The first ever model of operational collaboration for the European maritime industry is presented, built upon the established current state-of-the art in engineering collaboration modelling and addressing key industry requirements. The requirements for operational collaboration practices in the European maritime industry were identified using three approaches: an industrial survey of 69 associations, companies and institutions in the maritime sector; an analysis of prototype collaboration tools; and through an analysis of literature. These requirements were thematically grouped and consolidated where they overlapped, and then translated into model elements and interactions between them. A model that accurately abstracts service and technology collaboration provision between companies in a variety of collaboration modes was built, and validated against a series of steps that an organisation would need to undertake, to develop a particular mode of collaboration to supports their needs. It was tested in three industrial case studies, providing encouraging feedback demonstrating successful implementation. It provides the opportunity for reassessment of the employed processes and activities, and provides a structure for improving collaborative engineering design. Whilst the research was based in the European maritime industry, the model has wider applicability within the collaborative design of complicated engineering artefacts such as automotive or aerospace.