Reuters: Regulatory News: UPDATE 1-EU fines freight forwarding cartel 169 mln euros

Reuters: Regulatory News Reuters.com is your source for breaking news, business, financial and investing news, including personal finance and stocks. Reuters is the leading global provider of news, financial information and technology solutions to the world's media, financial institutions, businesses and individuals. // via fulltextrssfeed.com

UPDATE 1-EU fines freight forwarding cartel 169 mln euros Mar 28th 2012, 15:21 Wed Mar 28, 2012 11:21am EDT * Kuehne & Nagel has largest fine of 53.67 mln euros * 14 companies involved in cartel, including Panalpina, UPS * No fine for whistleblower Deutsche Post By Foo Yun Chee BRUSSELS, March 28 (Reuters) - Thirteen logistics firms, including UPS, Panalpina and Expeditors , were fined a total 169 million euros ($225 million) by the European Commission on Wednesday for cartel activities. Deutsche Post unit DHL Global Forwarding, which took part in the collusion but alerted the regulator, escaped a financial penalty, confirming a Reuters story on Tuesday. The European Commission said the companies fixed prices in the air freight forwarding business in four cartels between 2002 and 2007, identifying themselves in their secret talks with code names such as "asparagus" and "baby courgettes". "In times of crisis, it is all the more important to stamp out the hidden tax that cartels impose on our economy. These cartels affected individuals and companies shipping goods on important trade lanes," EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said in a statement. "Many European exporters and consumers of imported goods may have been harmed as a result," he said. The largest fine was for Switzerland's Kuehne & Nagel , which was charged 53.67 million euros. The company said it may challenge the penalty. Panalpina received the second-biggest fine of 46.48 million euros and said it was would analyse the decision before deciding on its next move. The third-biggest penalty of 34.94 million euros was for Deutsche Bahn's logistics unit Schenker AG. UPS was fined 9.76 million euros. UPS spokesman Norman Black said the company would review the EU decision before deciding whether to challenge it. Expeditors was fined 4.14 million euros, Nippon Express (China) 812,000 euros, Kuwaiti firm Agility 4.96 million euros, UTi 3.07 million euros and Denmark's DSV Air & Sea SAS 379,000 euros. CEVA/EGL received a 3.03 million euro penalty and Germany's Hellmann Worldwide Logistics 4.28 million euros. Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at blogtrottr.com. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions