Shipping cartel annoys US regulator
November 11, 2011 by Jules
Interesting tidbit in today's scmp:
High tide for US maritime chief
Richard Lidinsky, the heavy-hitting chairman of the United States Federal Maritime Commission, has become increasingly exasperated and angry at the cavalier attitude adopted towards the commission by container line members of the Transpacific Stabilisation Agreement (TSA) and Westbound Transpacific Stabilisation Agreement (WTSA). The firms, including Orient Overseas Container Lines, Cosco Container Lines and China Shipping Container Lines, have immunity from prosecution for forming a cartel to fix freight rates on shipments across the Pacific.
Lidinsky's anger finally boiled over at a recent FMC meeting in Washington when he berated the carriers for their tardiness in filing transcripts of e-mails, telephone conversations and meetings related to shipping issues. This came after he learned that some transcripts were filed up to a year late.
Expressing his outrage, Lidinsky said: "We have a situation where a group of shipping lines have been given antitrust immunity to collude to raise the rates that American shippers and consumers pay for their imports and exports.
"And all we ask in return are some transcripts and minutes. We get stiff-armed on even those simple orders for over a year, to the point of near-outright defiance. I recently told TSA and WTSA representatives this in private, and now I am sharing my warning in public: If I see one more instance of defiance, I intend to move and vote swiftly to show them that this commission will not tolerate one more day of such defiance."
We are not sure of the sanctions Lidinsky can impose, but there have already been political moves in the US for the carriers to be stripped of their antitrust immunity, something that would be welcomed by exporters in Hong Kong and Asia.
In: Market News