DOJ: $98.9 Million Fine for Fixing Price of Ocean Shipping Services
Company is Fourth Firm Charged in Conspiracy Among Major International Ocean Shipping Lines
Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics AS (WWL), a Norwegian corporation, has agreed to plead guilty and pay a $98.9 million criminal fine for its involvement in a conspiracy to fix prices of international ocean shipments of roll-on, roll-off cargo to and from the Port of Baltimore and other locations in the United States.
According to the one-count felony charge filed today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, WWL conspired with other roll-on, roll-off ocean shipping lines from at least February 2000 until at least September 2012 to fix prices, rig bids, and allocate customers. Roll-on, roll-off cargo is non-containerized cargo that can be rolled onto and off of an ocean-going vessel. Examples of such cargo include new and used cars and trucks and mining, construction, and agricultural equipment.
Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Renata B. Hesse, head of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division said:
“WWL and its co-conspirators cheated their customers for years by fixing the prices of ocean shipping services for cars, trucks, and other cargo essential to our nation’s economy. The Antitrust Division, working together with our law enforcement colleagues, will continue to hold the ocean shipping companies and executives who perpetrated this scheme accountable for their crimes.”
Per Special Agent in Charge Kevin Perkins of the FBI’s Baltimore Division:
“These charges brought today, and for the prior eight executives charged, outline a deceptive scheme to destabilize competition in the marketplace. Those who engage in this type of criminal activity with the intent on corrupting our economy will be identified and brought to justice. To ensure we don’t erode the public’s trust in the competitive bidding process, the FBI will continue to work with the Antitrust Division to ensure the integrity of competition across all industries.”
To read the entire press release: DOJ
Leave a Reply