO0304642 |
| 1 | Feasibility | Complete — Technology Feasible Statement of Maturity issued May 30, 2025 |
| 2 | Concept Verification | Authorized to proceed |
| 3 | Prototype Validation | Subsequent stage |
| 4 | System Integration | Subsequent stage |
| 5 | Operation | Subsequent stage |
“ABS did not rubber-stamp a sketch,” said Malia Van Horn, Chief Engineering Officer. “Feasibility means the architecture survived class screening of the design basis, the SRDD, and the FMEA. The system is autonomous — onboard processors execute the mission, with an onshore command center monitoring. Our next work is Concept Verification: structures, hydrostatics, hydro-generation, and the command–cargo–tail module interfaces, inside the 5,000 FSW envelope ABS recorded.”
A Class Milestone for American Maritime Rebuild
The statement follows SeaTrain’s launch at National Maritime Week in Washington, D.C., and comes as the company advances patented variable-buoyancy gliders intended for series production in U.S. shipyards. An ABS Technology Feasible finding gives yards, charterers, and defense customers independent confirmation that the concept is feasible under a recognized class process and is cleared to the next NTQ stage.
“Class feasibility is how you take a mature ocean technology into American industrial production without pretending it is science fiction,” Durst said. “The physics already work. ABS has now said the application is feasible. Our job is to build.”
About SeaTrain Technology
SeaTrain Technology, LLC, established in 2023 and headquartered in Boynton Beach, Florida, is pioneering a new category of maritime transport with patented submersible, autonomous cargo gliders. Operating below the surface, SeaTrain gliders are designed to move cargo more quietly, more safely, and at lower operating cost than conventional ships, with zero fuel burn and zero emissions in propulsion. The company serves commercial shipping, energy, and defense applications. Core values are innovation, sustainability, efficiency, and safety. Learn more at seatraintech.com.
Media Contact
SeaTrain Technology, LLC
Randy M. Durst, Founder and Chairman
sales@seatraintech.com
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Note: ABS Statement of Maturity WO0304642 (Technology Feasible) is a New Technology Qualification stage document issued May 30, 2025. It is not class notation, type approval, or authorization to construct. Comments and conditions are set out in the ABS Technology Qualification Review Letter “New Technology Qualification (Feasibility Stage) of the Autonomous Submersible Cargo System WO0304642.” Subsequent NTQ stages remain subject to SeaTrain’s qualification plan and ABS review. ABS is an independent classification society; this announcement is issued by SeaTrain Technology, LLC and has not been reviewed or endorsed by ABS as a marketing statement.
EXHIBIT
ABS Statement of Maturity WO0304642
Technology Feasible — Autonomous Submersible Cargo System — issued May 30, 2025, ABS Houston. Approved by Michael Kei, Vice President, Technology. Design qualification bounded at 5,000 FSW and 15.3 MPa MAWP. Technology may proceed to the Concept Verification Stage.