EU probe into feedership lay-up scheme

The European Commission says it has opened a formal antitrust investigation into the Baltic Max Feeder scheme in which European ship owners collectively agree to cover the costs of removing feeder vessels from service. The EC says the scheme may be aimed at reducing capacity and therefore at pushing up charter rates for such vessels.

The Commission says it will particularly look at whether the scheme has the explicit aim of reducing the available capacity of feeder vessels in Europe, which in turn could increase the rates of chartering feeder vessels.

Source: http://www.mglobal.com