DOJ Indicts Chinese Executives For Price Gouging Shipping Containers

Added: 2026-05-23

[00:00:00]Today, the Department of Justice is unsealing an indictment charging seven Chinese executives in four of the largest shipping container manufacturers with conspiring to fix prices in violation of antitrust laws.

[00:00:12]Collectively, the Chinese conspirators manufacture about 95% of the world's standard dry shipping containers. These charges arise from a conspiracy to restrict the output and fix prices of shipping containers at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

[00:00:29]Shipping containers are key to transporting billions of dollars of goods to Americans every year.

[00:00:35]Around the start of the global pandemic, these manufacturers exploited the crisis and their market power to squeeze the supply chain for profit.

[00:00:45]Through coordinated agreements, including the use of video cameras to monitor production lines and prices, this Chinese cartel dramatically raised the prices of shipping containers between 2019 and 2021.