26.10.2007 Official Journal of the European Union L 28247 COMMISSION DECISION of 18 August 2006 declaring a concentration compatible with the common market and the functioning of the EEA Agreement (Case COMP/M.3848 — Sea-Invest/EMO-EKOM) (notified under document number C(2006) 3710) (Only the English text is authentic) (Text with EEA relevance) (2007/687EC) On 18 August 2006 the Commission adopted a Decision in a merger case under Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 of 20 January 2004 on the control of concentrations between undertakings (the EC Merger Regulation) (), and in particular Article 8(2) of that Regulation. A non-confidential version of the full Decision can be found in the authentic language of the case on the website of the Directorate- General for Competition, at the following address: http://ec.europa.eu/comm/competiton/index_en.html I. SUMMARY Sea-Invest NV (Sea-Invest) is a privately owned company providing terminal services in a number of ports in Belgium, France, Germany and South Africa. Its core business is the handling of dry bulk and other non- containerised cargo. Sea-Invest controls among others the following terminals handling coal, iron ore and other dry bulk: ABT in Antwerp, GCT and CBM in Ghent and Sea-Bulk in Dunkirk. Europees Massagoed-Overslagbedrijf BV and Erts- en Kolen Overslagbedriff BV~ (EMO-EKOM) provides terminal services for coal and iron ore in Rotterdam. EMO is operating the terminal while EKOM owns the facilities. The existing shareholders in EMO-EKOM are ThyssenKrupp Veerhaven BV (TKV), RAG Logistic GmbH (RAG), HES Beheer NV (HES) and Manufrance BV (Manufrance). TKV is the seaport forwarder for ThyssenKrupp Steel for the ports of Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Antwerp. It operates push boat and barge services via the river Rhine to the group’s blast furnaces in Duisburg. TKV also operates a coal and iron ore terminal in the port of Rotterdam, entirely dedicated to the ThyssenKrupp group. HES holds, apart from its shareholding in EMO-EKOM, stakes in other companies which handle dry bulk in the ports of Rotterdam, Amsterdam and Zeeland. Its subsidiary EBS handles coal, iron ore and other dry bulk in Rotterdam. It has also joint control in the RBT terminal for iron ore, coal and other dry bulk in Rotterdam and the OBA terminal handling coal and () O] L 24, 29.1.2004, p. 1. other dry bulk in Amsterdam. Further, it holds a non- controlling stake in the OVET terminal handling coal, iron ore and other dry bulk in Zeeland. Manufrance holds, apart from its shareholding in EMO- EKOM, controlling interests in OVET and OBA. It is a subsidiary of ATIC Services, a joint venture between the Total, EDF and Arcelor groups (however, none of these shareholders are controlling ATIC Services). ATIC Services holds interests in companies offering services related to coal trading, inland-waterways logistics, maritime transportation and quality control of coal and iron ore cargoes. Pursuant to the proposed transaction, Sea-Invest acquires joint control of EMO-EKOM by means of a purchase of shares in a pure holding company SNV from the current shareholder RAG. After the transaction, EMO-EKOM will be jointly controlled by Sea-Invest, TKV, HES and Manu- france. The Commission’s market investigation has revealed that that the proposed concentration will not give raise to any competition concerns as a result of which effective competition would be significantly impeded in the Common Market or in a substantial part of it. II. EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM 1. THE RELEVANT PRODUCT MARKETS The Commission has in the past suggested that the market for terminal services (cargo handling and storage in ports) could be subdivided according to the three main types of cargo: (i) parcel goods (in particular containers), (i) dry bulk goods and (i) liquid bulk