Equipment importer International Construction Products filed an antitrust lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Wilmington, Del., on Jan. 29, alleging that manufacturers Caterpillar, Komatsu America and Volvo Construction Equipment sought to suppress the entry of Chinese-made equipment into the U.S. market. The suit focuses on a collapsed deal between ICP and online auction site IronPlanet but also alleges that the equipment manufacturers' U.S. dealer-network exclusivity agreements are anticompetitive and violate antitrust laws.
Established in early 2014, ICP sought to bring Chinese-made heavy equipment into the U.S., which has proven a difficult market for China-based equipment manufacturers to break into. At CONEXPO-CON/AGG in March 2014, ICP announced it had struck a deal with online equipment seller IronPlanet to sell new excavators and wheel loaders from China-based Lonking. At the time, ICP Chairman Tim Frank told ENR the deal was intended to grant Chinese-made equipment a way around entrenched U.S. dealer networks.