diff --git a/symmetric-core/src/main/java/org/jumpmind/symmetric/db/AbstractTriggerTemplate.java b/symmetric-core/src/main/java/org/jumpmind/symmetric/db/AbstractTriggerTemplate.java
index 992eee9f53..236f3d63b8 100644
--- a/symmetric-core/src/main/java/org/jumpmind/symmetric/db/AbstractTriggerTemplate.java
+++ b/symmetric-core/src/main/java/org/jumpmind/symmetric/db/AbstractTriggerTemplate.java
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ protected boolean useTriggerTemplateForColumnTemplatesDuringInitialLoad(Column c
                 return true;
             }
             String typeName = column.getJdbcTypeName();
-            if (typeName.equalsIgnoreCase("unichar") || typeName.equalsIgnoreCase("univarchar") || typeName.equalsIgnoreCase("unitext")) {
+            if (typeName != null && (typeName.equalsIgnoreCase("unichar") || typeName.equalsIgnoreCase("univarchar") || typeName.equalsIgnoreCase("unitext"))) {
                 return true;
             }
             int type = column.getJdbcTypeCode();