Shipping giant Maersk divests from companies linked to Israeli settlements

Move follows run accusing Maersk of links to Israel’s subject and concern of Palestinian lands.

Maersk volition chopped ties with companies linked to amerciable Israeli settlements connected the occupied West Bank, the Danish shipping elephantine has said.

The determination follows months-long unit by activists connected Maersk connected issues related to Palestine.

Its shipments person travel nether scrutiny arsenic portion of an planetary run led by the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM), a grassroots organisation. The radical has focused chiefly connected Maersk’s shipments of US overseas subject sales, but PYM has besides researched the transport of cargo from companies tied to settlements.

A connection connected the Maersk website, dated June, 2025, said, “Following a caller reappraisal of transports related to the West Bank, we further strengthened our screening procedures successful narration to Israeli settlements, including aligning our screening process with the OHCHR database of enterprises progressive successful activities successful the settlements.”

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) database includes businesses progressive successful assorted activities related to the settlements, specified arsenic providing services, equipment, oregon fiscal operations that enactment the amerciable settlements.

When asked for further details connected its decision, Maersk pointed Al Jazeera to the connection connected its website. It is unclear which oregon however galore businesses Maersk had links to.

Israel has built much than 100 settlements crossed the occupied West Bank that are location to immoderate 500,000 settlers. These settlements, amerciable nether planetary law, scope from tiny outposts to larger communities with modern infrastructure.

“This sends a wide connection to the planetary shipping industry: compliance with planetary instrumentality and basal quality rights is not optional. Doing concern with Israel’s amerciable settlements is nary longer viable, and the satellite is watching to spot who follows next,” said PYM’s Aisha Nizar.

But she called for further action, arguing that Maersk inactive transports goods for the Israeli military, including components of its F-35 combatant planes.

“Maersk continues to nett from the genocide of our radical – regularly shipping F-35 components utilized to weaponry and massacre Palestinians,” Nizar said. “We volition proceed to physique unit and mobilise radical powerfulness until Maersk cuts each ties to genocide and ends the transport of weapons and weapons components to Israel.”

Last year, Spain banned Maersk ships transporting subject goods to Israel from utilizing its ports.

Earlier this month, PYM revealed however Maersk was utilizing the larboard of Rotterdam arsenic an indispensable nexus successful what it called a “supply concatenation of death”.

Despite a Dutch tribunal ruling that prohibited the Netherlands from exporting F-35 parts to Israel, Rotterdam inactive played a relation successful Israel’s F-35 programme, the study showed.

In effect to those findings, Maersk told Al Jazeera that it upholds a strict argumentation of not shipping weapons oregon ammunition to progressive struggle zones and that it conducts owed diligence, peculiarly successful regions affected by progressive conflicts, including Israel and Gaza, and adapts this owed diligence to the changing context.

It confirmed, however, that its US subsidiary, Maersk Line Limited, was 1 of “many companies supporting the planetary F-35 proviso chain” with transport services.