컨테이너 정기선사의 운임 공동행위에 대한 소고

Companies operating in the liner shipping industry must adhere to a fixed route, load containers onto predetermined ships, and observe predetermined arrival and departure times. To load the cargo onto the ocean liner, a large number of container boxes and container ships are required. Consequently, liner shipping companies have developed various cooperative systems such as shipping alliances, consortiums, and alliances among themselves to reduce costs and increase profits. HMM in Korea, for example, participates in various types of shipping alliances, including THE Alliance, 2M, Ocean Alliance, etc. Moreover, a variety of forms of cooperation are currently taking place along the Korea-Southeast Asian route, Korea-Japan route, and Korea-China route. It was decided by the Fair Trade Commission on April 11, 2022, that the joint action of 23 shipping companies on the Korea-Southeast Asia route which had been maintained for about fifteen years was unfair, ordered its correction, and imposed a penalty of 96.2 billion won. In reaching this decision, the Fair Trade Commission examined the relationship between Article 116 of the 『Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act』 and Article 29 of the 『Marine Transportation Act』. As part of its review, the Fair Trade Commission examined the application of Article 116 of the 『Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act』 relative to the unfair joint conduct examination standards for shipping joint actions. A discussion of the legal issues relating to the above decision of the Fair Trade Commission of 11 April 2022, no. 2022-090, was presented in this article. Additionally, this article offers implications based on the U.S. and Japan case and provides a rational interpreting method to resolve the dispute between the Fair Trade Commission and the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries that has been revealed by this decision.