Ferry operators face threat of fines
The EU’s Directorate-General for Competition has recommended to Greece’s competition watchdog the imposition of fines on 14 ferry companies for alleged price-fixing practices. According to a statement issued by the Competition Commission yesterday, it has received a report calling for the imposition of fines on the Union of Coastal Shipowners (EEA) and the ferry operators. The companies are alleged to have worked together, in collusion with EEA, to determine their pricing policies and limit the supply of tickets and ferry routes made available on the market, the Competition Commission said. Greece’s passenger ferry sector is fairly concentrated, with just a handful of companies accounting for the majority share of the market. The Directorate-General’s recommendation is not binding on the Commission, which will decide by October 9 whether to impose fines and the size of the penalties. Some 52 different branches of economic activity are currently being investigated by the competition watchdog, including supermarket goods and financial services, in an attempt to ascertain whether unlawful actions have harmed competition in key sectors of the economy. EEA responded to yesterday’s report by saying it will answer all the issues raised by the Directorate-General. A recent decision by Blue Star Ferries, one of the country’s largest ferry operators, to freeze the cost of ticket prices for the summer caused a series of aftershocks, with smaller operators saying the move is designed to squeeze them out of the market. Blue Star ferries CEO Michalis Sakellis said yesterday he was confident that the Commission will find there was no form of price collusion. «We are examining the recommendation and we state that there was never any form of collusion in or out of the union and I am sure that the Commission will see this and not agree with the content of the recommendation,» he told Kathimerini. ANEK representative Manolis Galanakis declined to comment on the report, saying he was examining the recommendation.
