The Dutch competition authority (ACM) has closed its investigation into alleged abuse of dominance by Europe Container Terminals (ECT). ECT is one of the leading container terminal operators in Europe and the ACM’s investigation centered on the barge transport of containers between ECT’s deep sea terminals in the port of Rotterdam and its hinterland. In particular, the ACM investigated whether ECT discriminated against third party barge transporters to the benefit of its own logistic operations. The ACM has now closed its investigation and accepted ECT’s commitments to make its planning criteria “objective, reasonable, non-discriminatory, and transparent”.
A CRA team provided economic support and advice to ECT during the ACM investigation, in particular on questions relating to geographic market definition and dominance.
For further details, please see the ACM’s press release.
