GLOBAL SHIPPER GROUPS CONDEMN CARTELS

   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.