Nine car shipping companies are under investigation in suspicion of organizing actions characterized as “an international cartel”, according to Brazil’s Administrative Council for Economic Defence (CADE) which started the enquiry yesterday.

Three of these nine RoRo companies, namely, the Japanese Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha (K Line) and Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK), and Chile’s Compania Sud-Americana de Vapores (CSAV), have signed agreements with CADE to cooperate during the investigating, and thus charges against them will be dropped.

Other companies involved in the investigation are Italy-based Grimaldi Group, Norwegian Höegh Autoliners and Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics, Japan’s Nissan Motor Car Carriers and Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL), as well as South Korea-based Eukor Car Carriers.

The agency said that the investigation is being conducted on a suspicion that the suspects were colluding to allocate customers as well as fixing prices, and, although these practices were believed to have started much earlier, the illegal conduct was most frequent between 2000 and 2012.

CADE added that there is hard evidence on the anti-competitive conduct and that at least 80 individuals related to these companies were involved in the illegal operations.

From: World Maritime News