HYDE: ANTITRUST REFORM “WILL PREVAIL”

HYDE: ANTITRUST REFORM “WILL PREVAIL”

HYDE: ANTITRUST REFORM “WILL PREVAIL”

      Customs brokers, forwarders and smaller shippers who want to end ocean carriers’ antitrust immunity will ultimately win their objective, House Judiciary Committee chairman Henry Hyde said Monday.
      However, the congressional battle could last as long as five years, Hyde told a government affairs conference Monday sponsored by the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America.
      Hyde has already introduced legislation to end ocean carriers’ antitrust immunity, and it has garnered considerable support from industry groups, including the National Association of Manufacturers, the American Farm Bureau Federation, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the International Mass Retail Association, the Chemical Manufacturers Association and the National Grain and Feed Association.
      With the loss of the U.S.-flag liner fleet to foreign ownership, there is no longer a need to continue antitrust immunity, Hyde said.    The system is helping foreign-flag carriers, at the expense of the U.S. consumer, he added.
      Hyde admitted that ocean shipping “is working better than ever before” under the Ocean Shipping Reform Act, but that the new law “does not go far enough.”
      Hyde’s bill will not take away antitrust immunity for efficiency-enhancing agreements, such as space-charter agreements. These are seen as “pro-competitive,” Hyde said.    “It is not my intention to eliminate them.”
      Discussion agreements continue to distort the market, and continue to capture large shares of the international shipping market, Hyde said. Smaller shippers are still being targeted by members of discussion agreement and are forced to pay higher shipping rates, he said.
      Hyde said he is upbeat that his bill will be enacted, although “it may take five years.”
      “We will prevail,” he said.