EVA Air Pleads Guilty to Cargo Price-Fixing

EVA Airways agreed to plead guilty to conspiring to fix international air cargo prices and to pay a $13.2 million fine in the antitrust investigation that has produced criminal charges against some of the world’s largest airlines, the U.S. Justice Department said Friday.

The Taiwan-based carrier said it participated in the conspiracy between 2003 and 2006, and said it would cooperate with a continuing investigation that has also has led to jail terms for four former airline executives and criminal charges against several others.

“EVA and co-conspirators carried out the conspiracy by agreeing during meetings, conversations and other communications on particular cargo base rates or fees to be charged for certain international air shipments,” the Justice Department said in a statement.

The investigation has stretched around the world and led to billions of dollars in penalties and fines in the United States, Europe, Asia and Australia. Airlines facing penalties have included Air France, British Airways, Cargolux, Korean Air, Qantas, Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines and Singapore Airlines.

The European Union’s Competition Directorate this month launched a new antitrust investigation into container shipping operators, raiding the European offices of numerous companies, including Maersk Line, CMA CGM, Hapag-Lloyd, Neptune Orient Lines, OOCL, Evergreen and Hanjin Shipping.