Samskip hf. v. The Competition Authority

On 17 April 2019, the Competition Authority Decision no. 13/2019, where the Greenlandic shipping company Royal Arctic Line A/S and Eimskip were granted a temporary authorisation for cooperation, which involves the joint use of space on the companies' scheduled vessels. The Competition Authority imposed specific conditions on the cooperation, intended to ensure competition in the market. The conditions are intended, among other things, to ensure the Greenlandic shipping company's access to port facilities in Iceland, as well as to ensure that available transport capacity can be used by general customers, agents and freight forwarders. With the aforementioned arrangement, the Greenlandic shipping company will be able to offer weekly scheduled sailings to and from Iceland and serve Icelandic customers – to the benefit of Icelandic consumers, according to the Competition Authority.

Samskip appealed the decision of the Competition Authority to the Competition Appeals Board. Samskip sought to have the authority's decision overturned.

The Competition Appeals Board has today published a ruling in which Samskip's claim and arguments are rejected. In its ruling, the Appeals Board finds that the additional conditions included in the Competition Authority's settlement with the applicants for an exemption were m.a. were set to promote competition and ensure that Royal Arctic Line's entry into the defined market would have a positive competitive effect and be to the benefit of consumers. The Competition Appeals Board also considers that the additional conditions include an important behavioural condition for the exemption applicants and provide the Competition Authority with an opportunity to closely monitor the development of the market and any changes that may occur in light of the cooperation between the companiesThus, the Competition Authority has the opportunity to intervene in such developments should the need arise.