Chinese regulators fine shipping companies in two separate cases

Some fines are targeting roll-on/roll-off firms for alleged price fixing in the transportation of automobiles, while others are aimed at container companies for reported issues with tariff filing.

   Chinese regulators have fined two separate groups of shipping companies in recent days.
   In the first instance, roll-on/roll-off carriers were fined for alleged price fixing; in the other, container companies were fined for not filing tariffs or other problems with tariff filing.
   Eight roll-on/roll-off shipping companies have been fined a total of 407 million yuan ($62.86 million) for price fixing, according to an article by China’s official Xinhua news agency published on the China Daile website. In some cases, the National Development and Reform Commission imposed fines that amounted to four to nine percent of the companies’ revenues of their related China business in 2014, according to the article.
    Xinhua said the companies included Japan’s NYK Line and “K” Line, as well as CSAV of Chile. An article by Bloomberg news service identified the others as MOL, Eastern Car Liner Ltd., Eukor Car Carriers Inc., and Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics
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   “After more than a year of investigations, authorities found the companies involved had exercised price manipulation for shipping vehicles and engineering machinery on major lines for at least four years, violating anti-monopoly laws,” the Xinhua article said.
   Ro-ro carriers have recently been fined for alleged price fixing in a number of countries, including the United States.
   As reported in the current issue of American Shipper, some shippers of ro-ro cargo are asking a U.S. District Court
who dismissed their antitrust lawsuits against ro-ro shipping companies in August to reconsider her decision or are appealing it to the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals.
   In a separate development, an article on the website of China’s Ministry of Transport says eight liner companies are being fined 1.1 million yuan ($169,500) for not filing tariffs or other problems with their tariffs. The companies fined included industry leader Maersk Line, state-owned COSCO, Hanjin, ZIM, PIL and others.