Washington, May 19 – Seven Chinese executives and four of the world’s largest shipping container manufacturing companies were indicted for conspiring to restrict the output of — and fix the prices of — nearly all of the world’s standard unrefrigerated shipping containers for over four years, spanning as early as November 2019 to at least January 2024, in violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Antitrust Act. The multi-year conspiracy roughly doubled the prices of standard shipping containers between 2019 and 2021, increasing the container manufacturers’ profits approximately one hundredfold during the COVID-19 pandemic and global supply chain crisis. One executive, Vick Nam Hing Ma, was arrested and his extradition to the United States is pending. Six executive co-defendants remain at large.
Defendant Vick Nam Hing Ma, also known as “Vick Ma”, “馬南慶” and “马南庆” in Chinese, 54, of the People’s Republic of China, was employed by Singamas Container Holdings Ltd. as Marketing Director. He was arrested on April 14, 2026, in France and his extradition to the United States is pending. Following Ma’s arrest, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California unsealed today a superseding indictment charging Ma and 10 of his co-conspirators for conspiring to restrict the output of—and fix the price of — nearly all the world’s standard unrefrigerated shipping containers (also known as standard dry containers), the intermodal containers which carry billions of dollars of goods across the oceans to American households each year. In total, the superseding indictment charges 11 defendants, including 10 of Ma’s co-conspirators:
Singamas Container Holdings Ltd. (Singamas) also known as “胜狮货柜企业有限公司” in Chinese, was a publicly traded company, organized and existing under the laws of Hong Kong in the People’s Republic of China. Singamas was engaged in the business of manufacturing dry shipping containers and selling them to customers in the United States and elsewhere.
China International Marine Containers (Group) Co., Ltd. (CIMC), also known as “中国国际海运集装箱（集团）股份有限公司” in Chinese, was a publicly traded company, organized and existing under the laws of the People’s Republic of China. CIMC was engaged in the business of manufacturing dry shipping containers and selling them to customers in the United States and elsewhere.
Shanghai Universal Logistics Equipment Co., Ltd., also known as “上海寰宇物流装备有限公司” in Chinese, was a company organized and existing under the laws of the People’s Republic of China. Shanghai Universal Logistics Equipment Co., Ltd. (hereinafter “Dong Fang”) owned, managed, and did business as a brand of shipping containers called Dong Fang International Containers, also known as “DF”, “DFIC”, or Dong Fang. Dong Fang was engaged in the business of manufacturing dry shipping containers and selling them to customers in the United States and elsewhere.
CXIC Group Containers Co. Ltd. (CXIC) also known as “新华昌集团有限公司” in Chinese, was a company organized and existing under the laws of the People’s Republic of China. CXIC was engaged in the business of manufacturing dry shipping containers and selling them to customers in the United States and elsewhere.
Siong Seng Teo, 71, also known as “張松聲” and “张松声” in Chinese, and “S. Teo,” was employed by Singamas as Chief Executive Officer and Chairman. Teo is believed to be a resident of the Republic of Singapore.
Boliang Mai, 67, also known as “麦伯良” in Chinese, was employed by CIMC in various senior roles. From August 2015 through July 2020, Mai served as President and Chief Executive Officer of CIMC. From August 2020 through the rest of the period covered by the Superseding Indictment, he served as Chairman and CEO of CIMC. Mai is believed to be a resident of the People’s Republic of China.
Tianhua Huang, 62, also known as “黄田化” in Chinese and “T.H. Huang,” was employed by CIMC as Vice President. Huang is believed to be a resident of the People’s Republic of China.
Yongbo Wan, 47, also known as “万永波” in Chinese, was employed by CIMC as General Manager of CIMC’s Operation Management Center. Wan is believed to be a resident of the People’s Republic of China.
Qianmin Li, 62, also known as “李前敏” in Chinese, was employed by Dong Fang as General Manager. Li is believed to be a resident of the People’s Republic of China.
Yuqiang Zhang, 49, also known as “张钰强” in Chinese and “James Zhang,” was employed by CXIC as CEO. Zhang is believed to be a resident of the People’s Republic of China.
“Cheaters never prosper,” said Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward. “This Department of Justice is ensuring that when American pocketbooks are pilfered, accountability will follow. And yet the last administration saw fit to prioritize the weaponization of the Department through novel criminal prosecution theories rather than focus on criminal actors most responsible for manipulating markets to profit from a global pandemic. Thankfully, this Department has righted that wrong, eliminating the weaponization of Government and prioritizing ensuring affordability for all Americans.”
“Global price-fixing cartels strike at the heart of our economic liberty. The defendants held hostage the world’s supply of ocean shipping containers during the Covid pandemic when our supply chains needed it the most. They stole from everyday Americans who paid more and waited longer for vital goods as a result,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Omeed A. Assefi of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division. “The Justice Department’s Antitrust Division is committed to protecting consumers and holding accountable anyone — anywhere in the world — who exploits Americans for ill-gotten gains.”
