U.S. indicts four Chinese container manufacturers alleging price-fixing cartel
SHENZHEN, CHINA – APRIL 12: A Chinese national flag is seen in the foreground with container ships, cranes and stacked shipping containers under cloudy skies at the Yantian International Container Terminal in Shenzhen, China, on April 12, 2025. (Photo: Cheng Xin/Getty Images)
Cheng Xin | Getty Images News | Getty Images
The U.S. Department of Justice has charged four Chinese shipping giants with conspiring to restrict container production to stabilize prices during the pandemic, in one of the most significant antitrust actions against Chinese firms in years, even as both sides sought to stabilize bilateral relations.
China International Sea Containers, or CIMC, Singamas Container Holdings, Shanghai Universal Logistics Equipment and CXIC Group Containers secretly agreed to cut container production from November 2019 through early 2024, raising prices, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. expression Indictment on Tuesday.
“The multi-year conspiracy roughly doubled the prices of standard shipping containers between 2019 and 2021, increasing container manufacturers’ profits nearly a hundredfold during the Covid-19 pandemic and global supply chain crisis,” the ministry said.
The four companies mentioned did not immediately respond to CNBC’s requests for comment.
The indictment, which cited corporate conversations and emails, also charged seven company leaders, including the marketing director of Singamas Container Holdings, who was arrested in France in April and is now awaiting extradition to the United States, according to the statement.
The DOJ said some “conspirators” agreed to limit production shifts, install security cameras to monitor compliance, ban the construction of new factories and impose penalties on members who exceed agreed production ceilings. According to the DOJ, the companies collectively produce 95% of world-class unrefrigerated shipping containers.
The indictment, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in January, was announced by the U.S. government on Tuesday.
Hong Kong-listed shares of CIMC and Singamas fell 1.5% and 1.6% respectively on Wednesday.
China will likely view the indictment as another example of “unlawful extraterritorial jurisdiction” by foreign governments, said Tianchen Xu, senior economist at the Economist Intelligence Unit, citing a range of domestic legislation designed to counter such restrictions.
Xu added that while Washington and Beijing moved to stabilize relations following their summit in Beijing last week, Trump’s authority over the independent judiciary is limited.
Dan Wang, Eurasia Group’s China director, said the Justice Department may be trying to expand its sanctions list to include more Chinese companies, but acting against Beijing’s companies risks jeopardizing the prospects of any visit by Chinese leader Xi Jinping to the United States in September.
