The European Court of Justice has upheld the €169m in fines imposed six years ago by the European Commission on freight forwarders which participated in an air cargo cartel between 2002 and 2007.
Kühne + Nagel International, Schenker, Deutsche Bahn and Panalpina World Transport have now lost their appeal regarding a February 2016 ruling by the General Court of the European Union.
The General Court had upheld the March 2012 decision by the European Commission in Brussels to fine the forwarders for their concerted action, leading to the lengthy original appeal process by a number of forwarders seeking an annulment of the decision or a reduction in the fines.
In its findings on the case today, the Court of Justice said in a statement: "The Court of Justice rejects all the arguments put forward by those companies and upholds the amount of the fines imposed.
"It declares in particular that the General Court was correct in holding that it is appropriate to base the calculation of the amount of the fines on the value of sales associated with freight forwarding services as a package of services on the trade routes concerned."
The full text of the ruling by the European Court of Justice can be found here.
