A man walks to a train of Deutsche Bahn railway operator at the main train station in Frankfurt November 21, 2014.
IN PHOTO: A man walks to a train of Deutsche Bahn railway operator at the main train station in Frankfurt November 21, 2014. Reuters/Ralph Orlowski
A man walks to a train of Deutsche Bahn railway operator at the main train station in Frankfurt November 21, 2014. REUTERS/Ralph Orlowski (GERMANY - Tags: SOCIETY TRANSPORT)

Deustche Bahn, the German state-owned railway, filed a new lawsuit in Germany and the U.S. seeking over $3 billion in damage from 13 air cargo companies for price fixing. Included in the lawsuit is Australian flag carrier Qantas which has paid over $160 million for increasing the price of freight via fuel and security surcharges between 2000 and 2006.

The lawsuit was for overcharging for air cargo services for six years the company's freight business Schenker.

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According to Gerd Becht, board member of Deutsche Bahn, the company tried to settle with the carriers but was not successful. He added that these airlines have no doubt done them wrong, but the rail firm filed the lawsuit to come to terms with them.

Over the six-year period, Qantas was fined by the US Department of Justice $65 million, the Canadian Competition Authority $155,000, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission $20 million, the European Commission $12 million and the New Zealand Commerce Commission $4.8 million over the price-fixing cartel that the Flying Roo was part of.

In addition, Qantas also fought class action suits in the US and Australia in which it incurred $65 million more in costs and the Qantas officer who headed freight operations in the US spent eight months in prison for illegal price fixing of cargo shipments.

The suit filed with a court in Cologne sought 560 million euro in interest, while the one in the US is for $370 million, but the amount could balloon to $1.1 billion if the US could would allow the trebling of charges.

The suit in Germany covers Lufthansa, Air Canada, British Airways, Cargolux, Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines, LAN, Qantas, SAS and Singapore Airlines. The one in the US seeks damages from Air France, All Nippon Airways, Cargolux KLM, Martin Air, Qantas and SAS.