Shipping giants Maersk and MSC will temporarily halt all container shipping to and from Russia, deepening the country’s isolation as the invasion of Ukraine triggers an exodus of Western companies.
The West has imposed heavy restrictions on Russia to shut down its economy and lock it out of the global financial system, effectively making it “investable” and encouraging companies to halt sales, sever ties and discard tens of billions of dollars of investment.
Based in Geneva, MSC said in a statement that it was implementing from this Tuesday (1st) “a temporary shutdown of all cargo reserves to/from Russia, covering all access areas, including the Baltic, Black Sea and Far East of Russia”.
“MSC will continue to accept and select reservations for the delivery of essential goods such as food, medical equipment and humanitarian goods,” he said.
The restrictions closed airspace to Russian aircraft, excluded some Russian banks from the Swift global financial network and restricted Moscow’s ability to use its $630 billion in foreign reserves.
Energy companies BP and Shell have ditched multibillion-dollar positions, while major banks, airlines, automakers and others have cut shipments, ended partnerships and rated Russia’s shares unacceptable.
“I expect to see a number of similar announcements in the coming days,” Sonia Kowal, president of Zevin Asset Management in Boston, said on Monday, adding that the divestment of Norway’s large sovereign wealth fund would support the move.
Maersk, which operates container shipping routes to St Petersburg and Kaliningrad on the Baltic Sea, Novorossiysk on the Black Sea and Vladivostok and Vostochny on Russia’s east coast, said on Tuesday that all container shipping to Russia will be temporarily stopped.
Oil and gas group TotalEnergies also said it will no longer provide capital for new projects in Russia, following moves by Shell, BP and Norway’s Equinor to exit positions in the energy-rich country.
A barrel of Brent, the benchmark oil in Europe, soared more than 5% on Tuesday (1st) due to the war in Ukraine, which raises investors’ fears of disruptions in Russian energy supplies after several Western sanctions against Moscow. . By 9am, a barrel of North Sea Brent for May delivery was up 5.01% to $102.88.
US payment card companies Visa Inc and Mastercard Inc have blocked several Russian financial institutions from their network.
Big tech companies are balancing calls to shut down services in Russia with what they see as a mission to give voice to dissent and protest.
Facebook’s parent company Meta Platforms Inc said on Monday it would restrict access to Russian state-owned media outlets RT and Sputnik on its platforms in the European Union, in line with similar measures by major US tech companies.
YouTube is blocking channels connected to Russian state-run media RT and Sputnik across Europe, said the Google-operated company of Alphabet Inc.
with AFP
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