Japan’s two major shipping giants—Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK) and Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL)—have agreed to pay £54 million (approximately $72.16 million) to settle a long-running UK class action lawsuit over the “car carrier cartel”, bringing a 25-year-old dispute to a close.
The “car carrier cartel” refers to a monopolistic alliance formed by multiple car carrier shipping companies, whose core objective is to control the market through coordinated collusion.
The proposed settlement was announced in London on December 11 and will be submitted to the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) for review in mid-January 2026. If approved, combined with previous settlements reached with K Line, WWL/Eukor, and CSAV, the total compensation amount will reach £92.75 million (approximately $123.94 million).
It is understood that the lawsuit was initiated five years ago by consumer rights advocate Mark McLaren. It targets a pricing monopoly agreement—a cartel—that affected the importation of 17 million new cars and vans into the UK between 2006 and 2015. The agreement involved brands such as Ford, Toyota, BMW, Renault, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan and Volkswagen.
The EU had previously ruled that several major car transport companies had colluded for years in pricing, capacity, and customer allocation, with violations dating back to the late 1990s. This is the basis for Mark McLaren’s lawsuit.
The settlement agreement announced several days ago was reached following a nine-week trial earlier this year against NYK and MOL. Mark McLaren stated that this outcome demonstrates the significant value of the UK’s newly implemented “exit mechanism”, a system enabling consumers and businesses to recover losses that would otherwise be difficult to pursue individually.
Reports indicate that for over a decade, the shipping company involved has faced ongoing regulatory scrutiny worldwide, with this UK class action ultimately leading to its commercial liquidation. Should the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal approve the settlement agreement on January 16, 2026, compensation payments will begin to millions of UK vehicle buyers and lessees by the end of 2026. This marks the conclusion of one of the longest-running antitrust scandals in shipping industry history.