A marketshare conundrum for liners, as expiry of EC block exemption nears

© Khunaspix Dreamstime.

In a year and half, the deepsea alliance structure could find itself on the wrong side of European competition legislation.

Yesterday, the European Commission reopened its investigation into the block exemption that currently applies to container shipping, and which allows them to operate alliances on trades that serve the EU.

Brought into law in 2010 – following the EU’s decision to outlaw the old conference system that allowed shipping lines to jointly set freight rates – the maritime Consortia Block Exemption Regulation has enabled carriers jointly run ...