May 27, 2026
U.S. indicts four Chinese container manufacturers. alleging illegal price-fixing
Four of the world's largest shipping container manufacturing companies and seven Chinese executives were indicted for conspiring to restrict the output of - and fix the prices of - nearly all of the world's standard unrefrigerated shipping containers.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the multi-year conspiracy roughly doubled the prices of standard shipping containers between 2019 and 2021, increasing the container manufacturers' profits approximately one hundredfold during the COVID-19 pandemic and global supply chain crisis.
As alleged in the superseding indictment, as early as March 2019, several of the conspirators began discussing a scheme to restrict the output and fix the prices of standard dry shipping containers.
The goal was to raise the price of standard dry shipping containers. To do so, they agreed to restrict the companies' output of standard dry shipping containers by various means.
An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice