Shipping lines to redraft application to Competition Commission

The Association of Shipping Lines (ASL) has just withdrawn its original application to the Competition Commission for exemption which has now become out of date because of changing circumstances in the industry since that application was first submitted, according to Tshegofatso Radinku of the enforcement and exemptions division of the Competition Commission (CC). ASL has also indicated to the CC, he added, that they are in the process of redrafting the application to cater for all the changes that have occurred since the original submission was made in 2005. What the ASL has undertaken to do, Andrew Thomas, CEO of Ocean Africa Container Lines (OACL), told FTW, is to have the new application in front of the CC in about three months. “The primary area we wish the CC to advise on,” he said, “is to indicate their approval of vessel-sharing agreements. The vast majority of services which call in SA are VSAs, and we need assurance from the CC that we can continue doing this.” The lines find this the only cost-efficient way to conduct their services, he said. If the application failed, many services would be withdrawn, and SA shippers/importers would suffer from the resultant limited capacity. “These agreements provide an economic benefit for SA shippers,” Thomas said.