Three Hamburg-based towage companies have been fined a total of EUR 13m ($15.4m) for operating a cartel at German ports.
The three companies were named as Fairplay Schleppdampfschiffsreederei Richard Borchard GmbH, Bugsier-, Reederei- und Bergungs GmbH and Petersen & Alpers GmbH.
“Our investigations have shown that at least between 2002 and 2013 the harbour towage companies divided orders and turnover earned from several German harbours among themselves. The companies set quotas based on turnover which they used to allocate orders between them,” said Andreas Mundt, President of the Bundeskartellamt, Germany’s cartel authority.
“The quotas were set in 2000/2001 after Dutch harbour towage companies had started operating on the Elbe and Weser rivers.
“All the major towage companies in the respective harbours had participated in the quota allocation.
“As Dutch companies were also involved in the cartel, the Bundeskartellamt cooperated closely with the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets in this case.”
Unterweser Reederei GmbH, which had also participated in the cartel agreement and its subsidiary Lütgens & Reimers GmbH escaped punishment for reporting the cartel to the Bundeskartellamt.
Neue Schleppdampfschiffsreederei Louis Meyer GmbH also escaped punishment with no fines being imposed due to what the Bundeskartellamt described as “discretionary reasons”.
Fines are generally calculated according to the gravity and duration of the infringement, the Bundeskartellamt said.
“In this particular case, in addition to the small geographical market, the powerful position of the opposite market side, in particular the liner shipping companies, was taken into consideration in the companies’ favour,” it said.
In setting the fine the Bundeskartellamt said it also took into account the fact that the three companies fined had cooperated with the authority within the scope of its leniency programme and had each concluded a settlement with the authority.
Investigations into another unnamed company are still said to be ongoing, the Bundeskartellamt said.