“The charges we announced today are possible only because of the dedicated men and women of the Antitrust Division’s San Francisco Office and our partners in the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the General Services Administration Office of Inspector General, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California, and the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General,” said Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Daniel W. Glad for Criminal Enforcement of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division. “Working together, these law enforcement professionals conducted a thorough, speedy investigation and stand ready to prove the allegations in the indictment.”
“These defendants, as alleged, sought to exploit a global pandemic to increase their own profits. Their illegal agreement to fix prices and limit supply of these shipping containers resulted in the American consumer paying more and waiting longer for critical goods,” said U.S. Attorney Craig H. Missakian for the Northern District of California. “We will not tolerate any attempt to manipulate the free markets and will continue to work with our partners at the Antitrust Division to protect the public from these defendants and others like them.”
“The FBI remains committed to protecting the American people from global entities illegally conspiring to engage in price fixing,” said Operations Director Joe Perez of the FBI’s Criminal and Cyber Branch. “We are proud to work with our partners to ensure that criminals seeking to enrich themselves at the expense of consumers are brought to justice.”
“These charges represent the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General’s commitment to work with the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division and our law enforcement partners to prosecute individuals and companies who restrict trade for personal benefit,” said Executive Special Agent in Charge Kevin Cloninger of the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General. “We will continue to pursue and bring to justice those that conspire to engage in anticompetitive practices and harm U.S. citizens.”
“We will continue working with law enforcement partners to protect our supply chain and aggressively investigate all allegations of price fixing,” said Assistant Inspector General for Investigations Jason Suffredini of the U.S. General Services Administration Office of Inspector General.
As alleged in the superseding indictment, as early as March 2019, several of the conspirators began discussing a scheme to restrict the output and fix the prices of standard dry shipping containers. On or about Nov. 14, 2019, Yongbo Wan and Tianhua Huang of CIMC, Qianmin Li of Dong Fang, Yuqiang Zhang of CXIC, and a co-conspiring executive of Co-Conspirator Company A met at CIMC’s headquarters in the city of Shenzhen. The goal of the agreement was to raise the price of standard dry shipping containers. To do so, they agreed to restrict CIMC’s, Dong Fang’s, CXIC’s, and Co-Conspirator Company A’s output of standard dry shipping containers by various means, including:
Limiting the number of shifts and hours that each production line for standard dry containers could run per day; Installing 87 video surveillance cameras on all 49 dry container production lines to ensure that the companies did not exceed the agreed-upon limitations; Not building any new container manufacturing factories; and Establishing a fund that included a mechanism to penalize financially any cheating on the output-restriction agreement.
The participants contemplated that Singamas and Co-Conspirator Company B would join the output-restriction agreement later. Those companies did so by at least as early as March 2020.
Throughout their conspiracy, the conspirators refined the operation of the output-restriction agreement. By September 2020, the conspirators agreed to restrict how many standard dry shipping containers the company conspirators would manufacture for particular customers. These customers included major U.S.-based container lessors, shipping lines, and logistics companies, in addition to container lessors, shipping lines, and logistics companies based in Europe, the People’s Republic of China, and elsewhere. And from at least as early as September 2022 until at least as late as November 2023, the conspirators agreed to cap the total cargo volume of containers that the company conspirators produced. On or about November 20, 2023, for example, Vick Ma of Singamas co-presented to his CEO, co-defendant Siong Seng Teo, the conspiracy’s “Total Allowable capacity” and “allowable quota” for production — organized by each company conspirator and its factory lines.
As further alleged in the indictment, the profits of CIMC’s container manufacturing business segment increased nearly one hundredfold from about $19.8 million USD in 2019, to about $288 million USD in 2020, to about $1.75 billion USD in 2021. Singamas’s net income increased from a loss of about $110 million USD in 2019, to profits of about $4.6 million in 2020 and about $186.8 million in 2021.
The superseding indictment charges the defendants with a conspiracy in restraint of trade in violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Antitrust Act (15 U.S.C. § 1). A violation of the Sherman Act carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $1 million criminal fine for individuals, and a maximum penalty of a $100 million fine for corporations. The fines may be increased to twice the gain derived from the crime or twice the loss suffered by the victims of the crime if either amount is greater than the statutory maximum fine. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Matthew Chou, Daniel Twomey, Albert Sambat, and Christopher J. Carlberg of the Antitrust Division’s San Francisco Office are prosecuting the case, with assistance from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California and the Antitrust Division’s International Section. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General, and U.S. General Services Administration Office of Inspector General investigated the case. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs and French authorities provided significant assistance in securing the arrest of Vick Ma.
