A number freight forwarders, including DB Schenker, Kuehne & Nagel, Panalpina, EGL, and Geologistics International have had legal proceedings filed against them at the High Court in Auckland, New Zealand.
The alleged anti-competitive conduct involved agreements fixing prices and surcharges on airfreight. The Commerce Commission started investigating alleged collusion by the companies in 2007, as part of wider investigations in Europe and the US. Contracts going back as far as 2001 are being investigated.
Settlement has reportedly been reached with two companies involved in the case, whose local operations in New Zealand were not implicated in the alleged price fixing. NZ media reports suggest that EGL Inc. and Geologistics International have been able to resolve the issue with the Commission.