The container shipping giant Maersk warned Wednesday that shipping delays caused by increased customs inspections as a result of Western sanctions might spoil or damage food and medical shipments that are bound for Russia.
Maersk announced on Tuesday that it was cutting service to Russia to comply with sanctions but is allowing exemptions for food, medical, and humanitarian goods. But now the Denmark-based company is warning against bookings for the exempted goods due to delays.
“We do, however, warn caution on still placing bookings for perishable cargo due to significant delays in key transshipment hubs that may damage the cargo,” Maersk said on its website.
Maersk said that customs authorities in the EU and UK are inspecting all Russia-bound containers that transit their ports to identify sanctioned and restricted shipments. Because of the increased inspections, Maersk sees a “significant risk to our customers’ perishable cargo.”
The shipping company said that the sanctions were not only affecting Russia. “This is a global impact, and not only limited to trade with Russia,” it said.
The shipping delays are an example of how US sanctions can cause food and medicine shortages in targeted countries despite having humanitarian exemptions. In many cases, companies don’t want to bother dealing with the red tape of doing business with heavily sanctioned countries and cut off service altogether.
Warn Maersk that spoiled food/ medicine could have adverse affects on pilots with bombs, causing them to accidently fall on innocent & not so innocent shipping
That would be a war crime under international humanitarian law.
You’re not advocating that, are you?
Well oiled Western machine. I am afraid that this time, tbey have met their match. Russia is clearly waiting to see what else will be piled on, before announcing own sanctions.
In the meantime Chins is rallying other countries around its position that US and its Western allies are responsible for this crisis. That they goaded Ukraine into attacking defenseless population, and that Western countries encouraged Ukraine not to implement Munsk agreement. More than that while some countries are trying to get a cease fire and negotiations encouraged, West is adding gasoline to the flame by promissing weapons, adding more sanctions. And in China, the most searched subject was a ban on Russian cats!
More countries are coming out against implementing sanctions. Mexico, Brazil, Panama, Argentina, in addition to those one would expect — Cuba. Nicaragua and Venezuela. And the whole Middle East is not implementing sanctions. Not India or Pakistan or Iran. No Central Asian countries. Suprisingly not Israel. NATO meenber Turkey is not implementing sanctions, nor banning flights,
The list is growing in ASEAN countries. Egypt is not implementing sanctions. Eritrea is among the first African countries to declare no sanctions. Saudi Arabia refused US request to remove Russia from OPEC+ membership. China seems to be doing the lobbying against US sanctions.
Temporary issue. Irrelevant. If Russian consumers have a problem, China can probably take up the shipping slack – that’s what “Belt and Road” are all about. Maersk adhering to sanctions is just cutting their own throat – or at least reducing their importance in the long run. As Mercouris says, people don’t seem to understand just how important Russia is to the global economy.