Brussels, 01/03/2001 (Agence Europe) - The european Commission has opened an in-depth enquiry into the joint acquisition of Europe Combined Terminals BV (ECT), the main container terminal operator in Rotterdam, by Hutchinson Netherlands BV an Rotterdam Municipal Port Management (RMPM). Subsidiary of the Hong Kong group Hutchinson Whampoa which offers handling services to ports throughout the world, Hutchinson controls in Europe container terminals in the deep water ports of Felixtowe and Thamesport, in the United Kingdom. At the end of a preliminary investigation, the Commission decided to pursue with an in-depth enquiry for two reasons. On the one hand, it considers that the concentration could create or strengthen a dominant position on the market for stevedoring services to deep-sea container vessels in Northern Europe, given the high market combined share that ECT and Hutchinson possess. On the other, it would like to make a further thorough examination of a number of features and developments in the market, such as the increasing involvement of shipping lines in the operation of container terminals and the alleged increase in competition in Northern European ports from Southern European ports.
This affair has already been the subject of another investigation procedure by the Commission. In 1999, Hutchinson Port Holdings Ltd and RMPM had indeed notified a similar project, but had decided not to go ahead following the conclusions of the Commission's preliminary enquiry which found that this operation risked creating a dominant position. At the time, the operation was notified as cooperation agreement in order to secure an exemption in application of the rules of competition relating to restrictive agreements. Noting that it was in fact a concentration agreement, the Commission was preparing to intervene against the parties as the latter had not notified the acquisition as concentration. The parties then decided to notify the plan in accordance with the legislation on concentrations, while maintaining that it was not a concentration in the strict sense of the term. It is to this second plan that the Commission is now giving all its attention.