Welcome to the Organisation of European Shipsuppliers (O.C.E.A.N)

The objective of the Organisation de la Communauté Européenne des Avitailleurs de Navires (O.C.E.A.N) is to represent the interests of all European Ship Suppliers in European Union matters relating to the shipping industry such as customs, maritime transport, trade and veterinary affairs. The Brussels based secretariat advises members on latest developments in these fields, informs them on current topics in its newsletters, and endeavours to improve the knowledge of the EU legislators and decision-makers on ship supplying, and to enhance the good reputation of the European ship suppliers. We aim to ensure an optimum business climate for ship suppliers in the European Union acting as the voice of our companies towards the European institutions and European governments. As such, OCEAN fosters deeper understanding of the particularities involved in ship supplying and provides pro-active, close-to-reality answers to matters that have an impact to the ship supplying industry in Europe.

Many of the European ship supply companies have been established for decades, and some are more than 100 years old, having survived all the difficulties throughout that period. As ship operation becomes more technical and more automated, ship supply is getting more and more complicated too, and that has led to further specialisation. At the same time, this development gives ship suppliers an increasingly important role to play as specialised traders, giving an extremely wide range of services for maritime transport. Ship suppliers have become an indispensable element in port operations.

Members

At present there are some 750 ship supply companies in the European Union, the vast majority being members of OCEAN. Membership in OCEAN is open to national ship supply organisations within the European Union. Most of our member-companies are general or technical ship suppliers or are specialised. For example in meat, wine and spirits, tobacco or luxury goods, coffee, provisions, deck/engine stores and spare parts, wires and ropes, paints, electrical equipment, navigational/optical equipment, life-saving equipment, maritime charts, manufacturers and wholesalers of technical equipment, wellness-, cosmetic- and hygiene products and forwarding agencies. The member companies of OCEAN are represented in all European Member States with ports.

OCEAN is a committee of ISSA - the International Shipsuppliers and Services Association - which is the umbrella organisation for associations of ship and service suppliers around the world. This grouping of Associations looks after the joint international interests of ship suppliers, and maintains contacts with shipping associations and relevant international bodies.

Activities

OCEAN has its own specialised network of experts in different fields in order to deal adequately with ship supply related matters. Their work is coordinated by the Brussels-based secretariat.

OCEAN participates in several working groups and committees such as the Trade Contact Group, which provides European shipsuppliers a platform for a regular consultation with the European legislators who design and create customs law in the European Union. As such, OCEAN comments on the impact of the electronic customs initiative, the modernised customs code; the implementation of current and future customs legislation and the developments of customs policy for EU Shipsuppliers. Internally, OCEAN has two policy working groups which meet regularly:

OCEAN also actively participates in the Stakeholder Advisory Group on Maritime Security (SAGMaS) of the European Commission to provide our industry point to view to the Maritime Security Regulatory Committee (MARSEC Committee). OCEAN is also active in the Trans-Atlantic Business Dialogue (TABD) fostering strong links between the European Union and the United States of America.