La concurrence dans le secteur des transports maritimes. Le marché entre concentration et complaisance

<marquage typemarq="italique"/> In September 2006, the European Council decided to put an end to the exemption Regulation from which liner conferences had been benefiting since 1986. The European Commission pledged to ?facilitate the transition towards a fully competitive system?, while showing ambitions in support of an integrated maritime policy. This would have to take into account the ?key principles? of sustainable development, the opening of markets to loyal competition and a high social regulations framework. Those objectives are based on some seducing texts. However, the concentration level reached in the area and the generalized recourse to free registration flags make us doubt the credibility of those ambitions. The observation of the maritime transports market specifically enables to measure the ambiguity of the non distorted competition objective.