Compañía Sud Americana de Vapores S.A., Price Fixing, Maryland 2024

Compañía Sud Americana de Vapores S.A. (CSAV), a Chilean corporation, has agreed to plead guilty to its involvement in a conspiracy to fix prices, allocate customers and rig bids of international ocean shipping services for roll-on, roll-off cargo, such as cars and trucks, to and from the United States and elsewhere.

According to a one-count felony charge filed today in U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland in Baltimore, CSAV engaged in a conspiracy to suppress and eliminate competition by allocating customers and routes, rigging bids and fixing prices for the sale of international ocean shipping services of roll-on, roll-off cargo to and from the United States and elsewhere, including the Port of Baltimore. CSAV participated in the conspiracy from at least January 2000 to September 2012.

CSAV has also agreed to cooperate with the department’s ongoing antitrust investigation. The plea agreement is subject to court approval.

Roll-on, roll-off cargo is non-containerized cargo that can be both rolled onto and rolled off of an ocean-going vessel. Examples of this cargo include new and used cars and trucks, as well as construction, mining and agricultural equipment.

Today’s charges are the first to be filed in the Antitrust Division’s investigation into bid rigging and price fixing of ocean shipping services, said Bill Baer, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Antitrust Division’s investigation into bid rigging and price fixing of ocean shipping services.

CSAV, a Chilean corporation, is charged with price fixing in violation of the Sherman Act, which carries a maximum penalty of a $100 million criminal fine for corporations. The maximum fine may be increased to twice the gain derived from the crime or twice the loss suffered by the victims of the crime, if either of those amounts is greater than the statutory maximum fine. CSAV has agreed to pay an $8.9 million criminal fine for its involvement in the conspiracy.

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