Erma First acquires Germany’s marine water system supplier

Greece-based ballast water equipment manufacturer Erma First has taken over RWO, a Germany-based supplier of systems for water and wastewater treatment aboard ships and offshore rigs.

RWO was founded in 1975 and headquartered in Bremen. Since its founding, the company installed its oil water separators on more than 16,000 ships.

The company’s product portfolio includes the treatment of drinking and process water, oily waters, ballast, wastewater as well as a comprehensive range of after sales spare parts and services, according to the statement.

The systems and monitoring processes are designed for:

• Bilge water treatment
• Sewage treatment
• Desalinisation
• Ballast water treatment
• Process water treatment

RWO also created a second generation of CleanBallast Ocean Barrier System, a technology for the treatment of ballast water, which removes organisms, sediments and suspended solids.

The system, which can be integrated into existing onboard processes, is fully automated but with the possibility of both local and remote operation.

Erma First Managing Director Konstantinos Stampedakis said: “All RWO products will continue to be made and engineered in Germany and there will be no changes to RWO’s engineering workforce or global aftersales network. Service agreements with all current customers remain unchanged.”

Since its launch in 2009, Erma First has installed its ballast water treatment systems on more than 2,500 ships.