U.S. Alleges Chinese Shipping Container Giants Rigged Global Supply During COVID Crisis

The U.S. Department of Justice has indicted four of the world’s largest shipping container manufacturers and seven senior executives in what prosecutors describe as a sweeping global conspiracy to restrict container production and inflate prices during the COVID-era supply chain crisis.

The superseding indictment, unsealed Tuesday in the Northern District of California, alleges the companies conspired from at least late 2019 through early 2024 to limit output and fix prices for standard dry shipping containers — the steel boxes that move the vast majority of global trade.

Federal prosecutors allege the conspiracy roughly doubled container prices between 2019 and 2021,