The goal of the ICCE is to promote academic and technical exchange on coastal related studies covering a wide range of topics in including coastal waves, nearshore currents, coastal structures, sediment transport, coastal morphology, beach nourishment, natural hazards and coastal management.

The first conference was held in Long Beach, CA, USA in 1950. The original motivation of this conference can best be found in the preface of the first conference in 1950: "The Conference on Coastal Engineering was conceived originally as a local meeting of engineers and scientists interested in shoreline problems… The aim was to aid engineers by summarizing the present state of the art and science related to the design and planning of coastal works…"

ICCE Conferences have always been one of the leading conferences and have formed the scientific ground to exchange up-to-day knowledge and information on technical, educational, scientific and professional issues unique to coastal engineering and coastal environment problems.