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Two ferry operators fined for anti-competitive behaviour
Posted: 18 July 2012 1216 hrs
SINGAPORE: Two ferry operators have been fined a total of S$286,766 for anti-competitive behaviour.
Batam Fast Ferry was fined about S$173,000 while Penguin Ferry Services was made to pay nearly S$114,000 for breaching the Competition Act.
The Competition Commission of Singapore (CCS) said on Wednesday that they had shared confidential price information on ferry tickets sold to corporate clients and travel agents on two routes.
The routes are Singapore (HabourFront) to Sekupang and Singapore (HarbourFront) to Batam Centre.
The watchdog said the two operators would frequently verify their pricing with one another.
Mr Toh Han Li, assistant chief executive of Legal and Enforcement, Competition Commission of Singapore, said: "In one particular case, with regard to corporate clients, after one competitor found that the other was charging a certain amount, he decided not to offer a discount to his client because he did not want to engage in a price war."
The price of a return ticket listed in one of the email exchanges was S$44.
Tickets sold over the counter were priced at S$47 each.
The CCS said the actions of the two ferry operators encouraged collusion and reduced the incentive to set independent pricing decisions competitively.
Given that the routes were served only by the two operators, the CCS said the price exchanges "further reduced the already limited competition in a duopolistic market structure".
This is the first information exchange case in which the CCS has imposed fines on.
-CNA/ac/cc
