NEW DELHI: India’s antitrust watchdog has ordered Dubai’s DP World and Denmark’s A.P. Moller-Maersk and to withdraw certain customer adviseries which it said could hamper growth of the country’s largest container port in Mumbai, a document seen by Reuters showed.
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) last year ordered a probe into suspected antitrust violations by DP World and Maersk units at the terminals they operate at state-owned Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT).
Handling 66 million tons of cargo in the last fiscal year to March, JNPT is critical to India’s international trade. The port handles more than half of India’s traffic in shipping containers each year.
The probe was ordered as the CCI found merit in a complaint filed by Singapore’s PSA International, which alleged the rival duo had created barriers to hinder the growth of PSA’s terminal by colluding on certain charges they levy at the port.
Though the terminal operators handle each other’s containers to help boost the port’s efficiency, PSA had alleged that DP World and Maersk last year issued adviseries aimed at discouraging port users from sending PSA’s containers to their terminals.
In an order issued by the CCI on Jan. 15, the watchdog ordered Maersk and DP World units to withdraw those adviseries, saying it “smacks of anti-competitive” conduct.
The adviseries, if not withdrawn, would cause “irretrievable damage or losses” not only to PSA, and would not augur well for the port’s development, according to the order. It has not been made public.
“This is likely to generate unwarranted uncertainty, chaos, discontent and anxiety among shipping lines and customers,” the CCI said.
The order is only an interim measure, and the wider probe continues.
A DP World spokesperson said the company had not received any such order from the Indian watchdog, but it was “committed to ensuring” it complies with all laws.
A.P. Moller-Maersk, the world’s biggest container shipping group, did not respond to queries. PSA, which is owned by Singapore government-owned investment fund Temasek Holdings, declined to comment.
The antitrust dispute at the JNPT is based on so-called inter-terminal transfers.
Under the system, freight trains arriving at JNPT typically carry containers destined for several terminals, but stop at just one that handles all the cargo on a given day. Other operators then collect their containers by truck for loading at their own terminals. A similar procedure is followed, in reverse, when imported containers are unloaded.
DP World’s advisory had said the inter-terminal operations with PSA were “inefficient and unviable.” Maersk had said its terminal “shall not be responsible” for handling containers to and from PSA-terminal bound trains.
Both the companies denied PSA’s allegations while arguing to the CCI that the adviseries were based on “commercial justifications,” the order said.
Units of Maersk, DP World and PSA operate four of the JNPT port’s five terminals, with the fifth owned by the government. The PSA terminal, inaugurated in February, is planned to be the largest, expected to nearly double JNPT’s capacity.
India watchdog orders DP World unit to withdraw some notices to clients at Mumbai port
India watchdog orders DP World unit to withdraw some notices to clients at Mumbai port
- India has been investigating antitrust violations at Mumbai port
- DP World, Maersk unit asked to withdraw some customer adviseries
Pakistan remembers Benazir Bhutto, first woman PM in Muslim world, on death anniversary
- Bhutto was daughter of ex-PM Zulfikar Ali Bhutto who was hanged during reign of former military ruler Gen. Zia-ul-Haq
- Year before assassination in 2007, Bhutto signed landmark deal with rival Nawaz Sharif to prevent army interventions
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and other Pakistani leaders on Saturday paid tribute to Benazir Bhutto, the first woman prime minister in the Muslim world who was assassinated 18 years ago in a gun and bomb attack after a rally in the city of Rawalpindi.
Born on Jun. 21, 1953, Bhutto was elected premier for the first time in 1988 at the age of 35. She was deposed in 1990, re-elected in 1993, and ousted again in 1996, amid allegations of corruption and mismanagement which she denied as being politically motivated.
Bhutto only entered politics after her father was hanged in 1979 during military ruler Gen. Zia-ul-Haq’s reign. Throughout her political career, she had a complex and often adversarial relationship with the now ruling Sharif family, but despite the differences signed a ‘Charter of Democracy’ in 2006 with three-time former PM Nawaz Sharif, pledging to strengthen democratic institutions and prevent military interventions in Pakistan in the future.
She was assassinated a year and a half later.
“Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto took exemplary steps to strengthen the role of women, protect the rights of minorities, and make Pakistan a peaceful, progressive, and democratic state,” PM Shehbaz Sharif, younger brother of ex-PM Nawaz Sharif, said in a statement on Saturday.
“Her sacrifices and services are a beacon of light for the nation.”
President Asif Ali Zardari, Bhutto’s widower, said Bhutto believed in an inclusive Pakistan, rejected sectarianism, bigotry and intolerance, and consistently spoke for the protection of minorities.
“Her vision was of a federation where citizens of all faiths could live with dignity and equal rights,” he said. “For the youth of Pakistan, her life offers a clear lesson: speak up for justice, organize peacefully and do not surrender hope in the face of adversity.”
Powerful families like the Bhuttos and the Sharifs of Pakistan to the Gandhis of India and the Bandaranaike family of Sri Lanka have long dominated politics in this diverse region since independence from British colonial rule. But none have escaped tragedy at the hands of rebels, militants or ambitious military leaders.
It was Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Bhutto’s father, who founded the troubled Bhutto dynasty, becoming the country’s first popularly elected prime minister before being toppled by the army in 1977 and later hanged. Both his sons died in mysterious circumstances.
Before her assassination on Dec. 27, 2007, Bhutto survived another suicide attack on her motorcade that killed nearly 150 people as she returned to Pakistan after eight years in exile in October 2007.
Bhutto’s Oxford-educated son, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, now leads her Pakistan Peoples Party, founded by her father, and was foreign minister in the last administration of PM Shehbaz Sharif.
Aseefa Bhutto Zardari, Bhutto’s daughter who is currently the first lady of Pakistan, said her mother lived with courage and led with compassion in life.
“Her strength lives on in every voice that refuses injustice,” she said on X.
Pakistan has been ruled by military regimes for almost half its history since independence from Britain in 1947. Both former premiers Imran Khan and the elder Sharif, Nawaz, have alleged that they were ousted by the military after they fell out with the generals. The army says it does not interfere in politics.
