Trojan withdraws amid 'regulatory delays' and challenging market

In a statement on its website, Trojan Technologies said it “has made the extremely difficult decision to exit the ballast water treatment market and will begin winding down related activity over the next couple of months.”

The company stated that it will continue to support and service vessels with Trojan Marinex ballast water management systems (BWMS) and will complete the manufacture of systems already on order.

Trojan first started developing a ballast water treatment system in 2008. In 2011, an agreement with Trojan Technologies enabled Wärtsilä to offer the Canada-based company’s Marinex ballast water management system alongside its own Wärtsilä Hamworthy Aquarius range.

In 2013, Trojan Marinex announced it was making progress with its type-approval process for its BWMS, under the auspices of the Norwegian Administration and DNV. By then, the agreement with Wärtsilä had “ended recently and mutually, due to shifts in strategic direction,” explained the company in a statement.

In 2015, Ballast Water Treatment Technology reported that Trojan Marinex had submitted a type-approval application to the US Coast Guard, the first system to do so, according to consultancy firm Mouawad Consulting, which “worked closely with the Trojan Technologies team during this process,” it said in a discussion forum on the LinkedIn social media site in March.

In 2016, Trojan Marinex was named as one of the BWMS manufacturers opposed to the USCG’s opposition to the most probable number (MPN) testing methodology. An appeal on the decision failed.

In November 2018, the US Senate passed the USCG Authorization Act with the attached Vessel Incidental Discharge Act (VIDA).

At the time, a Trojan Marinex spokesperson told Ballast Water Treatment Technology, "We are very encouraged with the US Senate’s passage of the bill and look forward to the US House of Representative’s passage also. The Bill unequivocally requires the USCG to adopt a reproductive method based on best available science. As many know, the rest of the world through IMO adopted the MPN method as the best available science for a reproductive method in July 2017. We believe this harmonisation is a major step forward for shipowners around the world as it allows for the appropriate and cost-effective use of UV treatment for ballast water management systems." But Trojan Marinex and other stakeholders in the BWMS industry were disappointed in the USCG attitude toward VIDA.

Trojan Marinex’s statement on exiting the ballast water treatment market does not offer specific reasons as to why the company is winding down ballast water treatment activities, referring only to “regulatory delays and increasingly challenging market dynamics”.

As recently as April 2020, Trojan Marinex had partnered with GEA of Germany, one of Europe’s largest suppliers of food processing equipment, to develop the BallastMaster marineX ballast water treatment system.

In addition to the US Coast Guard’s hesitancy in adopting MPN testing, delays due to Covid-19 have arisen regarding BWMS being approved for IMO revised G8 type-approval before the 28 October 2020 deadline.