Northwest to cough up $38m for price-fixing

Northwest Airlines has agreed to plead guilty to fixing prices on air cargo shipments and will pay a US$38 million criminal fine, the Justice Department announced.

The department said Northwest Airlines Cargo engaged in a conspiracy to fix prices for air cargo shipments on routes between the US and Japan from at least July 2004 to at least February 2006, reported Dow Jones newswires.

Northwest is now a unit of Delta Air Lines.

Prosecutors said Northwest and other air-cargo shippers held meetings and conversations in the US and elsewhere in which they agreed on shipping rates, in violation of federal anti-trust law. The shippers also monitored and enforced each other's adherence to the price-fixing agreements, prosecutors said.
The department said Northwest shipped a variety of cargo, including heavy equipment, perishable commodities and consumer goods.

Delta spokeswoman Betsy Talton noted that the conduct took place before the Northwest merger, and she said the Justice Department agreement doesn't assert any misconduct by any current or former officer or board member of Northwest or Delta.

Talton said Northwest terminated the employment of the individual who it believed had primary responsibility for the conduct in question.

The Justice Department said 16 airlines have now pleaded guilty or agreed to plead guilty to fixing prices on air cargo, with criminal fines totalling more than $1.6 billion.
(Source:www.cargonewsasia.com)