Container Giants Charged Over Global Price-Fixing in the USA
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has announced criminal antitrust charges against four of the world’s largest shipping container manufacturers and seven executives over an alleged global cartel affecting the market for standard dry shipping containers. According to the DOJ, the companies allegedly coordinated to limit production and fix prices between 2019 and early 2024, at a time when global supply chains were already under significant pressure due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The DOJ claims that this conduct contributed to a sharp increase in container prices and generated extraordinary profits for the manufacturers.
The alleged conduct was not limited to pricing. Prosecutors claim that the companies coordinated on production limits, restricted factory working hours and shifts, avoided adding new capacity, monitored production lines, and created mechanisms to penalize companies that failed to comply with the