The U.S. Justice Department released the information below:
Seven Chinese executives and four of the world’s largest
shipping container manufacturing companies were indicted for conspiring to
restrict the output of — and fix the prices of — nearly all of the world’s
standard unrefrigerated shipping containers for over four years, spanning as
early as November 2019 to at least January 2024, in violation of Section 1 of
the Sherman Antitrust Act. 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. One executive, Vick Nam Hing Ma, was
arrested and his extradition to the United States is pending. Six executive
co-defendants remain at large.
Defendant Vick
Nam Hing Ma, also known as “Vick Ma”, “馬南慶” and “马南庆” in
Chinese, 54, of the People’s Republic of China, was employed by Singamas
Container Holdings Ltd. as Marketing Director. He was arrested on April 14,
2026, in France and his extradition to the United States is pending. Following
Ma’s arrest, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California
unsealed today a superseding indictment charging Ma and 10
of his co-conspirators for conspiring to restrict the output of—and fix the
price of — nearly all the world’s standard unrefrigerated shipping containers
(also known as standard dry containers), the intermodal containers which carry
billions of dollars of goods across the oceans to American households each
year. In total, the superseding indictment charges 11 defendants, including 10
of Ma’s co-conspirators:
- Singamas Container Holdings Ltd. (Singamas) also
known as “胜狮货柜企业有限公司” in Chinese, was a publicly traded company,
organized and existing under the laws of Hong Kong in the People’s
Republic of China. Singamas was engaged in the business of manufacturing
dry shipping containers and selling them to customers in the United States
and elsewhere.
- China International Marine Containers (Group)
Co., Ltd. (CIMC), also known as “中国国际海运集装箱（集团）股份有限公司” in Chinese, was a publicly traded company,
organized and existing under the laws of the People’s Republic of China.
CIMC was engaged in the business of manufacturing dry shipping containers
and selling them to customers in the United States and elsewhere.
- Shanghai Universal Logistics Equipment Co., Ltd.,
also known as “上海寰宇物流装备有限公司” in Chinese, was a company organized and
existing under the laws of the People’s Republic of China. Shanghai
Universal Logistics Equipment Co., Ltd. (hereinafter “Dong Fang”) owned,
managed, and did business as a brand of shipping containers called Dong
Fang International Containers, also known as “DF”, “DFIC”, or Dong Fang.
Dong Fang was engaged in the business of manufacturing dry shipping
containers and selling them to customers in the United States and
elsewhere.
- CXIC Group Containers Co. Ltd. (CXIC) also known
as “新华昌集团有限公司” in Chinese, was a company organized and
existing under the laws of the People’s Republic of China. CXIC was
engaged in the business of manufacturing dry shipping containers and
selling them to customers in the United States and elsewhere.
- Siong Seng Teo, 71, also known as “張松聲” and “张松声” in Chinese,
and “S. Teo,” was employed by Singamas as Chief Executive Officer and
Chairman. Teo is believed to be a resident of the Republic of Singapore.
- Boliang Mai, 67, also known as “麦伯良” in Chinese, was employed by CIMC in various
senior roles. From August 2015 through July 2020, Mai served as President
and Chief Executive Officer of CIMC. From August 2020 through the rest of
the period covered by the Superseding Indictment, he served as Chairman
and CEO of CIMC. Mai is believed to be a resident of the People’s Republic
of China.
- Tianhua Huang, 62, also known as “黄田化” in Chinese and “T.H. Huang,” was employed by
CIMC as Vice President. Huang is believed to be a resident of the People’s
Republic of China.
- Yongbo Wan, 47, also known as “万永波” in Chinese, was employed by CIMC as General
Manager of CIMC’s Operation Management Center. Wan is believed to be a
resident of the People’s Republic of China.
- Qianmin Li, 62, also known as “李前敏” in Chinese, was employed by Dong Fang as
General Manager. Li is believed to be a resident of the People’s Republic
of China.
- Yuqiang Zhang, 49, also known as “张钰强” in Chinese and “James Zhang,” was employed by CXIC as CEO. Zhang
is believed to be a resident of the People’s Republic of China.
“Cheaters never
prosper,” said Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward. “This Department of
Justice is ensuring that when American pocketbooks are pilfered, accountability
will follow. And yet the last administration saw fit to prioritize the weaponization
of the Department through novel criminal prosecution theories rather than focus
on criminal actors most responsible for manipulating markets to profit from a
global pandemic. Thankfully, this Department has righted that wrong,
eliminating the weaponization of Government and prioritizing ensuring
affordability for all Americans.”
“Global
price-fixing cartels strike at the heart of our economic liberty. The
defendants held hostage the world’s supply of ocean shipping containers during
the Covid pandemic when our supply chains needed it the most. They stole from
everyday Americans who paid more and waited longer for vital goods as a
result,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Omeed A. Assefi of the Justice
Department’s Antitrust Division. “The Justice Department’s Antitrust Division
is committed to protecting consumers and holding accountable anyone — anywhere
in the world — who exploits Americans for ill-gotten gains.”
