• THE INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE & LAW REVIEW
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• v.48
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• pp.57-76
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• 2010

This study reviews maritime transport policy regarding liner conference and the changes in the liner market over the decades. Liner shipping industry has long been protected from competition by block exemption. To prevent excessive competition in punctual operation and its inelastic market structure, liner shipping companies formed conferences that are protected to fix the prices under the law. In the US, deregulation in transport sector began from 80's and continuing with OSRA 1998, conferences were dissolving. On the other hand, the EU with close conference system, Regulation 4056/86 contained block exemption remained in force for unlimited time without review clause. However, in Oct 2008, the EU has announced its removal, and conferences were no longer permitted to fix the price nor exchange information. Although OSRA 1998 has already broken up conferences by allowing individual service contracts, but the repeal of the immunity for price fixing will alter significantly the rule on cooperation in the industry since it is a unilateral move by the EU, especially in transatlantic lane. There are rapid changes in shipping market getting much more complicated, and with removal of 4056/86 allowing the market to be more competitive, opening up the industry with far more diverse strategic options. Hence this paper reviews on liner shipping industry and its changes of policies over the years from protected market to open competition market of today.

• THE INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE & LAW REVIEW
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• v.45
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• pp.165-188
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• 2010

The repeal of the block exemption for liner conferences and the abolition of any "special EC antitrust regime" for the shipping industry marks an important step in European maritime competition policy. This article examines the origins and the rationale of the EC antitrust immunity granted so far to the shipping industry and explains the causes of this historical change. Moreover, based on the precedents which have appeared so far, a general assessment is offered under this new EC regime on agreements restricting competition in the liner shipping industry, in particular horizontal ones: conference and tariff/freight arrangements will be doomed, whereas the legitimacy of consortia agreements should not be cast in doubt; a case-by-case analysis will be the approach as regards exchange or dissemination of information by shipowners in the market, and the relevant case law which emerges on these matters in other industries will be the criterion for their evaluation. Finally, a few remarks are made in respect of the international dimension of the decision to outlaw liner conferences and hence carve out EU Member States from the UN Code of Conduct regime.

• THE INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE & LAW REVIEW
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• v.49
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• pp.237-256
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• 2011

A Liner Conference can be defined as "a group of two or more vessel operating carriers which provide international liner services for the carriage of cargo on a particular route or routes within specific geographical limits and which has an agreement or arrangement within the framework of which they operate under uniform or common freight rates and any other agreed conditions with respect to the provisions of the liner services". This study reviews maritime transport policy regarding liner conference and the changes in the liner market over the decades. Liner shipping industry has long been protected from competition by block exemption. The repeal of the block exemption for liner conferences and the abolition of any special EC antitrust regime for the shipping industry marks an important step in European maritime competition policy. This article examines the origins and the rationale of the EC antitrust immunity granted so far th the shipping industry and explains the causes of this historic changes. The abolition of Regulation 4056/86 and of the EU commitment to the UN Code of Conduct marks an historical evolution in international maritime policy, which will have an influence far beyond the EU.

• THE INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE & LAW REVIEW
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• v.28
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• pp.39-61
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• 2005

Historically shipping conference has enjoyed antitrust immunity in consideration of the importance of liner service in international trade in that it is essential to ensure stable movement of international freight. However, shipping deregulation which has been carried out for last decades in the US and EU has caused significant changes to the liner shipping market. In fact, most of shipping conferences have broken up or transformed as discussion agreement since shipping regulatory reform. However, on the other hands, it is also true that it has contributed to developmore efficient and responsive negotiating process that are better tailored to the needs of individual shippers.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.335-338
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• 2012

We present the $18{\mu}m$ luminosity function (LF) of galaxies at 0.006 < z < 0.8 (the average redshift is ~ 0.04) using the AKARI mid-infrared All-Sky Survey catalogue. We have selected 243 galaxies at $18{\mu}m$ from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) spectroscopic region. These galaxies then have been classified into five types; Seyfert 1 galaxies (Sy1, including quasars), Seyfert 2 galaxies (Sy2), low ionization narrow emission line galaxies (LINER), galaxies that are likely to contain both star formation and Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) activities (composites), and star forming galaxies (SF) using optical emission lines such as the line width of $H{\alpha}$ or the emission line ratios of [OIII]/$H{\beta}$ and [NII]/$H{\alpha}$. As a result of constructing the LF of Sy1 and Sy2, we found the following results; (i) the number density ratio of Sy2 to Sy1 is $1.64{\pm}0.37$, larger than the results obtained from optical LF and (ii) the fraction of Sy2 in the entire AGN population may decrease with $18{\mu}m$ luminosity. These results suggest that most of the AGNs in the local universe are obscured by dust and the torus structure probably depends on the mid-infrared luminosity.