Deutsche Bahn (DB) has received the final payout from an ‘air cargo cartel’, after Cathay Pacific reached a confidential settlement with the German group.
DB had set up DB Barnsdale specifically to pursue damages on behalf of DB Schenker and other forwarders and shippers, and it has secured 65 settlements worth nearly €700m, which, it claimed today, was “a victory for justice and fair competition”.
Not everyone agrees.
Following Lufthansa Cargo’s undisclosed settlement with DB Barnsdale in 2019, airline executives were indignant that it was shippers, not forwarders, that had ultimately overpaid for freight carriage – so any compensation should be rightly theirs.
“This is as unjust to our industry as it gets,” said one key airline executive at the time. “The forwarders cannot be allowed to get away with this.”
But one shipper source said that with a large number of small shippers, the legal and administrative costs – as well as management time – would far outweigh any financial gains for a single member.
Lufthansa Cargo had argued that it was better to pay now than face years of costly legal proceedings. The settlement paid to Schenker was “strictly confidential”, thus hampering the ability of shippers to seek accurate compensation.