French shipping company CMA CGM and German transport giant Hapag-Lloyd have suspended new freight container deliveries to Cuba, the companies said, following a US order imposing new sanctions on the Caribbean island.
The suspensions come after US President Donald Trump on May 1 ordered new sanctions as part of the the latest push to pile pressure on Cuba, which is facing economic crisis after the United States cut off oil from Venezuela.
Hapag-Lloyd on Monday said on its website that it had “temporarily suspended acceptance of new bookings to and from Cuba”, adding that it was “assessing the situation” to determine future services to the country.
CMA CGM also announced a halt, saying in a Sunday statement to the specialist shipping press that it had decided to “suspend bookings to and from Cuba until further notice” following the May 1 US directive.
In the executive order, Trump said the US would target people and companies known to “operate in or have operated” in key sectors including energy, defence, “or any other sector of the Cuban economy” as determined by the US government.
While the shipping sector was not explicitly targeted by the order, vessels dock at public port facilities managed by the Cuban defence ministry.
The United States has heaped pressure on Cuba since January, cutting off one of the country’s last economic lifelines by halting oil shipments from Venezuela, its main fuel supplier, and threatening tariffs on any other country that attempted to make up the shortfall.
Trump’s oil blockade has exacerbated a severe humanitarian and energy crisis in Cuba, marked by ever more frequent blackouts.
Trump has mused about taking over the island nation, which lies 145 kilometres (90 miles) from Florida and has been under a nearly continuous US trade embargo since Fidel Castro led a communist revolution in 1959.
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