Research On Antitrust Regulation Of Port Alliances

The alliances or consortia of shipping enterprises have weakened the discourse power and the bargaining power of port operators.And those shipping enterprises with terminal investment projects,such as Maersk and COSCO,are paying more and more attention to extending their business to other important links of the multimodal transport,which leads to the gradual erosion of market shares of independent terminal operators.All these factors give birth to the new thing or phenomenon that is the port alliance.Although port integration is conducive to enhancing the overall competitiveness of regional ports,its possible impacts of eliminating or restricting competition may not be ignored.This paper studies the definition,organizational form,positive and negative impacts of port alliances,as well as the economic knowledge of monopoly.It also introduces the anti-monopoly regulation path of the European Union,the United States and China for port alliances.Finally,combining the relevant knowledge of law and economics and the characteristics of monopoly of ports,it puts forward how to improve the identification of relevant elements of anti-monopoly of port alliances.Suggestions were made,such as the definition of relevant markets.The purpose and significance of this paper lies in,first of all,arousing the attention of related authorities,scholars and the public to the anti-monopoly of port alliances,and promoting the research development of maintaining the efficiency of the port industry.Ports are important parts of the shipping industry.Port charges are parts of shipping costs.If there is a monopoly problem in the port field,it will inevitably affect the competitiveness of shipping enterprises in the international shipping industry.From the investigation and punishment of Tianjin Port and other ports carried out by the National Development and Reform Commission in 2017,China's anti-monopoly law enforcement authorities have gradually realized the monopoly problems in the port industry.Secondly,this paper helps to improve the status that the anti-monopoly law lags behind the development of the port industry.China's anti-monopoly law started late,so its application in the port industry is immature.Anti-monopoly itself is a complex and professional law enforcement activity,and the port industry has been huddled by the economic downturn,which makes the anti-monopoly law enforcement in the port field more complex.This paper puts forward some suggestions on perfecting the relevant elements of anti-monopoly of port alliances,which will help to improve above situation.There are not many articles specializing in the anti-monopoly regulation of port alliances,and filling in the blank is the innovation of this paper.In doing this,more people will be inspired and encouraged to write.The author believes that China does not need to enact special laws regulating ports,instead,need to improve the identification of relevant elements of anti-monopoly combining the characteristics of ports on the basis of applying the general anti-monopoly laws and rules.