EU Shipping Law
Page 855
CHAPTER 14
European Union competition law: consortia
A. Introduction
14.001 Consortia were defined in 1990 by the European Commission as: “coalitions of several independent shipping lines seeking some form of co-operation in order to maintain profitability through rationalisation in the widest sense and to spread the expense of investment in container operations”.1 14.002 Writing in 2008, the Commission stated:“[a] consortium is a grouping of shipping lines which co-operate to provide joint maritime cargo transport services. Such agreements usually allow shipping lines to rationalise their activities and achieve economies of scale. If consortia are faced with sufficient competition, the users of the services provided by consortia usually benefit from improvements in productivity and service quality.”2