VDS – German Shipsuppliers Association

Industry

In German ports ship suppliers supply ships with provisions, luxury goods and all technical items and spare parts. These are mostly medium-sized companies with 10 to 30 employees, but the largest have well over 100 employees. Some of these companies are so-called general suppliers who deliver all the goods required in shipping; some have more than 20,000 items in their range and have several thousand m² of storage space and an extensive fleet of vehicles. Other outfitting companies have specialised in individual product groups, e.g. dry provisions, meat and sausage products, luxury foods or deck and machine equipment, wire ropes and ropes, nautical articles, distress equipment and much more. In addition to the general and special outfitters who deliver directly to ships, there are special suppliers for certain segments, for example electrical goods, luxury goods and provisions. In addition, there are various service providers from related areas among the member companies. Since international maritime shipping has always had the privilege of using and consuming duty-unpaid and untaxed goods at sea, ship suppliers trade to a large extent with duty-unpaid third-country and excise-duty-free EU goods and are therefore under constant official control. The warehouses of the ship suppliers are located either in free ports or as bonded warehouses within the customs area. Many German outfitting companies have fixed supply contracts with German and foreign shipping companies and sometimes have to supply their ships in all international ports.