COPENHAGEN — Container shipping company Maersk said on Friday it had temporarily paused vessel calls at Israel’s Haifa port, amid the country’s escalating conflict with Iran.
The Danish company said it had not experienced any further disruptions to its scheduled operations in the region.
Haifa port, which was privatized in 2022, is owned 70 percent by India’s Adani Ports while the remaining 30 percent is held by Israel’s Gadot Group.
Adani Ports is the ports operating arm of Adani Group, led by billionaire Gautam Adani. Including Haifa port, the company operates four ports outside Indian waters.
A spokesperson for the Adani Group did not immediately respond to Reuters’ email and text messages requesting comment.
Israel has been hitting Iran from the air since last Friday in what it describes as an effort to prevent Tehran from developing nuclear weapons. Iran has denied plans to develop such weapons and has retaliated by launching counterstrikes on Israel.
On Thursday, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said it had launched combined missile and drone attacks at military and industrial sites linked to Israel’s defence industry in Haifa and Tel Aviv.
Maersk said earlier container volumes plunged 30-40 percent between the US in China in April as a trade war erupted between the world’s top economies, and warned a protracted dispute could shrink global volumes this year.
However, the Danish group stuck to its full-year profit guidance, helped by continued disruption on the Red Sea trade route that has pushed up freight rates.
Trade tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump have prompted companies worldwide to cut sales targets and major economies to revise down growth prospects, impacting demand for shipping goods at sea.
Maersk, viewed as a barometer of world trade, said it now expects global container volumes within a range of down 1 percent to up 4 percent this year, compared with the 4 percent growth estimated at the beginning of the year.
“Volumes between China and the US dropped sharply during April, between 30 percent and 40 percent as tariffs went up. We were able to reallocate them to some other areas where there’s still strong demand,” CEO Vincent Clerc told journalists in Copenhagen.
Many companies rushed to ship goods to the US at the beginning of the year in anticipation of potential tariffs. But most economists are calling the Trump tariff gambit a demand shock to the world economy which will sap global activity.
Maersk expects market growth in the second quarter, if customers take advantage of a 90-day pause in the bulk of planned US tariffs to build inventories, but said there was a risk of demand contracting in the second half of the year if tariffs were not rolled back.
Maersk, whose customers include Walmart, Target, and Nike, said the threat of a further escalation in the trade war cast a shadow over the US economy.
“The dream of being able to produce locally, with all you’ll need for your supply chain, is not possible,” Clerc said.
“Unemployment is at a historic low in the United States, and they are deporting hundreds of thousands of people. Where is the labour going to come from?” he added.
“If we have to pay US labour, then no T-shirt will be sold for less than $150,” Clerc said.
Maersk said it had downsized some vessels sailing between China and the United States. German rival Hapag-Lloyd said last month its customers had cancelled 30 percent of shipments to the US from China.
Maersk still expects earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) this year of between $6 billion and $9 billion.
JP Morgan analysts said in a research note they were surprised the shipper had maintained its outlook.
Maersk also said it expects Red Sea disruption to continue throughout the year, despite comments by Trump on Tuesday that the US would stop bombing the Iran-aligned Houthis in Yemen, which helped it maintain its profit guidance.
