European Union regulators on Thursday dropped cartel charges against several sea transport companies accused of fixing prices because the services they offered might have been excluded from competition rules.
Norwegian shipper Odfjell Seachem AS, London-based Stolt-Nielsen SA and Jo Tankers BV of the Netherlands were charged last year. They were suspected of allocating customers, rigging bids, fixing prices and swapping confidential market information from 1998 to 2002.
The EU's executive European Commission said the companies argued that they offered tramp vessel services _ or "non-regular and non-advertised shipping services" _ that were excluded from EU competition rules until 2006.
"After careful consideration ... the Commission concluded that there was a possibility that the services at stake were indeed tramp vessel services," regulators said. "Therefore, the Commission has decided to close the case."
However, the EU warned that shipping companies had no such exemption in future and could now fall foul of the competition rules.
Odfjell said it could not rule out more action from national regulators, but believed it would be clear of trouble because it had received conditional amnesty from "relevant states."
"Such further investigation should therefore not lead to any fines being issued against Odfjell SE," it said in a statement.
Niels G. Stolt Nielsen, chief executive of Stolt-Nielsen, said his company was also pleased that the Commission had closed its investigation and would not impose any penalties.
The EU charges were filed in April 2007, several years after the U.S. Department of Justice said Odfjell and Stolt-Nielsen fixed the cost of shipping bulk chemicals, edible oils, acids and other specialty liquids in violation of U.S. antitrust law.
U.S. regulators settled with Odfjell in 2003, allowing the company to pay a fine over five years. President and CEO Bjoern Sjaastad also agreed to pay a US$250,000 fine and spent four months in a U.S. prison. Vice President Erik Nilsen paid a US$25,000 fine and accepted a prison sentence of three months.
In September 2006, the U.S. Justice Department indicted Stolt-Nielsen, two subsidiaries and two former executives for allegedly fixing the price of shipping bulk liquids, after the company doggedly fought prosecution efforts. It had earlier filed unsuccessful appeals with the U.S. Supreme Court to bar the indictment and appeal a U.S. government decision to revoke amnesty agreements.
U.S.-based Dow Chemical Co. and its subsidiary Union Carbide Corp. took legal action in 2003 to seek damages from four shipping companies charged with price fixing: Japan's Tokyo Marine Co. as well as Stolt-Nielsen, Odfjell and Jo Tankers.
___
On the Net:
http://www.stoltnielsen.com
http://www.odfjell.no/
http://www.jotankers.com
