Asian shipping lines part of EU price fixing probe

19 May 2011 - Port Planning, Shipping

• Asian shipping lines investigated in EU antitrust probe

• EU regulators also raided several European shipping companies on Tuesday

The European Union antitrust committee have raided the European offices of Asia's major ocean carriers, as part of the continuing investigation into allegations of price and capacity fixing within calls and services at European ports.

Yesterday, Europe's major shipping lines confirmed that they had been subject to a series of unannounced visits by EU officials in relation to the inquiry.

Today, the JOC are reporting that Asia's major shipping lines are also included as part of the probe, with Neptune Orient Lines, OOCL, Evergreen Marine and Hanjin Shipping confirming visits by EU officials.

"We can confirm that the EC raided our office in the UK's Levington, it's a very general raid and not carrier-specific, it seems," OOCL spokesman Stanley Shen told the JOC.

NOL also confirmed that they too had been visited by EU officials at their UK office in Uxbridge via a statement,  "NOL understands that the intent of the inspection is to identify the existence of any evidence of infringement of anti-competition rules relating to the liner shipping industry."

The statement concluded that the Asian line are acting in  "compliance with the anti-competition regulations and is cooperating fully with the European Union."

Hanjin Shipping and Evergreen Marine verified that their repective offices in Hamburg and London had also been searched as part of the inquiry, according to the JOC.

As PTI reported yesterday, EU regulators investiagting the violation of antitrust rules raided the headquarters of Europe's major shipping companies including Maersk Line, CMA CGM, and Hapag-Lloyd.

The investigation is in relation to a breach of the EU price-setting standards set in 2008 with the EU stating on Tuesday that they, "have reason to believe the companies concerned may have violated the antitrust rules that prohibit cartels and restrictive practices and/or abuse of a dominant market position."

The European Commission who are conducting the investigation refused to name individual shipping lines, although statements were released by Europe's major carriers shortly after the confirmed raids.