Overland Park, KS-based Lansing Trade Group, its parent company and subsidiaries are suing four U.S. railroads, claiming they’re acting collectively to increase transportation rates in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act, reports the Kansas City Business Journal.
They filed in federal court in Kansas City on Feb. 1. The suit targets BNSF Railway Co., CSX Transportation Inc., Norfolk Southern Railway Co. and Union Pacific Railway Co.
Taken together, those railroads control about 90% of U.S. rail freight traffic.
The complaint accuses the railroads of conspiring to apply and enforce a rail fuel surcharge on Lansing clients, which resulted in an across-the-board rate increase that would have been difficult to achieve alone.
The Lansing entities suing are Lansing Ethanol Services LLC, Lansing Trade Group, Lansing Grain Co., Lansing Vermont Inc., Lansing-Louisiana LLC and their parent company The Andersons Inc.
