ABSTRACT
In a review of major events from the global shipping industry, the Chinese antitrust authority's refusal to give the green light to the proposed P3 Network shipping alliance should surely have a place in the 'Top Ten' list. The P3 Network was to commence operations in the second quarter of 2014, subject to obtaining the approval of relevant competition and other regulatory authorities. In the event, China's merger control authority, the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), blocked the P3 Network for the reason that it was a notifiable concentration of undertakings and that it was not justified to have it approved due to its negative influence on competition status in the Asia-EU container shipping route. As for China's competition scrutiny, in the final decision issued by MOFCOM, it is noted that on 8 September 2013 MOFCOM received a notification of concentration of undertakings and, following review, MOFCOM required the P3 members to submit supplementary documents.
