The French Competition Authority fines a public port operator and two related companies for anticompetitive practices in the market of harbour services dedicated to coal (SOGEMA / Port Autonome du Havre)

On 13 September 2007, the French Competition Council issued a decision relating to anti-competitive practices in the market of harbour services dedicated to coal, following a complaint by the Société Générale Maritime ("Sogema"), a dock-work operator established in various harbours in France. Context According to Sogema, three operators had undertaken practices aiming at ousting it from the coal storage and dock-work markets of one of the Le Havre terminals: (i) the Le Havre Port Authority ("HPA"), a public entity operating public harbour's unloading equipments, (ii) the Compagnie industrielle des pondéreux du Havre ("CIPHA"), HPA's concessionaire for the storage facility of the terminal and (iii) the Société havraise de gestion et de transport ("SHGT"), a subcontractor of CIPHA.