SIMIC

The American home goods importer filed a complaint with maritime regulators accusing Cosco Shipping and MSC of working together to violate service contracts, taking advantage of soaring freight rates and premiums.

MSC said it received no formal complaint by MCS Industries in advance of the filing, or in relation to the subsequent accusations made in the media, many of which remain vague and unsubstantiated and are incorrectly targeted at MSC, reported the American Journal of Transportation.

"While MSC is still studying some of the contents of this particular complaint, the company does not recognise the alleged shortcomings in booking the cargo allocations provided for this shipper," said the statement from Geneva-based MSC, the world's second biggest container shipping company after Maersk.

MSC also rejects the accusation of collusion between carriers put forward in the complaint. MSC and Cosco are not in the same shipping alliance and as such have no operational cooperation by way of Vessel Sharing Agreement (VSA) or Slot Charter Agreement (SCA) anywhere in the world.