Liner Conferences

Liner conferences are cartels of liner shipping companies that fix freight rates and sometimes pool revenue or capacity on a trade route. The first was the UK-Calcutta conference of 1875, which set common rates and used deferred rebates to bind shippers. Conferences spread across the major trades and drew antitrust scrutiny; the EU repealed its block exemption for liner conferences serving Europe from 18 October 2008 under Council Regulation 1419/2006, ending the practice on those routes.