Air, Freight News

DB Schenker files US airlines complaint

[ August 26, 2014   //   Chris ]

DB Schenker has filed a complaint in New York federal court claiming damages from air cargo carriers Air France, KLM, Martinair, Cargolux, Qantas, SAS and All Nippon Airways, claiming that the airlines operated a cartel.

The forwarder alleges that the defendants illegally conspired to fix fuel and security surcharges for airfreight shipments from, to and within the US from 1999 until at least 2006. The exact amount of the damages suffered by Schenker AG and its affiliated companies has not yet been determined.

A number of worldwide competition authorities, including the European Commission, have found that numerous air cargo carriers were involved in a global price-fixing conspiracy to the detriment of freight forwarders and have imposed substantial fines on the companies involved. In the proceedings initiated by the US Department of Justice, all the defendants named in the Schenker complaint have entered into guilty pleas and accepted significant penalties and, in the US, a number carriers have entered into settlement agreements both with class action plaintiffs and individual claimants in order to avoid protracted civil lawsuits. Schenker however, opted out of the settlement agreements.

Tags: DB Schenker