Company & trade
Freight conferences
Also called freight conference · the conference
Unpublished agreements between the owners on a lane about rates, sailings and division of the trade, described as the most effective institution in British commerce that no statute mentions.
Named with it
- House Secretary Millicent Dray
Ties
- includes the charter houses and some foreign houses
- the Admiralty knows of them and has not acted
At the table
A conference breaks when an outsider puts enough tonnage on a lane; rates fall below cost until the outsider joins or goes bankrupt. A commission that seems to come from one house may be conference business, including making difficulties for an outsider.