Maersk Line, the world's biggest container shipping company, has stopped port calls to Iran as Western sanctions pressure on the Islamic Republic mounts, a spokeswoman said on Tuesday, Reuters reports.
In 2011 the U.S. blacklisted major Iranian port operator Tidewater Middle East Co, which operates seven terminals in Iran including the biggest container port Bandar Abbas.
That led Maersk Line to suspended operations at several ports.
Since 2011, it has called at the northern Iranian container port of Bushehr. The spokeswoman said Maersk Line halted loading cargo bound for Bushehr on Sept. 30, 2012 and stopped loading outbound cargo from Bushehr on Sept. 24.