European Competition News

Cargotec and Konecranes on Thursday won EU antitrust clearance for their 4.5-billion-euro ($5 billion) deal to create a global leader in industrial machinery after agreeing to divest some businesses.The companies, which provide road and sea-cargo handling machinery and services to industries, factories, ports and terminals, announced their tie-up in October last year.The European Commission said the companies' remedies addressed its concerns that the deal may hurt competition and lead to higher prices, confirming a Reuters story on Feb.

Italian shipyard Fincantieri has not offered any concessions to head off EU antitrust concerns about its planned bid for France's Chantiers de l'Atlantique, giving regulators no choice but to block the deal, people familiar with the matter said on Friday.A veto by European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager would deal a serious blow to Italy's bid to create a European industrial champion in shipbuilding to better compete with Asian rivals.Fincantieri declined to comment.

Fincantieri Chairman Giampiero Massolo defended the Italian shipbuilder's planned acquisition of French rival Chantiers de l'Atlantique, and said jobs in the industry could suffer if the project fell through.European competition authorities last month opened an in-depth investigation into the proposed deal, saying it would significantly reduce competition and could push up prices for cruise ships."Ours is a valid industrial project that could not only help Europe's shipbuilding industry compete better globally…

Fincantieri Chairman Giampiero Massolo defended the Italian shipbuilder's planned acquisition of French rival Chantiers de l'Atlantique, and said jobs in the industry could suffer if the project fell through.European competition authorities last month opened an in-depth investigation into the proposed deal, saying it would significantly reduce competition and could push up prices for cruise ships."Ours is a valid industrial project that could not only help Europe's shipbuilding industry compete better globally…

Italy's bid to create a European industrial champion in the shipbuilding industry faces hurdles after EU antitrust regulators said Fincantieri's bid for Chantiers de l'Atlantique would significantly reduce competition.The European Commission said the deal between two global leaders in an already concentrated and capacity-constrained market could push up prices for cruise ships as it began an investigation on Wednesday.Italy is hoping the deal will help Fincantieri, Europe's biggest shipyard…

The DG Competition of European Commission (EC) announced that several companies including MOL breached European competition law with respect to car carrier services. Mitsui O.S.K. Lines  (MOL) and other shipping companies have been investigated by the EC due to the suspicion of competition law violation. MOL has fully cooperated with the EC during the investigation. Though the EC announced that they found the violation of European competition law and imposed fines, MOL and its subsidiary companies were exempted from all penalty including the fine because EC granted MOL an immunity. "MOL received full immunity for revealing the existence of the cartel, thereby avoiding a fine of ca. €203 million," said a communication from EC.

World No. 1 shipping company Maersk Line gained EU antitrust approval on Monday for its acquisition of Hamburg Sud (HSDG) after agreeing to pull the German company out from five consortia on trade routes to address competition concerns. The bid by Maersk, part of Denmark's A.P. Moller-Maersk , underscores the wave of mergers in an industry struggling with over-capacity and slowing global trade. Hamburg Sud will withdraw from the consortia on trade routes connecting northern Europe to central America…

The European Commission opened on Friday two investigations into whether tax exemptions for Belgian and French ports breach EU state aid rules. In France, the EU executive cited full corporate income tax exemptions for 11 ports, including Marseilles, Nantes and le Havre, while, in Belgium, a number of ports also enjoy privileged tax regimes, including Antwerp, Brussels and Ostend. "Ports play a key role in the EU's economy," European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said in a statement.

The Dutch Finance Ministry said on Thursday it was "disappointed" with an EU Commission order to do away with corporate tax exemptions for six ports, including Rotterdam, Europe's largest. The measure puts the Netherlands at a disadvantage, the government said in a statement, calling on the Commission to ensure fair competition. European Union regulators told Dutch authorities on Thursday to scrap a corporate tax exemption for the ports and also ordered Belgium and France to align their port taxation systems with the bloc's state aid rules. "The Commission's decisions today regarding the Netherlands, Belgium and France make clear that if port operators generate profits from economic activities these should be taxed," European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said.

Norwegian oil major Statoil plans to develop its Arctic Johan Castberg oilfield after having cut costs by half, with a decision on investments in 2017, its chief executive said on Tuesday. Worried by high costs of operating in the remote Arctic Barents Sea, the Norwegian oil major last year delayed a final investment decision for Castberg, one of the world's northernmost oil finds. "The investment estimate is almost halved from around 100 billion crowns ($11.29 billion) to between 50 and 60 billion crowns," Chief Executive Eldar Saetre told an industry conference on Tuesday.

