Being the owner of a group of independent stockists, but also as former agent of the market leader in separation and oil treatment, and finally as owner of a manufacturing plant making diesel engine components for various engine builders, I really think I know what I am talking about.

In a way it is sad that I cannot mention any company names in this article, but as "Big Brother" is watching us, and will probably also read this article, it is actually not really in my commercial interest to give names, but will only stick to facts.

Let me start from the beginning...

The only aim the "original" manufacturers/designers got, is creating a monopoly situation so at the end of the day they can just charge any price on spare parts which are required to maintain and overhaul the equipment which they initially supplied.

In order to reach this ultimate goal, they got various strategies....

Strategy 1 : try to eliminate your competitors

This is their oldest strategy...

Very often the original designers got their own internal spy divisions which has the task to monitor the market, and look for companies that use their name or even use the part numbers which the "original" manufacturer consider their intellectual property. Numerous companies were taken to court, but the success rate was quite low.

It is a strategy they still use, but courts don’t have the tendency to follow their argumentation

Strategy 2 : bind your suppliers

Also an old strategy...

Force the "real maker" of the spare parts to sign an exclusivity contract so he is no longer allowed to supply others on the aftermarket. However, as the original manufacturers/designers also likes to shop in order to get the lowest price, there are a lot of holes in this strategy. Many original designers started to work with cheap Chinese/Indian sources which lead to two main consequences...

A) the old European manufacturer who was replaced by the cheaper Chinese ones, had no other   choice than starting to supply his parts to independent stockists in order to keep surviving.

B) the Chinese/Indian companies turn out to be very unreliable, not only in quality, but also on paper or in words. An exclusivity contract in China has a different meaning as in f.e. Europe.

Bottom line... this strategy is not very successful either...

Strategy 3 : Lets go Green

Now it gets interesting. Yup! Lets go 'green'. The original designers played this strategy very smart. In order to reduce NOx emissions, all spare parts related to the combustion chamber for all engines build after 2002 need to have an IMO number and need to be registered.

And although the original designers are not the real makers of the parts, still they are only ones that can issue this IMO number. So for all ships built after 2002, then engine builders managed to reach their target and get their exclusivity on some of the parts required to maintain an engine.

Strategy 4 : If you can’t beat the competition, then buy them...

This strategy is an old and new one at the same time. For years "original" manufacturers/designers have been buying direct competitors in order to get a bigger market share, and again lesser competitors.

But what is a relatively new strategy, is that engine builders buy independent stockists, not to close them down, but to let them compete with other REAL independent stockists.

So at one hand, the original manufacturers/designers are fighting independent stockists and scare the ship-owners not to use cheap 'pirate' parts and only buy expensive genuine parts, but at the same time several original manufacturers/designers actually own certain "independent" stockists and internally co-operate with them and help them fighting and eliminating the REAL independent stockist.

In order to fight these strategies, EMISA is a necessary organization to secure the interest of the REAL independent suppliers, but also of the ship-owners.

Eric Hansson

IMSE bvba