Greek ballast water company buys RWO

Erma First, a Greek ballast water equipment manufacturer, has acquired German marine water specialist, RWO GmbH. The Bremen-based company, established in 1975, supplies a range of water treatment systems for ships, ports and offshore installations, and has supplied more than 16,000 oil water separators to ships over the years.

Erma First managing director, Konstantinos Stampedakis, said: “This is a win for Erma First and a win for RWO’s customers and staff. We have acquired a world leader in water treatment systems for the shipping industry with a strong customer base and a reputation for excellence and reliability. We ourselves have a track record of innovation with our ballast water technologies and are well-known for our high-quality engineering and customer-first ethos.”

Stampedakis said that RWO products will continue to be made and engineering in Germany and there will be no changes to RWO’s engineering workforce or global aftersales network. Service agreements with customers will remain unchanged.

Erma First was established in 2009. According to its website, the company has 1,259 ballast water treatment systems in operation today.