EUROPEAN COMMISSION INVESTIGATES ASIA/EUROPE CAR CARRIER OPERATORS

EUROPEAN COMMISSION INVESTIGATES ASIA/EUROPE CAR CARRIER OPERATORS    The European Commission has opened an investigation into the car-carrier rate-setting activities of the Far Eastern Freight Conference.
   Following the launch of the new probe, the conference of Asia/Europe shipping lines said that it has decided that it would terminate, with immediate effect, its price-fixing regarding the transport of cars by sea, the EC reported. In addition, the Scandinavian car-carrier operator Wallenius Wilhelmsen has withdrawn from the Far Eastern Freight Conference.
   The Brussels-based regulator said that specialised car carriage “is not covered by the European Union liner conference exemption.”
   It added that deep-sea car carriage is a highly concentrated sector, with only a few major players worldwide. The four largest specialized car operators — NYK Line, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, “K” Line and Wallenius Wilhelmsen — were all members of the Far Eastern Freight Conference, until the recent departure of Wallenius Wilhelmsen. Last November, the EC granted conditional clearance to the joint acquisition by Wallenius Lines and Wilhelmsen (the parent companies of Wallenius Wilhelmsen Lines) of the deep-sea car carrier business of Hyundai Merchant Marine
   Facing a new investigation, the Far Eastern Freight Conference informed the EC that all of its provisions concerning non-liner services have been removed and abolished with immediate effect.
   The EC welcomed the conference’s amendments, but said that it continues its investigation “with regard to past behavior in this field.”
   The Far Eastern Freight Conference has undergone several investigations by the EC in the past.