A number of international freight forwarding companies have had proceedings filed against them at the High Court in Auckland, after accusations of price-fixing.
The Commerce Commission, which initiated the proceedings, says it started investigating alleged collusion by the companies in 2007, as part of wider investigations in Europe and the United States.
In a written statement, the commission says the anti-competitive conduct relates to alleged agreements regarding the fixing of fees and surcharges on air freight forwarding, both to and from New Zealand.
The commission says some of the agreements appear to have been in place since 2001.
It says proceedings have been filed against a number of companies, including the Deutsche Bahn Group and Kuehne and Nagel International.
The commission notes, however, that settlements have already been reached with two companies involved and that in both instances the New Zealand subsidiaries were not implicated.