The Italian Competition Authority fines ferry operators for parallel behaviour in a price fixing case (Tariffe Traghetti Da/Per la Sardegna)

The Italian Competition Authority (the “ICA”) is currently looking closely at the maritime sector. The authority is involved in two cartel proceedings: one concerns the passenger maritime sector in the Gulf of Naples [1] and the other one the maritime routs in the Strait of Messina [2]. In addition, it recently closed the proceeding I734 TARIFFE TRAGHETTI DA/PER LA SARDEGNA [3] in which the ICA found a cartel and fined the participating ferry operators that operate the routes from the mainland to Sardinia for price fixing. The ICA fined the ferry operators Moby, GNV and SNAV and Marinvest - the holding company of the latter two -, because they agreed a parallel fare increase for the Italy-Sardinia maritime routes for the 2011 summer season. A fourth ferry operator, Forship, was