Competition record
Bridgestone
Deep profile · 1 linked library matter
Bridgestone is a global tire maker that also supplied the rubber hose used to move oil on and off ships. The EU marine-hose cartel records the company as fined.
Overview
Bridgestone's familiar business is tires for cars, trucks, and motorcycles, sold worldwide under its own name. A separate industrial line made marine hose, the large flexible rubber pipe that connects a tanker to a terminal so crude oil and petroleum products can be loaded and discharged.
The European Commission found that marine-hose suppliers fixed prices and divided customers for that oil-transfer hose. Bridgestone is a fined party in the library file, with other industrial hose makers. The conduct ran for years and concerned a narrow product with few qualified suppliers.
The library status is fined. This profile does not state Bridgestone's fine or the decision total. The tire business is the company's public face. This id is the marine-hose cartel.
Competition footprint
Oil companies and port terminals buy marine hose as safety-critical equipment.
Customer allocation in a niche rubber product leaves a terminal with a pre-chosen supplier.
The recorded status is fined, and the euro amount is not stated here.
Consumer & business angle
Energy companies paid for hose that had been priced among the suppliers.
Tire buyers are Bridgestone's mass-market customers, and they are not the purchasers in the hose cartel.
What to watch
- Damages claims by oil and terminal operators that bought marine hose during the cartel.
- How a diversified manufacturer separates a niche industrial cartel from its consumer brand.
Markets
tires · marine hose · marine hoses · oil terminal equipment
Also known as: bridgestone