Anyone with information in connection with this investigation, or other antitrust and competition crimes, should contact the Antitrust Division’s Complaint Center by visiting www.justice.gov/atr/report-violations. Whistleblowers who voluntarily report original information about antitrust and related offenses that result in criminal fines or other recoveries of at least $1 million may be eligible to receive a whistleblower reward. Whistleblower awards can range from 15 to 30 percent of the money collected. For more information on the Antitrust Whistleblower Rewards Program, including a link to submit reports, visit www.justice.gov/atr/whistleblower-rewards.
An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
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5月20日德州卡梅伦县报道，美国亿万富翁马斯克于 2022 年创立的太空探索技术公司（SpaceX）今天提交了相关文件，以推进其备受瞩目的首次公开募股（IPO）计划；该公司正致力于实现最终殖民火星的宏大目标，并着手部署基于太空的人工智能数据中心。 太空探索技术公司计划于6月4日启动路演，最快将于6月11日进行股票发售，最早于6月12日在纳斯达克上市。 该公司向美国证券交易委员会（SEC）提交的文件概述了其各业务领域内高达28.5万亿美元的巨大潜在市场。在这笔总额中，有26.5万亿美元归属于人工智能（AI）相关项目，具体包括22.7万亿美元的企业级AI应用、2.4万亿美元的AI基础设施，以及7600亿美元的消费者订阅服务和6000亿美元的数字广告业务。此外，该总额还涵盖了通过“星链”(Starlink）产品实现的1.6万亿美元连接服务收入，以及源自各类太空赋能解决方案的3700亿美元收入。 马斯克表示，该公司正调整重心，拟在进军火星之前，优先致力于在月球上建立一座“自我生长的城市”。 该公司虽然在提交给美国证券交易委员会（SEC）的备案文件中并未设定具体的发行股价，但指出高盛集团将担任此次发行的主承销商。包括摩根士丹利、美国银行、花旗集团、摩根大通在内的多家其他金融机构也将参与到此次发行承销工作中。 公开募股申报文件显示，该公司将采用双重股权结构：B类股股东每股拥有10票表决权，这将使控制权集中在马斯克及其他内部人士手中；而面向公众投资者发行的A类股，每股仅拥有一票表决权。根据该公司的招股说明书，马斯克将保留该公司总表决权的85.1%。 太空探索技术公司在首席执行官马斯克的领导下，现已发展成为全球最大的航天科技公司，并有望成为在首次公开募股时市值超过1万亿美元的首家美国公司。 太空探索技术公司计划使用股票代码“ SPCX”在纳斯达克证券交易所上市，并且还将在最近推出的纳斯达克德克萨斯州交易所进行交易，因为该公司总部位于德克萨斯州的星际基地。 太空探索技术公司近年来通过部署“星链”(Starlink）为消费者提供卫星互联网服务，同时也率先使用了可重复使用的火箭，大大降低了太空业务成本，以使太空发射更具商业可行性。 其中“星链”已成为其业务增长的关键引擎，贡献了去年 186.7 亿美元总营收中的绝大部分。尽管该公司营收表现亮眼，去年却录得约…
