The First 48 Hours of a Vessel Acquisition Review

The first forty-eight hours of a vessel acquisition review are about triage. The goal is not to produce a finished diligence report. It is to identify the technical, documentary and operating issues that could change price, timing, structure or appetite.

I start by mapping the asset against the buyer's actual plan. What is being acquired, what must it do, when does it need to operate, who will maintain it, what regulatory regime applies, and what assumptions are already baked into the commercial case?

Then I look for deal-changing evidence: class status, flag constraints, major defects, missing records, unpaid suppliers, disputed ownership of drawings or equipment, customer commitments, warranty claims, idle periods, crew concerns and anything that suggests the operating story is cleaner than the reality.

A site or vessel walk-through should be direct and practical. Photograph the evidence, ask who knows the history, check whether equipment is installed or merely present, and test whether the people on the ground describe the same asset as the seller's material.

By the end of the first forty-eight hours, the buyer should know the main unknowns, the immediate red flags, the documents still required, and the issues that need legal, financial or technical protection before the process goes further.