Confirmation was provided on the 10th October by the European Commission that it had carried out raids on a handful of freight firms. The move was a component of a wider probe into the area of cartel activity being carried out within the international freight forwarding sector.
The companies under scrutiny include Panalpina Welttransport Holding AG, Kuehne + Nagel and a strand of the German Deutsche Bahn AG.
It has come to light that the raids were undertaken after a Swiss freight firm - the details of which are not yet known - alerted authorities there. Its claim of the possible existence of cartels is understood to have been supported by documentary evidence.
Although it emphasised that the unannounced visits did not indicate the companies in question were considered guilty of carrying out anti-competitive activities, the EC highlighted how it had sufficient evidence to link them to a breach of the EU’s antitrust regulations, which ban restrictive practices within the corporate arena
Both Panalpina and Kuehne + Nagel asserted that no breach of these antitrust rules had occurred. They added that full cooperation between them and the authorities was taking place.
According to the European Commission, no official deadline exists by which time cartel investigations require completion. The length of time taken can be affected by factors including the complexity of individual cases, and the level of cooperation provided by the firms under surveillance.
Freight forwarding is essentially the management of items bound for transportation, together with linked activities including warehousing, services on the ground, document processing and customs clearance. If a comparison is made with the travel industry, then freight forwarders can be likened to travel agents.
The European Union’s competition law unreservedly bans cartels and practices associable with them.
Source - Freight International’s European Correspondent
Further Resources:
Companies Supplying Freight Forwarding Services
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