The world’s two biggest container shipping companies, AP Moeller-Maersk and Mediterranean Shipping Company, are seeking to end a European Union antitrust probe without paying any fines, three people with knowledge of the case said on Tuesday.
The European Commission said in November last year that the companies and some of their rivals might have been illegally orchestrating price rises for European routes since 2009 that were issued via press releases and on their websites.
The sources said that, in addition to the Danish company Maersk and Switzerland-based MSC, also the world’s No. 3 CMA CGM [CMACG.UL], Taiwan’s Evergreen Marine, South Korean No. 2 Hyundai Merchant Marine and some Japanese peers are also keen to put the case behind them.