Proceedings filed against container depot company

The Commerce Commission has filed High Court proceedings alleging Specialised Container Services (Christchurch) Limited (SCS Christchurch) and its director Grant Tregurtha attempted to engage in price fixing with one of its competitors.

The Commission alleges that in January 2018, Mr Tregurtha sought to reach an agreement with a competitor to charge the same “vehicle booking system” fee to customers. The Commission alleges that this conduct amounted to an attempt by SCS Christchurch and Mr Tregurtha to enter into a price fixing agreement with its competitor in breach of the Commerce Act.

As this case is before the Court, the Commission cannot comment further at this time.

Background
SCS Christchurch operates a container depot in Waltham, Christchurch. It is part of a group of companies known as The Specialised Group, which operates container depots in 10 locations across New Zealand. Its head office and administrative services are provided by Pinnacle Corporation Limited.
Vehicle booking systems are used by some container depot operators to facilitate the booking of time slots for delivery and collection of containers at the depots. Container depot operators sometimes charge a fee for any bookings made.

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