5月20日华盛顿报道，据哥伦比亚广播公司（CBS）报道，美国情报机构一直在探讨古巴可能如何回应美国的军事行动。 据报道，本月早些时候正当美国情报界追踪一艘受制裁的悬挂俄罗斯国旗、正驶往古巴的油轮“环球号”（Universal）之际，五角大楼及美国国防情报局（DIA）的分析人员开始研判：一旦美国对古巴发动攻击，古巴方面将作何反应。据2名知情美国官员透露，为特朗普总统制定军事行动方案的工作现已启动。这两位官员均要求匿名，因为他们未获授权公开发言。 此类情报预判不仅旨在揭示美国采取行动所带来的直接后果，更试图展现随后可能引发的一系列连锁反应。美国军事规划人员在为总统制定备选方案时，往往会将此类分析纳入考量。 特朗普总统今天回应在美国起诉古巴前领导人劳尔·卡斯特罗（Raúl Castro）之后，古巴局势是否会进一步升级时说：“不，不会升级。我认为也没有必要升级。” 目前尚不清楚美国情报界对潜在反弹后果的具体评估结论，但相关工作仍在进行之中；与此同时，古巴与美国之间的紧张关系正持续升级。今年以来，特朗普政府已实施了更多制裁措施，将矛头指向古巴军方及情报官员，并加大了力度试图切断古巴获取燃料及利用航运渠道的途径。 据报道，古巴已购入攻击型无人机，目前尚不清楚这些无人机由何方提供，也未查明其具体的获取途径。 率先披露古巴无人机消息的Axios新闻网报道称，哈瓦那方面已购入逾300架军用无人机，并曾探讨过相关作战方案：一旦与美国爆发敌对冲突，将动用这些无人机攻击位于关塔那摩湾的美军基地。古巴国家主席迪亚斯-卡内尔否认古巴对美国构成任何军事威胁，但他同时发出警告称，若美方发动攻击，必将引发一场“血腥屠杀”。 上周，美国中央情报局（CIA）局长拉特克利夫访问古巴，并与古巴情报官员以及前领导人卡斯特罗的孙子小卡斯特罗（人称“劳利托”）举行了会晤。据一位美国中情局官员透露，拉特克利夫在会谈中向古巴官员表示，特朗普政府正致力于提供“一个真诚的合作契机”，同时也愿为古巴走出经济困境、实现经济稳定提供助力；但他同时也告诫对方，这一合作机遇的前提条件是古巴必须切断与美国之对手，即俄罗斯、中国和伊朗之间的一切联系。此外，拉特克利夫还明确指出，美方提出的这一合作提议并非无限期有效。 在今年早些时候签署的一项行政命令中，特朗普总统声称古巴窝藏着俄罗斯最大的海外监听站。拜登政府也指控中国在这个距离美国海岸仅90英里的共产主义岛国上设立了间谍设施。 一位美国官员透露，拉特克利夫的此次会晤将是一次考验：它将检验古巴政权内部那些意识到国家需要转变发展方向的人，能否说服那些强硬派——后者坚信，既然他们已成功抵御美国施压长达67年之久，便同样能够熬过特朗普总统的任期。 拉特克利夫的此次访问，是在古巴官员与美国国务院高级官员举行了一系列秘密会晤之后进行的。 今年4月，一个代表团曾前往哈瓦那，并试探性地提出向古巴提供一项由马斯克（Elon Musk）旗下的太空探索技术公司（SpaceX）运营的“星链”（Starlink）卫星互联网服务的方案， 近期，美国国务卿卢比奥（Marco…
5月20日华盛顿报道，美国总统特朗普今天表示，与伊朗的谈判已进入“最后阶段”，重启和平对话的协议似乎已触手可及，但他同时也表示，如果无法达成协议，美军将不得不采取“稍微强硬一些”的手段。 特朗普总统今天在安德鲁斯联合基地对记者表示：“关于伊朗问题，我们正处于最后阶段。我们将拭目以待。结果无非两种：要么达成协议，要么我们将采取一些稍微强硬的行动——不过，我希望那种情况不会发生。” 在特朗普总统发表上述言论后，全球油价应声下跌超过5%。在美国市场，油价维持在每桶100美元以下，收报98.94美元。这是两周以来油价出现的单日最大跌幅。 据报道，巴基斯坦消息人士透露，他们正协助美国和伊朗起草一份关于新一轮会谈的意向书，旨在明确具体的议题。特朗普总统曾表示，如果伊朗愿意就放弃其核野心，并重新开放霍尔木兹海峡展开对话，那么此次会谈将在伊斯兰堡举行。 目前，美国与伊朗之间的谈判已陷入僵局，症结在于伊朗核计划的未来走向，以及霍尔木兹海峡重新开放问题。 具体而言，只要伊朗在坚持保留铀浓缩权利这一诉求上拒绝做出让步，特朗普总统便拒绝派遣谈判代表参与第二轮会谈。 特朗普总统在今天晚些时候指出，局势变幻莫测。他在美国海岸警卫队学院发表毕业典礼致辞后表示：“事态发展可能非常迅速，也可能需要几天时间——或许是几天，但也确实可能转瞬即逝。” 特朗普总统将当前的局势形容为“正处于极度临界的状态”。他说：“相信我，如果我们得不到满意的答复，事态就会急转直下。我们已全员待命。我们必须得到满意的答复。而且，这些答复必须是百分之百令人满意的。” 不过，他表示“希望那些人能达成协议”，并暗示自己愿意暂缓下令发动新一轮军事打击。 特朗普总统说：“如果通过等待几天，我就能避免人员伤亡，我认为这是一件非常值得做的事。” 多家地区媒体今天报道称，美伊双方有望在“数小时内”达成协议；报道还指出，若未能达成一致，巴基斯坦陆军参谋长阿西姆·穆尼尔（Asim Munir）最快可能于5月21日启程前往伊朗，直接向伊朗进行交涉。然而，一位巴基斯坦政府消息人士对上述报道表示质疑，将其斥为“臆测”。 目前正在商讨的任何“协议”，与其说是宣告战争已终结且所有细节均已敲定，倒不如说是伊朗与美国双方表达的一种意愿承诺——即愿意认真探讨如何结束这场战争。 特朗普总统已明确表示，他不希望伊朗拥有核武器；而在和平谈判中，他要求伊朗将该承诺以书面形式确立下来。 不过，伊朗迄今为止甚至不愿考虑这一可能性，并辩称其核计划旨在用于“和平”目的，主要专注于能源生产。…