THE Global Shippers Forum (GSF) has renewed
lobbying the European Commission's competition directorate to
take a closer look at the liner shipping industry, reports The
Loadstar, London.
A year ago, the EC granted container lines
another four years of exemption from its cartel competition laws under the
Block Exemption Regulation (BER), under which container lines are allowed to
share operational data and form shipping alliances.
The GSF said the enormous rise in freight rates, coupled
with all the other container supply chain issues, forced regulators from China,
the US and South Korea to renew scrutiny of the sector, while "the EU has
remained silent, yet four of the biggest shipping lines in the world fall
within its jurisdiction".
GSF chairman James Hookham
added: "Shippers feel side lined by the granting of block exemptions and
other anti-trust protections.
"Their rights to a fair and open market have
effectively been rejected in favour of greater supply-side efficiency and
relief from the costs and 'hassle' of checking compliance with normal
competition rules.
"It is not unreasonable to expect that these
exceptional privileges are kept under close review, especially during times of
unprecedented market turbulence."
However, he said: "The commission has adopted a
'legislate and forget' approach and, seemingly, abandoned shippers and other
users of shipping services, such as freight forwarders and port operators, to
the fate of a deliberately distorted market.
"Given the dependence of European trade on global
container shipping services, this 'supervisory deficit' needs to be corrected."
Mr Hookham added: "As I speak, all those involved in
world trade are waiting to see just how damaging the closure of the Suez Canal
will become to schedules, service and shipping rates.
"With these additional factors yet to play out, it is
vital that competition regulators engage closely with this market to monitor
the consequences of the special privileges they have granted it."
Source : HKSG / Photo : GSF.
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