China: Price-fixing foreign shipping firms fined US$63m

China fined eight shipping lines $63 million in total after finding them responsible for price collusion in the transportation of vehicles and heavy machinery.

Japan’s Nippon Yusen KK, Mitsui OSK lines, Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha and Eastern Car Liner Ltd., Korea’s Eukor Car Carriers Inc., Norway’s Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics AS, Chile’s Cia. Sud Americana de Vapores SA and its shipping line were the eight indicted after a year-long investigation, the National Development and Reform Commission said in a statement on its website Monday. The companies acknowledge wrongdoing, the top Chinese economic planning agency said.

The probe follows similar investigations by the European Union in 2013 and Japan’s Fair Trade Commission. Japanese regulators raided the offices of five shipping lines in 2013 over allegations they discussed raising rates together for transporting cars, and imposed fines on Nippon Yusen and Kawasaki Kisen in January 2014. AP Moeller-Maersk A/S, CMA CGM SA and MSC Mediterranean Shipping Co. were among companies in the European Union probe.