Friday Nov 15, 2024
Friday Nov 15, 2024
Monday, 9 April 2012 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Schednet: ITALIAN antitrust authorities have fined 15 container shipping line’s in-house shipping agents and two trading firms US$5.3 million for price fixing at Genoa from February 2004 to December 2009.
The shipping agents were accused of undertaking secret activities that fix prices for shipping services, including issuing bills of lading for exports and delivery orders for imports, according to the Italian authority AGCM, which held that the pricing-fixing exerted “a significant impact on the market”.
Maersk Italia was not fined for joining the cartel because it informed on the rest as did Hapag-Lloyd Italy to a lesser extent, which got its fine halved to $322,000.
Marseilles’ CMA CGM was fined with the largest penalty of $1.18 million followed by China’s Cosco at $965,000 and Japan’s “K” Line at $575,000.
Other participants, which were each fined $108,000, included Singapore’s APL, Taiwan’s Yang Ming, Israel’s Zim, and the two trade associations, Assagenti and Spediporto.
The exposure of the cartel can be used as a reference to look into the transactions in other Italian ports, including La Spezia and the container transshipment hub Gioia Tauro, said the authorities.
