The ESC again urges the EU Commission to rectify the distortion in the maritime container transport market

At the ESC, evidently, it did not go down at all the European Commission's answer to a question presented on 14 January by Dutch MEP Vera Tax (Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats) on supply chain dysfunctions. In the interpellation Tax observed whereas, 'as a result of the strong fluctuations between demand and offer, until mid-2020 several scheduled companies have withdrawn maritime transport capacity, causing packages of bottle when the capacity has grown again in Quickly. In addition to this - specified Tax - a certain number of interested parties reported that maritime carriers have been extremely selective in loading EU goods, quickly transporting empty containers to Asia to use them with higher import freight rates, which is putting the EU's reputation as a reliable partner at risk commercial. While the reliability of the programming of the ship departures have decreased over the past year, transport costs have grown exponentially and in 2021 the Maritime carriers have posted record profits." To European Commission the MEP has therefore asked to "explain what it is doing to monitor competition in the maritime transport of containers, the selective choice of goods and of routes and the increase in maritime freight', asking the EU Commission if it is "aware of the implications to long-term for European economic activities, in particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises, if the current situation it won't get better."

In addition, the Dutch MEP asked the Commission "if you are thinking of following the US approach of intensification of investigations and efforts, especially contesting the alliances between maritime carriers in case "they produce an unreasonable reduction in the transport service or a unreasonable increase in transport costs or reduce appreciably competition'.

The European Shippers' Council recalled that the reference of Vera Tax is at the accusations to the alliances between companies of containerized navigation recently moved by the American government ( of the 1st March 2022). A tough stance of the White House that is liked by the ESC, while the association of European shippers did not I liked the answer of last March 22 at all to the question of the Tax of the European Commission, signed by Vice President Margrethe Vestager, responsible for the competition, in which the Commission states that it 'is well Aware that the current situation poses difficulties to the European economic activities, including small and medium-sized enterprises enterprises. Monitoring the sector - said Vestager in the written answer - did not identify behaviors anti-competitive alliances aimed at increasing Noli. This point of view was also shared by the U.S. and China supervisory authorities at Maritime September 2021 Summit. In this context - the answer continues of the Commission - it does not appear that the intervention of the authorities supervisory can replace market mechanisms to resolve the current problems of congestion in logistics chains and imbalances between supply and demand in the maritime transport sector. However, it is necessary to strengthen the resilience of the chains of European sourcing and be better prepared to respond to potential crises or future disruptions in the sector'.

The European Shippers' Council noted that if the Commission European claims to have the same position as the USA and China with respect to the problem, "only looking at the United States - underlined today the association - it is evident that the European regulator perceives the situation of the maritime market in in a different way than its American counterpart." 'I European shippers - denounced the ESC - confirm that the problem exists and they expect the European Commission to fulfill its function as guarantor of fair competition'. The ESC concluded by specifying that it "expects that the European Commission rectifies market distortion maritime'.