A landmark deal to use British taxpayers' money to build a 16 billion pound ($25.6 billion) nuclear power station has triggered opposition from a quarter of EU policy-makers, who want to overturn approval from the top European regulator, EU sources said. The European Commission, the EU executive, said last month it would approve the British scheme involving French utility EDF , confirming a Reuters report. A copy of the draft decision seen by Reuters shows the Commission has accepted the plan with some changes that would ensure the British government and British taxpayer would get a bigger share of any windfall profits and EDF a smaller take.

Germany, which currently is home to the world’s biggest container vessel fleet, will in future have fewer small shipping firms as European banks avoid the industry and American and Asian financiers focus on bigger peers, according to a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) cited by shipping industry trade publication 'Maritime London' in its latest newsletter. As shipowners face pressure to put more fuel-efficient vessels into service to get better rates, they will need to team up with peers in alliances or mergers to tap financing sources, according to PwC’s Claus Brandt. Smaller shipping companies will bid farewell to the market, because they don’t have access to financing sources. Only companies of a certain size will get foreign capital.

The Global Shippers' Forum has welcomed confirmation that the European Competition Commission will closely monitor the P3 for compliance with EU competition rules. GSF Secretary General, Chris Welsh, said,"The GSF has asked the Commission to closely scrutinise the P3 to ensure the Agreement is in line with the general provisions of the EU competition guidelines. GSF believes the P3 should assist the Commission in monitoring compliance by providing reports on service performance on specific port pairs, vessel withdrawals including short-term withdrawals that might cause disruption to shippers' supply chains, and information about future investment plans including future joint investment strategies that would impact on future capacity availability in the markets in which the P3 will operate.

U.S. industrial conglomerate General Electric Co is in advanced talks to buy the global power division of struggling French engineering group Alstom SA for about $13 billion, sources familiar with the matter said on Friday. Sources said a deal was backed by Alstom's main shareholder, French conglomerate Bouygues with 29 percent, and could be announced in the coming days after an Alstom board meeting on Friday afternoon. The board was due to meet again on Sunday to discuss the transaction, French daily Le Figaro said. "Talks are going ahead swiftly, the deal's structure is defined and everything is almost ready," one of the sources said. Alstom Chief Executive Patrick Kron confirmed to union representatives there were talks about an "industrial deal," but did not name GE.

The P3 agreement between Maersk, MSC, and CGM CMA continues to roil the waters. While the agreement’s pros-and cons are about to be scrutinized in an upcoming meeting between America’s Federal Maritime Commission, the European Competition Commission, and China’s Ministry of Transport, carriers outside the P3 are aggressively taking steps to stay competitive regardless of the regulators final decision. Hapag-Lloyd and CSAV announced 5 December they have been holding discussions on the possibility of merger or some other form of co-operation.

A European Union investigation over the possible repayment of subsidies by German shipyard Aker Warnow Werft – formerly Kvaerner Warnow Werft – looks set to drag on. A spokesman for European Competition Commissioner Mario Monti dismissed a news report to the contrary, adding that there was no schedule for a decision yet. The case has been pending for several years.

The European Commission (EC) authorized Germany to help maritime shipping companies finance the training of seafarers. The financial contribution will be allocated providing seafarers are trained on board of ships entered in the German register of sea-going vessels. European citizens qualify for the training grant if they are trained as additional crew members on a merchant ship suitable for training purposes. The objective is to improve seafarers' skills in Germany. The German aid scheme aims at safeguarding and developing European maritime expertise and skills in line with the objectives and principles outlined in the 1997 Community guidelines on State aid to maritime transport.

With the buoyancy in newbuild business witnessed so far this year, the cruise ship orderbook stands at an all-time high of some 48 vessels. Erring on the conservative side, analyst Peter Wild of the U.K.-based consultancy G P Wild (International) calculates that the record workload constitutes 3.2 million-gt of ocean-going newbuildings worth around $14.7 billion. Further expenditure amounting to $6 billion-plus is promised in the near-term on the basis of a raft of options and advanced negotiations and tenders. The aggregate fleet investment offers the prospect of a net capacity increase not far short of the 77,500 lower berths encapsulated in the vessels under construction and on order, while offtake through scrapping is likely to be on a limited scale in the immediate term.

The European Commission said on Tuesday it had fined 15 liner shipping companies a total of just under $6.3 million for agreeing not to offer discounts from their published tariffs. The companies involved were members of the now-defunct Far East Trade Tariff Charges and Surcharges Agreement (FETTCSA), and include Germany's Hapag-Lloyd AG, Denmark's A.P. Moeller and Britain's P&O Nedlloyd. The Commission said the fines were modest because an agreement not to discount is less damaging to competition than a price-fixing cartel. "Shipping lines operating within liner conferences benefit from an exceptionally generous exemption from the normal European competition rules," EU Competition Commissioner Mario Monti said.