Just ahead of the new year, Pureteq CEO Anders Skibdal told ShippingWatch that the company had hired several new employees, and that the scrubber manufacturer was generally doing well.

But 2016 did not pan out as projected for Pureteq, which has spent five years developing its scrubber technology.

"No one's buying scrubbers and we have not sold anything to the maritime sector for a year," says Anders Skibdal.