Hapag-Lloyd and CMA CGM confirmed they are among ocean carriers whose offices were raided today, May 17, by European Union antitrust officials, the Journal of Commerce reported.
Earlier, Maersk Line said EU officials made an unannounced visit to its Copenhagen headquarters in a probe into suspected price and capacity fixing on services to and from European ports.
“The EU Commission is currently carrying out investigations with European shipping lines to see whether there have been violations of EU competition law since the abolition of the liner shipping conferences’ block exemption in October 2008,” Germany’s Hapag-Lloyd said in a statement. “We are convinced that we are in compliance with EU legislation,” the Hamburg-based carrier said.
French carrier CMA CGM confirmed EU officials visited its headquarters in Marseilles and said it is fully cooperating in the EU investigation.