Australian importers and exporters rely on the cargo shipping services by international liners.
A conference is a type of agreement that 2 or more shipping liners make. It may include agreements on freight rates, sharing each other’s vessel and coordinating scheduling.
Normally, these types of agreements can breach the competition and cartel rules in Part IV of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010.
Shipping liners that register their agreement with the Registrar of Liner Shipping receive certain exemptions from competition and cartel rules. The steps shipping liners must take to qualify for this exemption are included in Part X of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010.
Once registered, conference agreements between shipping liners are not in breach of the competition and cartel rules in Part IV of the Act.
The ACCC has a limited role in international liner cargo shipping.
We investigate complaints from parties negatively affected by a registered conference agreement. This can be a complaint from the affected party or referred to us by the responsible Minister.
We can also investigate the operation of an agreement without receiving a complaint.
After investigating, we can recommend that the Minister deregisters a shipping conference agreement.
Information about our investigations are listed on the shipping investigations register.
The functions we perform come from Part X of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010.
International liner shipping on the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts