The Japan Fair Trade Commission searched some 10 shipping companies last week over their alleged cartel to coordinate fare hikes for transporting vehicles and other exports, Kyodo News reported Thursday.
The companies include Japan's three largest shipping firms – Nippon Yusen, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, and Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha. Together, these companies account for more than two-thirds of the Japanese market.
Also searched were the Japanese subsidiaries of South Korean, Norwegian and New Zealand shipping companies.
Toyota, Nissan, Honda and other Japanese automakers usually negotiate with shipping companies to charter freighters designed for massive vehicle transportation.
The shipping companies are suspected of having held talks to coordinate hikes in fares for transporting goods from Japan to North America, Europe and Asian countries, sources close to the matter said.
They are also alleged to have rigged bids to allow predetermined companies to win shipping orders from automakers, the sources said.
Facing fare-cutting pressures from automakers plagued with lower profit margins since the 2008 global financial crisis, it is believed the shipping firms might have attempted to avoid competition and maintain their market shares and include fuel price hikes into fares.
Shipping companies can legally form cartels to stabilise overseas transportation fares if their applications for such cartels are approved by authorities. But no such application has been filed for the alleged cartel.
In 2009, the Japanese antimonopoly watchdog imposed fines on the subsidiaries of the three largest shipping firms for their suspected cartel for raising air cargo fares.
