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.
Source : HKSG, 06.04.12.
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