Business Insider World's biggest shipping company suspends container shipments to and from Russia awallace@insider.com (Abby Wallace)
Maersk will pause Russian shipments in the wake of the country's invasion and Western sanctions.
The suspension will apply to all goods except food, medical supplies and humanitarian equipment.
The shipping giant said it was already starting to see operational delays in the global supply chain.
Global shipping giant Maersk announced that shipments to and from Russia will be suspended temporarily in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and escalating economic sanctions imposed by the West and other countries.
The suspension will apply to all goods except food, medical supplies, and humanitarian supplies equipment, according to the shipping giant.
"With the fluid circumstances of regular updates and adjustments to the sanctions list we see clear need to take some time to establish new and revise existing processes of accepting and handling bookings," Maersk told Insider in a statement.
A spokesperson told Insider that the suspension also applied to Ukraine given the escalating situation.
The shipping company added that "the stability and safety of our operations is already being directly and indirectly impacted by sanctions," which governments around the world have implemented since the Russian military's full-scale movement into Ukraine Thursday morning.
The move by the shipping leader will further hamper Russia's ability to send and receive goods, which has already been restricted by Western sanctions. The US, UK and EU, alongside other countries have tried to cut Russia off from participating in the global financial system by blocking certain Russian banks from the cross-border financial transaction platform, SWIFT. The US has also frozen $630 billion in foreign assets held by the Russian Central Bank.
On Monday, the UK government asked port operators to prevent all ships with ties to Russia from docking. On Saturday, French authorities also intercepted a Russian cargo ship in the English Channel after it was suspected to have ties to a Russian company targeted by sanctions, CNBC reported.
Maersk said on Tuesday that it had already begun to see the ripple effects of sanctions on the global supply chain.
"We start seeing the effect on global supply chain flows such as delays, detention of cargo by customs authorities across various transshipment hubs, unpredictable operational impacts," it said.
The shipping giant said on Monday that it was considering a "possible suspension of Maersk bookings to and from Russia."
Maersk's decision to move forward with the shipments pause is the latest from global companies which will stunt Russia's ability to participate in global trade. Shipping company Ocean Network Express (ONE) also said on Monday that it suspended shipping to and from Russia, Reuters reported.
Business Insider Fox News correspondent keeps pushing back on guests' misleading claims about Russia's invasion of Ukraine tporter@businessinsider.com
Fox News correspondent Jennifer Griffin is forcefully pushing back on claims made by guests.
She accused a guest defending Russia's Ukraine invasion of "appeasement."
The network has long hosted guests and employed hosts who have taken a pro-Kremlin stance.
Fox News correspondent Jennifer Griffin accused a former Pentagon official of "appeasement" after he defended Russia's invasion of Ukraine on the network.
It's the latest in a series of increasingly exasperated attempt by the respected security correspondent to fact-check guests pushing misleading or baseless claims on the network.
The network is known for inviting guests who promote controversial views or misinformation, often receiving little pushback.
Guests and top-rated hosts including Tucker Carlson defended Putin in the buildup to the invasion, in line with a years-long sympathy for Vladimir Putin's Russia in the US populist right. (Carlson later changed his position.)
In an appearance on the network Sunday, Army Col. Douglas Macgregor, who was a Pentagon official in the Trump administration, said the West should stay out of the Ukraine conflict.
He argued that it was wrong for the US to support Ukrainian resistance and that Putin should be allowed to seize some of the country.
"We will not send our forces to fight, but we are urging Ukrainians to die pointlessly in a fight they can't win. We're going to create a far greater humanitarian crisis than anything you've ever seen if it doesn't stop," said Macgregor.
Griffin responded, calling Macgregor out for what she called the "so many distortions in what he just said."
She went on to suggest that some the policies Macgregor had advocated while he was working for the Trump administration helped to embolden Putin.
"The kind of appeasement talk that Colonel Macgregor, who should know better — when he was in government, he was the one who was advising Trump to pull all troops out of Germany," Griffin said.
"That projection of weakness is what made Putin think he could move into a sovereign country like Ukraine."
In recent weeks, and in increasingly forceful terms, Griffin has fact-checked a series of guests on the show.
On Saturday she questioned the credentials of retired Brig. Gen. Don Bolduc who had criticised President Joe Biden for not stepping up US military involvement.
"Clearly, Brigadier General Bolduc is not a student of history, he's a politician, he ran for Senate in New Hampshire and failed.
"He's not a military strategist, and to suggest that the US would put indirect fire or special operations or CIA on the ground to give Putin any sort of excuse to broaden this conflict is extremely dangerous talk at a time like this," said Griffin.
Griffin has previously pushed back at other claims being promoted on Fox News.
While some hosts sought to dismiss reports in 2020 that President Donald Trump had insulted military veterans, Griffin confirmed that the claims were true, leading Trump to call for her to be fired.
