A US administrative court has ordered Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) to pay $45.6 million in compensation to the retailer Bed Bath & Beyond, which went bankrupt in 2023.
Judge Erin Wirth ruled that OOCL (a subsidiary of the Chinese company COSCO) had repeatedly breached US regulations by failing to provide the promised cargo space and by taking retaliatory action against its client.
According to the prosecution, at the height of the pandemic, OOCL allegedly deliberately disregarded its long-term agreements with the retailer in order to divert capacity to the far more lucrative spot market.
Bed Bath & Beyond received only 70% of its contracted capacity in 2020 and just 53% in the two-year period 2021–2022. This shortfall forced the company to incur exorbitant transport costs, exacerbating the financial crisis that led to its liquidation in 2023.
The court found that OOCL had failed to act in good faith, describing the violations as “wilfully and knowingly committed.”
Translation by Giles Foster