“The charges we
announced today are possible only because of the dedicated men and women of the
Antitrust Division’s San Francisco Office and our partners in the Federal
Bureau of Investigation, the General Services Administration Office of
Inspector General, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of
California, and the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General,” said
Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Daniel W. Glad for Criminal
Enforcement of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division. “Working together,
these law enforcement professionals conducted a thorough, speedy investigation
and stand ready to prove the allegations in the indictment.”
“These
defendants, as alleged, sought to exploit a global pandemic to increase their
own profits. Their illegal agreement to fix prices and limit supply of these
shipping containers resulted in the American consumer paying more and waiting
longer for critical goods,” said U.S. Attorney Craig H. Missakian for the
Northern District of California. “We will not tolerate any attempt to
manipulate the free markets and will continue to work with our partners at the
Antitrust Division to protect the public from these defendants and others like
them.”
“The FBI remains
committed to protecting the American people from global entities illegally
conspiring to engage in price fixing,” said Operations Director Joe Perez of
the FBI’s Criminal and Cyber Branch. “We are proud to work with our partners to
ensure that criminals seeking to enrich themselves at the expense of consumers
are brought to justice.”
“These charges
represent the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General’s commitment to
work with the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division and our law
enforcement partners to prosecute individuals and companies who restrict trade
for personal benefit,” said Executive Special Agent in Charge Kevin Cloninger
of the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General. “We will continue to
pursue and bring to justice those that conspire to engage in anticompetitive
practices and harm U.S. citizens.”
“We will
continue working with law enforcement partners to protect our supply chain and
aggressively investigate all allegations of price fixing,” said Assistant
Inspector General for Investigations Jason Suffredini of the U.S. General
Services Administration Office of Inspector General.
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. On or about Nov. 14, 2019, Yongbo Wan and Tianhua
Huang of CIMC, Qianmin Li of Dong Fang, Yuqiang Zhang of CXIC, and a
co-conspiring executive of Co-Conspirator Company A met at CIMC’s headquarters
in the city of Shenzhen. The goal of the agreement was to raise the price of
standard dry shipping containers. To do so, they agreed to restrict CIMC’s,
Dong Fang’s, CXIC’s, and Co-Conspirator Company A’s output of standard dry
shipping containers by various means, including:
- Limiting the number of shifts and hours that each
production line for standard dry containers could run per day;
- Installing 87 video surveillance cameras on all
49 dry container production lines to ensure that the companies did not
exceed the agreed-upon limitations;
- Not building any new container manufacturing
factories; and
- Establishing a fund that included a mechanism to
penalize financially any cheating on the output-restriction agreement.
The participants
contemplated that Singamas and Co-Conspirator Company B would join the
output-restriction agreement later. Those companies did so by at least as early
as March 2020.
Throughout their
conspiracy, the conspirators refined the operation of the output-restriction
agreement. By September 2020, the conspirators agreed to restrict how many
standard dry shipping containers the company conspirators would manufacture for
particular customers. These customers included major U.S.-based container
lessors, shipping lines, and logistics companies, in addition to container
lessors, shipping lines, and logistics companies based in Europe, the People’s
Republic of China, and elsewhere. And from at least as early as September 2022
until at least as late as November 2023, the conspirators agreed to cap the
total cargo volume of containers that the company conspirators produced. On or
about November 20, 2023, for example, Vick Ma of Singamas co-presented to his
CEO, co-defendant Siong Seng Teo, the conspiracy’s “Total Allowable capacity”
and “allowable quota” for production — organized by each company conspirator
and its factory lines.
As further
alleged in the indictment, the profits of CIMC’s container manufacturing
business segment increased nearly one hundredfold from about $19.8 million USD
in 2019, to about $288 million USD in 2020, to about $1.75 billion USD in 2021.
Singamas’s net income increased from a loss of about $110 million USD in 2019,
to profits of about $4.6 million in 2020 and about $186.8 million in 2021.
The superseding
indictment charges the defendants with a conspiracy in restraint of trade in
violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Antitrust Act (15 U.S.C. § 1). A
violation of the Sherman Act carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison
and a $1 million criminal fine for individuals, and a maximum penalty of a $100
million fine for corporations. The fines may be increased to twice the gain
derived from the crime or twice the loss suffered by the victims of the crime
if either amount is greater than the statutory maximum fine. A federal district
court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing
Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Matthew Chou,
Daniel Twomey, Albert Sambat, and Christopher J. Carlberg of the Antitrust
Division’s San Francisco Office are prosecuting the case, with assistance from
the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California and the
Antitrust Division’s International Section. The Federal Bureau of
Investigation, the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General, and U.S.
General Services Administration Office of Inspector General investigated the
case. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs and French
authorities provided significant assistance in securing the arrest of Vick Ma.
Anyone with
information in connection with this investigation, or other antitrust and
competition crimes, should contact the Antitrust Division’s Complaint Center by
visiting www.justice.gov/atr/report-violations. Whistleblowers
who voluntarily report original information about antitrust and related
offenses that result in criminal fines or other recoveries of at least $1
million may be eligible to receive a whistleblower reward. Whistleblower awards
can range from 15 to 30 percent of the money collected. For more information on
the Antitrust Whistleblower Rewards Program, including a link to submit
reports, visit www.justice.gov/atr/whistleblower-rewards.
An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
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