In 2005 warehousekeepers in Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands have taken the initiative to create the European Warehousekeepers Federation (EWF). EWF officially started in January 2006.

The goal of EWF is to promote the interests of the warehousekeepers and to unify and improve the quality of warehousing services throughout Europe as well as creating a European level playing field in legislation concerning the warehousing sector.

Although focussing in the beginning on warehousekeepers in coffee and cocoa, EWF will be open for other soft commodity warehousekeepers in a later stage. Members to the federation are regional associations of warehousekeepers in  the main European centres for coffee and cocoa warehousing in Europe.

EWF will develop recommendations and/or standards for the quality of services for the members of participating organisations and discuss with third parties the development of these recommendations so as to benefit from their know-how, to reach mutual understanding of demands and possibilities and to reach agreement about the required quality of services and working practices. EWF will also stimulate the exchange of experiences and best practices between members of participating regional associations and act as spokesman for the sector in European and other international matters, relevant for the soft commodity warehousing.

Member organizations participate actively in the policy making of EWF as well as in the definition of standards. Committees have been created to allow exchange of views and to benefit from the input of expertise from warehousekeepers in all port cities that have joined the federation.

The permanent secretariat of the European Warehousekeepers Federation is based in the offices of the Amsterdam Regional Business Association ORAM.