EU to End Decades-Long Antitrust Exemption for Cargo Transporters

Cargo transport businesses will no longer benefit from a decades-long exemption from EU antitrust regulations beginning next year, because the exemption no longer benefits competition, EU antitrust regulators said on Tuesday.

The Consortia Block Exemption Regulation (CBER), first implemented in 2009, allows liner shipping companies with a combined market share of less than 30% to collaborate to provide joint cargo transport services as long as they do not control pricing or share markets.

The European Commission stated that the exemption, which was extended in 2014 and 2020, will expire in April of next year.

""Given the small number and profile of consortia falling within the scope of the CBER, the CBER brings limited compliance cost savings to carriers and plays a secondary role in carriers' decision to cooperate,"" the EU executive said in a statement.

""Furthermore, over the evaluation period, the CBER was no longer enabling smaller carriers to cooperate among each other and offer alternative services in competition with larger carriers,"" the Commission, which acts as the competition enforcer in the 27-country European Union, said.

Cargo transporters considering collaboration must determine if it is compliant with EU antitrust guidelines.

In order to encourage competition, the EU competition watchdog has approved exemptions for specific sectors over the years.