Following the EU's decision last year to terminate liner conferences on October 17, 2008, the EC has started to review the way that ocean carriers work together in consortia. The outcome could have far reaching consequences for shippers, as Matthew Beddow reports. Anyone who thought that the regulatory conflict between ocean carriers and shippers in the EU will end once liner conferences are banned on October 17, 2008 should think again. The European Commission's (EC) review of the way that competing ocean carriers currently join forces in consortia has all the makings of another protracted debate, with dangerous consequences. Although the EC's Directorate General for Competition has recently made it clear that it still believes consortia to be a good thing for shippers, it appears that a much more rigorous examination of Regulation 823/2000 is to be undertaken this time round, compared to the last cursory review in 2004.
展开▼
