Optimal Transit Unveils VITAL 100 MW Kraaken: Offshore Vessel Delivers Power, Fresh Water, and AI Compute with Zero Emissions

Optimal Transit, the maritime technology partnership formed by InMar Technologies and OptiFuel Systems, has introduced a second configuration of its Kraaken platform, the Blue Economy VITAL 100 MW. The new design redirects a portion of the vessel's power output away from data center operations and toward direct utility service, exporting continuous baseload electricity and fresh water to shore. The announcement, made from Beaufort, South Carolina, follows the company's July 7 unveiling of the Kraaken as a self-powered maritime AI data center, demonstrating the platform's ability to address a wider range of critical infrastructure needs.

The VITAL 100 MW configuration retains the same proven small waterplane area twin hull (SWATH) architecture, known for its exceptional stability and flexible mooring system, along with the patented Digital Ocean Thermal (DOT) self-powering engine. The vessel relies on commercial off-the-shelf components with long operating histories in demanding industrial and maritime environments. What changes in this version is how the vessel's output is allocated: a greater share is directed toward delivering continuous baseload electricity and fresh water to shore, while substantial capacity remains available for secure AI and data center operations.

Jeff Kline, President of InMar Technologies, explained the strategic shift behind the new configuration. "When we introduced the Kraaken as a data center platform, we presented a self-powered, zero emission vessel designed to dedicate its full capacity to compute," he said. "The VITAL 100 MW configuration takes the same core capabilities and asks a different question: what happens when you point some of that output directly at a coastline that doesn't have reliable power or clean water? The answer is a single vessel that can serve the equivalent of a small city – indefinitely, from offshore, with no connection to the existing grid."

The Kraaken platform is built around what Optimal Transit calls mission-flexible architecture, allowing the same standardized hull, self-powering engine technology, and mooring infrastructure to be configured for different outputs depending on the needs of the host project or government. In its data center configuration, virtually all of the vessel's net output powers hosted AI compute workloads. In the VITAL 100 MW configuration, the allocation shifts to prioritize utility services alongside compute capacity.

Specifically, up to 40 MW of continuous clean baseload electricity is exported directly to shore, enough to reliably serve approximately 32,000 homes around the clock with zero fuel required. The vessel also produces approximately 30 million liters, or roughly 7.9 million gallons, of fresh water per day through vacuum-flash desalination, sufficient to support an estimated 150,000 people. Meanwhile, 60 MW of remaining capacity is reserved for hosting AI-grade data center compute, catering to coastal city sovereign business and infrastructure needs.

The dual-purpose design reflects a growing trend in the data center industry toward decentralized, self-sufficient infrastructure that can operate independently of terrestrial power grids. By combining power generation, water desalination, and compute hosting in a single offshore platform, Optimal Transit is positioning the Kraaken as a versatile solution for coastal regions facing energy shortages, water scarcity, or grid reliability challenges. The ability to deploy such capabilities without fuel or emissions could prove particularly attractive to island nations, remote coastal communities, and governments seeking resilient infrastructure options.