Crowley Liner Services Cracks Under Price Fixing Probe
Florida-based Crowley Liner Services Inc. has pleaded guilty to price fixing in the coastal water freight transportation industry, the Department of Justice announced today. The company, based in Jacksonville, Florida, will pay a $17 million criminal fine for its role in a conspiracy to fix prices for water transportation of certain freight between the continental United States and Puerto Rico.
According to a one-count felony charge filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico, Crowley Liner Services engaged in a conspiracy to fix base rates for water transportation of certain freight between January 2006 and at least April 2008. The company transports a variety of cargo shipments, including heavy equipment, used cars, and liquids capable of being transported only in tanker containers, on scheduled ocean voyages between the United States and Puerto Rico.
Crowley Liner Services and co-conspirators carried out the conspiracy by agreeing to fix the base rates to be charged to non-government purchasers of water transportation of certain freight. The department said that Crowley Liner Services and co-conspirators also engaged in meetings for the purpose of monitoring and enforcing adherence to the agreed-upon rates and sold Puerto Rico freight services at collusive and noncompetitive rates.
“Including this sentencing, as a result of the Antitrust Division’s ongoing investigation, three freight companies have been sentenced to pay criminal fines totaling more than $45 million and five executives have been sentenced to serve prison time totaling more than 11 years,” said Scott D. Hammond, Deputy Assistant Attorney General of the Antitrust Division’s Criminal Enforcement Program. “By agreeing to fix prices for coastal shipping services to and from Puerto Rico, Crowley Liner Services and its co-conspirators thwarted the competitive process by forcing consumers to pay inflated rates for these services.”
Crowley Liner Services pleaded guilty to price fixing in violation of the Sherman Act, which carries a maximum fine of $100 million 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.
This case arose from an ongoing federal antitrust investigation into price fixing, bid rigging, and other anticompetitive conduct in the coastal water freight transportation industry. The investigation is being conducted by the Antitrust Division’s National Criminal Enforcement Section, the Department of Defense’s Office of the Inspector General, and the Department of Transportation’s Office of Inspector General. Anyone with information concerning this investigation is urged to call the Antitrust Division’s National Criminal Enforcement Section at 202-307-6694 or visit www.justice.gov/atr/contact/newcase.htm.
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