Liner Conferences: Rate-Setting Cartels in Liner Shipping
The liner conference system, its tariffs and surcharges, the EU block exemption and its end in 2008, and US conferences.
A liner conference is a group of carriers on a trade that set common freight rates, surcharges and conditions of carriage. In EU trades Council Regulation (EEC) 4056/86 exempted conference agreements from 1 July 1987 until its repeal by Regulation (EC) 1419/2006 from 18 October 2006, with a transitional period to 18 October 2008.
The full article will cover conference tariffs and surcharges, the UN Liner Code, the US regime under the Shipping Act, and what replaced conferences. See bunker adjustment factor .