57As to the law, the applicants maintain that, inasmuch as THCs cover activities ‘related to and indispensable for’ the provision of maritime transport services, it is clear from the judgment in Case T-14/93 Union Internationale des Chemins de Fer v Commission [1995] ECR II-1503 that they are governed exclusively by Regulation No 4056/86. Moreover, the Commission itself has acknowledged in parallel proceedings (Case C-339/95 Compagnia di Navigazione Marittima, removed from the list, and Compagnie Générale Maritime, cited at paragraph 15 above) that the loading and discharge of vessels is an essential and integral part of maritime transport. The contested decision is therefore vitiated by the following errors in law: firstly, it fails to identify those activities which are ‘related to and indispensable for’ the transport to which the THCs supposedly relate; secondly, it concludes that handling operations do not fall within the scope of Regulation No 4056/86 because they are ‘not maritime transport services as such’ (point 128 of the decision), whereas the levying of handling charges by a shipping line is necessarily part of the provision of maritime transport services regardless of the nature of the handling service, and thirdly, the reference to Commission Decision 98/190/EC of 14 January 1998 relating to a proceeding under Article [82] of the EC Treaty (IV/34.801 FAG — Flughafen Frankfurt/Main AG) (OJ 1998 L 72, p. 30) is misconceived in that the provision of ramp-handling services to an air carrier, which the Commission concluded fell within the scope of Regulation No 17, is distinct from the recovery of the cost of those services in the rates and charges payable by the passenger or cargo owner to the carrier.
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