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Brussels, Belgium (FT) -- European competition investigators on Tuesday raided offices of at least four of the world's largest container shipping lines in some of the toughest-ever regulatory action against the industry.European Commission officials said they had visited offices in several European countries as part of the investigation.
Competition officials said there were suspicions that the companies had violated rules prohibiting cartels, restrictive business practices or abuse of dominant market positions.
Denmark's AP Møller-Maersk -- operator of the world's largest container shipping fleet, according to Alphaliner, the information service -- said it was among the companies visited.
Others included France's CMA CGM, the third-largest operator; Germany's Hapag-Lloyd, the number five; and Singapore's Neptune Orient Lines (Nol), the number seven. Many other companies are also believed to have received visits.
The raids come as many container lines are showing renewed signs of weakness as deliveries of large numbers of ships depress the rates they can charge for each container shipped.
Several lines reported first-quarter losses, while Nol reported on May 3 that its rates for the four weeks to April 8 had been 2 percent below the corresponding period of 2010.
The raids are likely to increase many container lines' irritation with the stance of European regulators towards their industry, which until October 2008 was allowed to set rates jointly on services to and from Europe in "liner conferences".
Many in the industry blame the Commission's abolition of the conferences in the depth of the economic downturn for exacerbating the collapse in industry earnings in 2008 and 2009, which came close to sending some operators into insolvency.
It was unclear at what point investigators believed collusion might have taken place, but many in the industry have been surprised at the speed and strength of the sector's recovery, which allowed some companies to post record or near-record profits for 2010.
Christian Kledal, Maersk's head of legal services, said the Commission was investigating possible coordination of prices or ship capacity on services to and from the European Union and the wider European Economic Area. He said. "It is our clear opinion that our practices are in compliance with EU competition legislation, and we fully cooperate with the Commission's employees to investigate the matter thoroughly."