Maritime stakeholders call for EU to re-evaluate liner block exemption

A number of stakeholders in the maritime supply chain have called for proper objective evaluation of the European Commission’s Consortia Block Exemption Regulation (CBER), which makes container shipping exempt from the EU’s competition laws.

LECAT, ETA, EBU, ESC, FEPORT, GSF, GSA and UIRR representing users of liner shipping services and service providers of the maritime logistics chain jointly object to the prolongation of CBER.

The groups argue that the Commission has failed to demonstrate that the renewal of the regulation without modifications would benefit transportation users and service providers, instead claiming that quality and choice have reduced over the last years.