V&A vessels set to sink

The Competition Tribunal is expected to adjudicate on allegations of price-fixing by five shipping vessel owners who ferried passengers between the V&A Water Front, in Cape Town, and the Robben Island Museum, it was announced yesterday.

All five companies provide chartering services to the museum’s clients.

The companies – Thembekile Maritime Services, Silverbuckle, Nauticat Charters, Ferry Charters and Tigger 2 Charters – bid to be listed on the museum’s database as service providers for a period of 12 months.

Competition Commission spokesperson Sipho Ngwema said the commission had investigated the matter after receiving a complaint from the museum that the companies were involved in price-fixing.

Ngwema said the commission’s probe established that representatives of the five firms met in a coffee shop in Cape Town on September 22, 2015 to discuss a price increase, which they subsequently agreed to raise to R18 000 per trip for 140 passengers. This is then charged to the museum.

He said as a result two of the companies, Thembekile and Nauticat Charters, increased their prices to R18 000, while Ferry Charters was already charging R18 000. Silverbuckle and Tigger 2 Charters also raised their prices as agreed during the coffee shop meeting, but not to the same extent as their vessels are smaller.

“This conduct constitutes price fixing and collusive tendering in contravention of the Competition Act and the commission has referred the complaint to the tribunal for adjudication,” Ngwema said.

“The commission is seeking an order from the tribunal declaring that the five respondents have contravened the Competition Act and that they are liable to pay an administrative penalty equal to 10% of their annual turnover.”

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