The Italian Competition Authority opens an investigation into an alleged abuse of dominant position into the maritime transport market
An Italian ferry operator Grandi Navi Veloci (GNV) is alleged to have abused its dominant position in the market for regular maritime transport services of passengers and road vehicles operated with “roll on-roll off” or “Ro-Pax” ships between the ports of Genova, Genova Voltri and Vado Ligure, on one hand, and the Sicilian ports of Palermo and Termini Imerese, on the other hand. The Italian Competition Authority or ICA started investigations following a complaint detailing the GNV abusive conducts filed by T-Link, a ferry operator which recently started the Genova Voltri-Termini Imerese link in competition with the routes already operated by GNV ( A417, T-Link/Grandi Navi Veloci ). In particular, GNV would have carried out the following anticompetitive conducts: • it applied loyalty discounts selectively targeted at T-Link's clients; • it strategically increased offers for the transport of commercial road vehicles in a period of the year- summer 2009- when demand is falling with t...