US indicts four Chinese shipping giants for price-fixing conspiracy

The U.S. Justice Department has indicted four Chinese shipping giants for conspiring to restrict container output to fix prices during the pandemic era, in one of the most significant antitrust actions brought against Chinese firms in years, even as both sides seek to stabilize bilateral ties.

China International Marine Containers, or CIMC, Singamas Container Holdings, Shanghai Universal Logistics Equipment, and CXIC Group Containers colluded to cut container output from November 2019 to early 2024, pushing up prices, according to the U.S. Justice Department statement Tuesday on the indictment.

"The multi-year conspiracy roughly doubled the prices of standard shipping containers between 2019 and 2021, increasing the container manufacturers' profits approximately one hundredfold during the Covid-19 pandemic and global supply chain crisis," the department said.

The four named companies did not immediately respond to CNBC's requests for comment.

The indictment, which cites corporate conversations and emails, also indicted seven company leaders, including the marketing director of Singamas Container Holdings, who was arrested in France in April and is currently awaiting extradition to the United States, according to the statement.

The DOJ said several "conspirators" agreed to limit production shifts, install surveillance cameras to monitor compliance, ban the construction of new factories, and impose penalties on members that exceeded agreed output ceilings. The companies collectively make 95% of the world's standard unrefrigerated shipping containers, according to the DOJ.

The indictment, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in January, was unsealed by the U.S. government Tuesday.

Hong Kong-listed shares of CIMC and Singamas fell 1.5% and 1.6%, respectively, on Wednesday.

China is likely to view the indictment as another instance of "unlawful extraterritorial jurisdiction" by foreign governments, said Tianchen Xu, senior economist at the Economist Intelligence Unit, referring to a set of domestic legislation designed to counter such restrictions.

While Washington and Beijing moved to stabilize ties following their summit in Beijing last week, Trump has limited authority over an independent judiciary, Xu added.

The DOJ may be pushing to expand its sanctions list to include more Chinese companies, but moving against Beijing's firms risks imperiling any prospect of a September visit by Chinese leader Xi Jinping to the U.S., said Dan Wang, China director at Eurasia Group.