Samskip condemns the Icelandic Competition Authority’s decision
Samskip rejects the Icelandic Competition Authority’s (ICA) assumptions and conclusions in its investigation into Eimskip’s and Samskip’s alleged collusion in the North Atlantic market from 2006 to 2013. The ICA’s findings of extensive and organised collusion are wholly baseless and in no context with either data or facts. Samskip condemns the ICA’s approach in the investigation and intends to have its results overturned, the Company said in its media release.
Samskip builds its operations on competition in all markets, and the company leads in creating effective competition and cost-effective solutions in transport and related services. The ICA’s conclusion is characterised by half-truths, misleading statements, and misrepresentations of facts.
The ICA’s investigation has been ongoing since 2010. The ICA carried out raids at Samskip and Eimskip in 2013 and 2014, seizing large amounts of data. Ten years have passed since the 2013 raid. The ICA’s theories and conclusions only became apparent when it presented the companies with preliminary reports in two parts. The document’s first part was issued on 6 June 2018, and the second on 13 December 2019. At that time, six years had passed since the first raid and almost ten from the beginning of the investigation. In late November 2020, the ICA added a third preliminary report to which Samskip submitted its comments in January 2021.
The preliminary reports are more than two thousand pages, and the accompanying documents number in the tens of thousands. Samskip submitted detailed comments on the reports illustrating how the ICA’s preliminary conclusions were fundamentally incorrect. The ICA then published its findings and decision on fines conclusion 31.08.2023.
Samskip is deeply disappointed by the ICA’s procedure in the case. It has been extraordinarily cumbersome and has had a crippling effect on Samskip’s operations. The ICA has overexaggerated in its investigation and data gathering and has come to a decision wholly out of context with reality. Theories and conclusions about violations are presented without backing with evidence. Theories are supported by false representations of data and facts or blatant misinterpretations.
Samskip will not abide by the ICA’s decision and will use all available means available by law to overturn the decision.
