Verband Deutscher Schiffsausrüster e.V.

There are ship chandlers in German ports that supply ships with provisions, luxury foods and all technical items and spare parts. Most of these are medium-sized companies with 10 to 30 employees, but the largest have well over 100 employees. Some of these companies are so-called general outfitters that supply all goods required in the shipping industry; some have over 20,000 items in their range and have several thousand m2 of storage space as well as an extensive fleet of vehicles.

Other outfitting companies specialize in individual product groups, e.g. dry provisions, meat and sausage products, luxury foods or deck and engine equipment, wire ropes and cordage, nautical articles, distress equipment and much more. In addition to the general and special equipment suppliers that deliver directly to ships, there are special suppliers for certain segments such as electrical goods, luxury foods and provisions. The member companies also include various service providers from related sectors.

As the privilege of international maritime shipping has always been to use and consume duty-free and untaxed goods at sea, ship chandlers trade to a considerable extent in duty-free third-country and excise-free EU goods and are therefore under constant official scrutiny. The ship chandlers' warehouses are located either in free ports or as bonded warehouses in the customs territory. Many German ship chandlers have fixed supply contracts with German and foreign shipping companies and must supply their ships in all international ports in some cases.