Maritime Leader SS Teo Takes Leave of Absence to Fight Price-Fixing Charges
Well-known Singaporean executive Teo Siong Seng (SS Teo) is taking a leave of absence from his role as chairman of Pacific International Lines in order to focus on his defense against U.S. charges of price-fixing. The charges are connected with his role as CEO of container manufacturer Singamas, a related company.
Teo, 71, is one of seven executives in the container-manufacturing industry who face U.S. charges of conspiring to restrict production and drive up equipment prices during the pandemic-era cargo surge. The U.S. Department of Justice alleges that in 2019-2020, a group of Chinese container manufacturers - Dong Fang, CXIC, Singamas, market leader CIMC, and two unnamed co-conspirators - began working together to suppress production and raise their prices for standard dry shipping containers. They allegedly agreed to restricted shifts and hours for their respective production lines and to install video cameras so that all cartel members could verify each others' compliance. By late 2022, the conspirators expanded the restrictions to include comprehensive caps on "total allowable capacity" for each company's annual production, DOJ alleges.
The arrangement allegedly boosted profit margins by massive amounts for the participants. Singamas, under SS Teo's leadership, swung from a $110 million loss in 2019 to a profit of $190 million in 2021.
Facing these charges, Teo has announced that he will be putting his high-profile posts in Singapore's business world on pause. He plans not to seek reelection to his post as chairman of the Singapore Business Federation when his term expires at the end of June, and he will be taking a leave of absence from his roles at the Singapore Economic Resilience Taskforce, Enterprise Singapore, National University of Singapore and Pacific International Lines, where he is executive chairman.
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Another Singamas executive, Chinese national Vick Ma, is under arrest in France and facing extradition to the United States.
SS Teo is the son of Chang Yun Chung, a well-known shipowner who founded Pacific International Lines in 1967. Teo took over as managing director of the firm as 1992, and became chairman in 2018. Today, PIL has about 100 ships and 300,000 TEU of capacity, making it the 12th-largest container line globally. With vessels ranging from feeders to ULCVs, it operates transoceanic as well as regional services.