NCA latest casualty in cartel chase

Nippon Cargo Airlines (NCA) is the latest cargo carrier to admit defeat in the latest of a string of anti-cartel cases. It is one of 20 airlines currently on trial in New York, US, for allegedly participating in a conspiracy with other cargo carriers between 2000 and 2006. The US claims they conspired to levy inflated surcharges, such as unwarranted fuel surcharges, to block discounting of air cargo shipping services, to agree on yields and to allocate customers or routes. This one case has so far yielded the US alone over $1.5 billion in criminal fines.NCA was also targeted recently by the Korean Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) in a separate case. The KFTC found that NCA had allegedly been involved in two cartels; outbound shipments from Korea, and shipments from Japan to Korea. NCA appealed at every stage, but only managed to achieve a tiny reduction in the fine. NCA’s parent company, Japanese container shipping and logistics group NYK, has allocated more than $37 million to settle the charges in both countries.