The European Commission has opened formal antitrust proceedings against several container liner shipping companies in order to ascertain whether they have been engaging in concerted practices, which would be in breach of EU antitrust rules.

Following the abolition of the block exemptions for liner conferences in 2008, the European Commission conducted a series of unannounced inspections in 2011 at the premises of companies active in the container liner shipping in several Member States.

Since then, the Commission has been analyzing the findings and has today decided to open a formal investigation into whether liner shipping companies are involved in anti-competitive behaviour. As specified in the Commission’s official press release, the opening of proceedings does in no way prejudge the outcome of the investigation.

According to the said press release, the companies against which the antitrust proceedings are directed have been making regular public announcements of price increase intentions through press releases on their websites and in the specialised trade press. These announcements are made several times a year and contain the amount of increase and the date of implementation, which is generally similar for all announcing companies. The announcements are usually made by the companies successively a few weeks before the announced implementation date.

The Commission has concerns that this practice may allow the companies to signal future price intentions to each other and may harm competition and customers by raising prices on the market for container liner shipping transport services on routes to and from Europe. The Commission will now investigate whether this behaviour amounts to a concerted practice in breach of Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and of Article 53 of the European Economic Area (EEA) Agreement.

The shipping companies under investigation are likely to be invited to meetings with EU officials in the near future to discuss the state of play of the investigation.