The staff of the German Research Fleet Coordination Centre,  based at the Institute for Oceanography, University of Hamburg,  organizes the scientific-technical, logistic and financial operations of the research vessels (RV) METEOR, MARIA S. MERIAN and SONNE. They work closely with the expedition coordinators and are partners with the contract ocean carrier Briese Schiffahrts G.m.b.H. & Co. KG.