As he readies to battle the US Justice Department, one of Singapore’s best-known names in shipping has today revealed he will step away from the containerline his family founded nearly 60 years ago. 

SS Teo is taking a leave of absence from his role as executive chairman and director at Pacific International Lines (PIL), the world’s 12th largest containerline, in the wake of the US launching a container manufacturing cartel case against him, his company Singamas, and a number of other Chinese box manufacturers earlier this month.

Teo is also stepping away from his roles at the Singapore Business Federation, the Singapore Economic Resilience Taskforce, the National University of Singapore and Enterprise Singapore, as he gears up to fight the cartel claims. 

“I have proactively decided to take these leaves of absence to afford myself sufficient time to attend to this matter, and for the best interests of the aforementioned organisations,” Teo said in a statement emailed to Splash today. 

The move follows last week’s indictment by US prosecutors accusing four of the world’s largest container manufacturers and seven executives of conspiring to restrict container output and fix prices between 2019 and 2024. Teo is among those named alongside executives from CIMC, CXIC and Dong Fang.

US authorities allege the scheme helped roughly double dry container prices during the pandemic-era supply chain crisis and dramatically boosted profits across the sector. Singamas has denied the collusion claims and said it will fight the case.

It has been a turbulent few years for Teo. He became managing director of PIL in 1992, taking over from his father as chairman  in 2018, shortly after which time the company was plunged into financial difficulties which were resolved in 2021 with a restructuring and Heliconia Capital Management, part of Temasek Holdings, bailing out Singapore’s largest liner company and installing new management.