Organizations representing shippers in North America, Asia and Europe have
condemned carrier cartels and called for a greater liberalization of maritime transport.
At the annual "tri-partite" meeting held in Vancouver, British
Columbia, on Sept. 12-14, the global shippers urged their governments to eliminate liner
carrier cartels.
The shipper bodies also expressed a qualified support for inclusion of the
maritime industry in forthcoming World Trade Organization multilateral talks on the
liberalization of services.
The shippers’ organizations represented at the meeting were the U.S. National
Industrial League, the Japan Shippers’ Council, the European Shippers’ Council,
the Canadian Shippers’ Council, the Hong Kong Shippers’ Council, the Korean
Shippers’ Council, the Singapore National Shippers’ Council, the Thai National
Shippers’ Council and the Federation of Association of South East Asian Nations
Shippers’ Councils.
The group of shippers said that governments and international
inter-government organizations should create the necessary legal structure to ensure that
"ocean transport should be guided by a free market economy (that) is preferable to
anti-competitive practises among price-fixing cartels."
The shippers’ organizations fell short of asking for an end to antitrust
immunity in shipping.
Concerning the air cargo industry, the global shipper groups agreed that they
should work together to implement common industry standards.
GLOBAL SHIPPER GROUPS CONDEMN CARTELS
GLOBAL SHIPPER GROUPS CONDEMN CARTELS
