OptiCept Technologies AB (publ), together with Ecuador’s largest rose grower, EQR Equatoroses, will conduct the first full-scale sea freight trials as part of a production test, involving OptiCept’s vacuum impregnation technology for cut flowers.
As part of the trial, a large shipment of roses from EQR will be loaded into containers for transport to Europe. The trial will evaluate four different treatment scenarios:
• Flowers treated before shipment.
• Flowers treated after unloading.
• Flowers treated both before and after shipment.
• A control batch consisting of untreated flowers.
The trial will commence during the third quarter of 2026 and will continue through the fourth quarter of 2026. Once the flowers arrive in the Netherlands, OptiCept will monitor the evaluation process and vase-life testing at its laboratories in the Netherlands.
Previous laboratory tests and sea freight simulations have produced promising results, indicating that the flowers may retain sufficient vase life upon arrival in Europe to make sea freight a realistic alternative to air freight.
The trials are conducted as part of the collaboration initiated under the previous press release dated May 21, 2024, titled “OptiCept explores new partnership opportunity with a world-leading company in flower care products”
“This is the first time that a trial of this scale has been conducted together with a potential customer, and it represents an important step toward the future commercialization of OptiCept’s technology,” says Dr. Katarzyna Dymek, who is leading the trials on behalf of OptiCept.
No binding agreements have yet been entered into because of these trials. Depending on the outcome of the trials, the parties will evaluate further measures for the industrial implementation of the technology.