Update August 2009: Judge Thomas Zilly, Western District of Washington, dismissed a private civil action alleging a conspiracy to increase prices in Pacific shipping routes. The court held that the plaintiffs allegations of parallel price increases in a market with rising fuel costs and guilty pleas by executives relating to shipping in another geographic area was insufficient to allege a conspiracy. The court also held that the defendants were insulated from damages liability by the filed rate doctine. The government has an on-going prosecution dealing with Pacific shipping routes.
In an on-going DOJ investigation, four executives pleaded guilty, accepting $20,000 fines and jail time, for anticompetitive activities relating to a conspiracy to set prices, rig bids, and allocate markets in coastal shipping.