I was staggered recently to read reports out of the U.S.A. about a series of indictments against the world's largest shipping container companies, charging them with price fixing and conspiracy. The opening sentence of the statement reads as follows:
"Seven Chinese executives and four of the world’s largest shipping container manufacturing companies were indicted for conspiring to restrict the output of — and fix the prices of — nearly all of the world’s standard unrefrigerated shipping containers for over four years, spanning as early as November 2019 to at least January 2024".
For those that wish to dig a little deeper, the full statement can be read here: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/four-worlds-largest-container-manufacturing-companies-and-seven-their-executives-indicted
The charges in this case are astounding, as is the complete lack of coverage and interest from the media! The indictments claim that the actions of these companies, and their executives, conspired together to restrict available container supply globally during the COVID pandemic, which led to a chronic shortage of shipping containers worldwide. The result was price increases of over 1000% for ocean freight, as well as additional costs, most of which were passed on to consumers.
One of the container manufacturing companies saw their profits increase from $19.8 million USD annually to $1.75 BILLION in just 2 years!
The ramifications for consumers, and entire countries, cannot be overstated here. At a time when the world needed logistics to be operating more efficiently than ever, these companies did their best to create shortages and chaos in order to line their own pockets.
I"m amazed this isn't getting more coverage. Hopefully as more details come to light and the prosecution continues, more people will hear about this story.
