Shipping lines may face end of conferences in India

Shipping lines may face end of conferences in India Shipping lines serving Indian ports are being warned by a department of the Indian government to expect an end to the allowance of conference agreements, according to a report in the Times of India Monday.
   The relatively new Competition Commission of India is considering assessing heavy penalties to carriers that operate in a so-called 'cartel,' with lines participating in the India Pakistan Bangladesh Ceylon Conference — which include Maersk Line and Hapag-Lloyd — particularly in the commission's sights.
   Nearly 70 percent of containerized traffic moves with IPBCC member lines, which have long been allowed to collectively set rates and surcharges for shippers.
   The relatively new CCI does not have the authority to begin an enquiry or issue penalties, but the government seems intent on changing India's Competition Act to allow the commission to do so. Once that happens, penalties for joint rate setting may be as high as 10 percent of the turnover of the company or three times the illegal profit earned by such anticompetitive moves.
   'We apprised the IPBCC representatives about the Competition Act and its future strengthening,” CCI Acting Chairman Vinod Kumar Dhall told the Times.
   Amendments to the act are likely to be taken up in Parliament this week.