Page 46: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (August 2026)

GREEN MARINE

BALLAST

WATER TECH:

ERMA

FIRST’s

Portfolio for

Shipping's

Watch the full

Next interview with Eleni

Polychronopolou @

Chapter

As the ballast water treatment market matures, ERMA FIRST is betting that the future belongs not to a single technology, but to engineering ? exibility, lifecycle support and operational excellence.

By Greg Trauthwein here was a time, not all that long ago, when the bal- ERMA FIRST, that's exactly where opportunity begins.

last water treatment (BWT) business was a technol- "I actually think one of the biggest changes in our indus- ogy race. Manufacturers competed to earn IMO and try is that shipowners are asking much better questions than

U.S. Coast Guard approvals, shipowners raced to they were 10 years ago," says Polychronopolou. "During the

T meet retro? t deadlines, and success was measured early years of ballast water management, the discussion of- by installations. Today, that market looks very di? erent. The ten centered on which technology was 'best.' Today, owners retro? t boom has largely passed, regulations have become recognize that the better question is, 'Which technology is normalized, and owners have years of operating experience best for my vessel?'" behind them. The industry's questions have changed. That distinction has become the foundation of ERMA

And according to Eleni Polychronopolou, President of FIRST's strategy.

46 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News • August 2026

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