The British Association of Ship Suppliers is 100 years old and was formed by the amalgamation of The British Ship Stores Associations and The National Federation of Shipping Butchers Associations. BASS is a full member of the International Ship Suppliers & Services Association (I.S.S.A.), which today consists of 92 different Country members, and is registered in The Hague with its Secretariat located in The Baltic Exchange in London.
ISSA consists of an Assembly of each elected Executive of 9 Board Members with a President. In Europe we have a strong body called OCEAN (Organisation de la Communauté Europeénne des Avitailleurs des Navires) that primarily covers legislation being developed in Brussels. BASS play an active part in OCEAN.
Our objective is to ensure that our members are represented to promote the Ship Supply industry to its customers and to guarantee that there is a strong voice to assure that legislation is not a burden, which has been extremely important with all the legislation emanating from Brussels.
The membership of BASS currently as of 2013 stands at 48 members. All have a connection with the shipping industry either as a direct supply company or providing a service to the industry. A number of the members act as suppliers to the Ship Suppliers.
B.A.S.S. Members work through the International Ship Suppliers & Services Association and organisations such as O.C.E.A.N. to ensure the high standards needed for the modern complex ship supply process can be achieved without onerous cost or bureaucratic delay.