Bundeskartellamt closes investigation in towage sector with settlements
On December 18, 2017, the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) announced that the German competition authority, the Bundeskartellamt, had reached settlements with three undertakings and their executives in connection with their involvement in a cartel in the harbor towage sector.
On February 26, 2018, the Bundeskartellamt announced the last settlement, which was with Kotug GmbH.
Kotug has its seat in the Netherlands, and is active in the port of Rotterdam, among other areas. These four settlements have been the result of investigations that ACM and the Bundeskartellamt launched in November 2014 into harbor towage service providers in the Netherlands and Germany. A total of five undertakings have acknowledged their involvement in cartel activities.
The settlements now total approximately EUR 17.5 million. With this last settlement, the Bundeskartellamt has now, after ACM, also closed its investigation into the harbor towage sector.
In recent months, ACM has repeatedly called attention to fair competition in ports. That is also why ACM has invested in efforts to increase awareness of competition rules among market participants that are active in ports, including organizing and participating in meetings about competition problems, and producing and distributing educational material. In addition, ACM has invited market participants to discuss with ACM major dilemmas that occur in ports, so that ACM is able to give guidance.