Chile: TDLC fines shipping companies US$9 million

Chile’s Tribunal for the Defense of Free Competition (TDLC) has called for sanctions against six shipping companies accused of executing an anti-competitive agreement in the transport service of vehicles from Europe, America and Asia.

The accused companies were the Chilean Compañía Sudamericana de Vapores (CSAV) and Compañía Marítima de Chile (CMC, formerly Compañía Chilena de Navegación Interoceánica, CCNI); the Korean Eukor Car Carriers Inc. (Eukor); and the Japanese Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha (K-Line), Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd. (MOL) and Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK). The first of these, CSAV, obtained the cancellation of its fine after entering Chile´s leniency program, revealing the existence of the agreement in the first place.

“The TDLC established that for years a cartel had operated, that avoided competition in the transport of vehicles into Chile, as we denounced at the time. We are currently analyzing the details of the sentence, and reaffirm our commitment to the persecution of cartels, which are undoubtedly the worst attack against free competition and affect consumers in our country” said the national economic prosecutor, Ricardo Riesco.