ERMA FIRST acquisition

RWO GmbH is a market leader in bilge water separation systems. In addition to systems and monitoring for bilge water treatment, RWO’s product range for ships, ports and offshore installations spans sewage treatment; desalinisation; ballast water treatment; and process water treatment, as well as after sales spare parts and services.

Konstantinos Stampedakis, MD of ERMA FIRST, 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.”

Production kept in Germany

Over 16,000 ships have been equipped with RWO’s oil water separators since the company’s inception in 1975.

Mr Stampedakis added: “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 (BWTS) on more than 2,500 ships.