Tuesday, 18 September 2007 00:00
By Marcus Hand
“China passed an anti-trust law at the end of last month. It has no exemption for the liner industry,” Cai Jiaxiang, vice president of the China Shippers’ Association told Lloyd’s List on the sides of a Global Shippers’ Forum meeting in Singapore.
The Anti-Trust act was passed on August 30 and will come into force in August 2008. Unlike Singapore’s Anti-Competition Act, which came into force last year, it has no provision for exemptions. In Singapore, shipping lines successfully lobbied the government for block immunity for liner conferences and alliances from the Competition Act, much to the disappointment of the Singapore National Shippers’ Council.
However, China’s shippers still have to overcome maritime regulations that allow lines to practice collective agreements. According to Mr Cai, the CSA plans to work with the Ministry of Commerce to get the regulation on collective agreements abolished. Under the anti-trust law adopted by China’s National Congress, the rules on collective agreements for shipping lines are a maritime regulation approved at Ministry of Transport level, and shippers believe they have good chance of getting the regulation abolished.
The China Shippers’ Association has been one of the most vocal in the region in its fight against liner conferences following the controversial introduction of terminal handling charges in the Chinese market in 2001.
Shippers’ groups from Europe and the US see China’s anti-trust law as part of a growing tide of deregulation of liner shipping that is now making its presence felt in Asia. The US partially deregulated liner shipping nearly a decade ago with the Ocean Shipping Reform Act and this is now being taking a stage further in Europe with the Competition Act which is set to outlaw conferences altogether next year.
“I think it’s a great step forward in China. It’s a recognition by policy makers that shippers’ needs are important,” said Peter Gatti Jr, executive vice-president of the US National Industrial Transportation League. He is hopeful that other countries will look at what is happening in China and see that it provides a level playing field in the freight industry, allowing markets to work in the way they should.
“I think there’s going to be some sort of snowball effect,” said Nicolette van der Jagt, secretary-general of the European Shippers’ Council.
However, unlike Europe, the battle against anti-trust immunity has to be fought on a country by country basis. Liner conferences and discussion agreements have continued to roll out THCs, with the charges levied for the first time in Vietnam this year. Asia's shippers are presenting a united front through the three-year old Asian Shippers' Council, but Vietnam is not a member.
