ESC says carrier consortiums should be self-regulated

The European Shippers Council on Tuesday said it does not want liner carriers to lose the privileges of operating in consortia, but said the legality of such consortiums should be regulated by self-assessment.

ESC is fully supportive of consortia and the extended range of services and competition they can bring to a market, the shipper group said in a statement. The difference of opinion between ESC and (the European Liner Affairs Association, which represents carriers) is that the latter wants legal certainty, while ESC is happy that self-assessment by the consortia and its members should be sufficient, just as it is for every other industry sector since the modernization of competition rules. The ELAA is seeking legal protection for liner consortia, fearing that without ironclad rules any collaboration between carriers could run afoul of the recent EU ban on liner conferences, which went into effect in mid-October.

Consortia are important for carriers and they are important for shippers said Nicolette van der Jagt, secretary general of the ESC.

But she said consortiums shouldn't be given protection from competition rules, even if they don't dominate a specific market.

LAA assessment is that the consortia, even with a 60 percent market share, are only cooperating on operational aspects of the service but remain actively competing with each other, van der Jagt said. But it would be foolish and unprecedented for the European Commission to suggest that every consortia agreement could therefore be granted exemption from competition rules without any detailed legal assessment of each agreement having first been made by the consortia. The Treaty of Rome makes it very clear what type of behavior and practice is allowed: essentially, anything which does not reduce competition and on balance benefits the customer is legal. It is up to every company to assess their own compliance with the rules.

Source: American Shipper