P&O NEDLLOYD: REMOVAL OF ANTITRUST WON’T HAPPEN FOR YEARS
P&O Nedlloyd said the proposed removal of ocean carriers’ antitrust
immunity in the United States by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Henry Hyde will not be
voted and enacted for "at least a couple of years."
"Current antitrust laws will be a long time in going away," said
Paul
Windfield, executive vice president of P&O Nedlloyd.
Windfield added that he believes that the intention of deregulation-bent
congressmen is to affect the antitrust regime of price-setting agreements,
such as conferences and discussion agreements, not the operational-type
carrier agreements such as consortia and vessel-sharing agreements.
Windfield said that the U.S. Ocean Shipping Reform Act took about four years
to discuss, vote and enact.