HYDE BILL WOULD REPEAL CARRIERS’ ANTITRUST IMMUNITY
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Henry Hyde, R-Ill., has introduced
legislation that would repeal ocean carriers’ antitrust immunity.
If enacted, the bill would end all carrier agreements, including
rate-setting agreements, rate discussion agreements, and service agreements such as
cooperative working agreements. It would also make it harder to justify the continuation
of the Federal Maritime Commission, since the agency maintains regulatory oversight over
carrier agreements.
Smaller shippers and ocean transportation intermediaries, who claim that they
are suffering discrimination under the Ocean Shipping Reform Act.
Carriers’ antitrust immunity has been under Hyde’s scrutiny since he
presided over a Judiciary Committee hearing last May, just five days after the reform act
went into effect. At that time he vowed to keep a close watch over carriers’ activities.
Hyde said several developments have prompted him to introduce the
legislation, including:
* The pending sale of Sea-Land’s international shipping business to the
Danish carrier Maersk.
* Crowley Maritime’s pending sale of its South American services to
Hamburg-Sud.
* Price hikes by carriers belonging to the Transpacific Stabilization
Agreement.
* Reports of carrier abuses by using the discussion agreement system to set
rates that discriminate against smaller shippers and ocean
transportation intermediaries.
After the Sea-Land and Crowley transactions are completed, there will be no
major, global U.S.-owned carriers left to protect under antitrust immunity, Hyde said.
"Antitrust immunity now almost exclusively benefits foreign-owned carriers at the
expense of American shippers and consumers."
Antitrust immunity is also being questioned by many U.S. trading
partners, and the issue is being examined by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development, Hyde said.
"As I have studied this issue, I have come more and more to the
conclusion that this policy of antitrust immunity for carriers is a vestige
of a bygone era," Hyde said.
The Judiciary Committee will begin hearings on the legislation "early
next year," Hyde said.