Shipping Giant Maersk Cuts Ties to Israeli Settlements in Major BDS Victory

A watershed moment in the fight to hold corporations accountable for complicity in Israel’s war crimes: A.P. Møller Maersk has become the first global shipping company to halt the transport of goods to and from Israeli settlements after facing increasing pressure from the Mask off Maersk campaign. This marks a seismic shift in corporate accountability, and in the shipping and logistics industry as a whole.

Maersk announced on its website this month that it would cut ties with Israeli settlements in the West Bank, stating that it had “strengthened [its] screening procedures in relation to Israeli settlements, including aligning [their] screening process with the OHCHR database of businesses involved in activities in the settlements”. Maersk later indicated that the shift was not limited to the OHCHR list but related to transport to and from Israeli settlements. The statement comes after over a year of international pressure from the Mask off Maersk campaign, led by the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM).

As one of the world’s largest shipping companies, Maersk’s move to cut ties with Israeli settlements is setting a new industry standard that other global shippers cannot ignore. This is significant because, in addition to enabling settlement economies and infrastructure, shipping and logistics companies function as an essential part of the weapons industry supply chain. They have historically and remain today a key strategic element of any war effort. Maersk cutting ties with settlements sets a precedent across this crucial industry, but it remains a partial victory without ending the transportation of military cargo to Israel.

Even so, Maersk’s decision demonstrates that companies facilitating war crimes can be exposed, isolated, and forced to shift. Divestment from occupation is not only possible — it is necessary. This sends a clear message to the global shipping industry: compliance with international law and basic human rights is not optional. Doing business with Israel’s illegal settlements is no longer viable, and the world is watching to see who follows next.

Unmasking Maersk’s Complicity

Since May 2024, we have meticulously researched Maersk shipments to Israel. We’ve released over six reports in the past year; one covered Maersk’s role in facilitating exports from illegal Israeli settlements, while others focused on the shipment of military cargo to Israel—including the central role that Maersk plays in the F-35 program and the different ways that Maersk partners with governments and weapons manufacturers to deliver death and destruction. We exposed Maersk’s transport of military goods, including Oshkosh Tactical Vehicles and parts of Namer Armored Personnel Carriers, to the Israeli Ministry of Defense.

In January 2025, we published a report that analyzed thousands of Maersk shipments to the US between February 2019 and November 2024. It revealed that Maersk facilitated exports on behalf of businesses operating within settlements in the West Bank(including East Jerusalem) and the Syrian Golan Heights, which has been occupied by Israel since 1967.

Two examples that we highlighted in this report are Extal and G&T Industries. Extal Ltd, an aluminum systems manufacturer which operates out of the illegal Ma’ale Adumim settlement, is partnered with Israel Aerospace Industries and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems. In April 2019, Maersk shipped more than 82,000 pounds of aluminium materials to Newark, NJ on behalf of Extal.

G&T Industries & Commerce Ltd manufactures metal products and holds contracts with the Israeli Ministry of Defense, Israel Aerospace Industries, and Elbit Systems. Their factory operates in the Karnei Shomron industrial area of the West Bank. In July 2022, Maersk transported vehicle parts from Karnei Shomron to Newark. The evidence suggests that Maersk not only shipped cargo on behalf of this company operating in an illegal settlement, but also coordinated the full intermodal transport of these goods from settlement to port to the US.

These are only a few examples of the shipments that Maersk will no longer carry due to pressure from our campaign.

Popular Pressure

We know that this victory was won through tireless research, organizing, continued pressure by the Mask Off Maersk campaign, and global popular pressure for a people’s arms embargo.

Across the world, people have mobilized to demand an end to Maersk’s complicity in the weapons trade to Israel. Because of our campaign’s research, the Spanish government blocked two Maersk ships from docking in Spanish ports in November 2024. In February, 2025, 1,000 people from across Europe shut down Maersk’s main Headquarters in Copenhagen for a day. Dockworkers in Morocco and France refused to load or service Maersk ships delivering F-35 parts to the Israeli military, ultimately forcing Maersk to alter its longstanding maritime route in the Mediterranean. From being blacklisted by the BDS movement to being confronted by shareholders at their annual general meeting, Maersk has faced continuous mobilizations at their offices and executives’ homes across the globe— from Houston to Britain, New York to Dallas, DC to Australia.

Maersk’s announcement to cut ties with Israeli settlements is not corporate goodwill. It is the result of sustained pressure by global grassroots organizers who exposed Maersk’s direct complicity in Israel’s war crimes in Gaza and the rest of Palestine, and community after community who refuse to stay silent in the face of genocide.

The Fight Continues

For the moment, Maersk’s move is limited to Israeli settlements. It does not cover Maersk’s deep complicity with the military industry that has facilitated over 20 months of accelerated genocide in Gaza including bombing, live fire, mass imprisonment, and widespread man-made starvation.

Maersk has been a key figure in the facilitation of genocide, playing a critical role in the F-35 global supply chain. The research shows that Maersk has shipped the wings for every Israeli F-35 since 2022. Two of the most critical production sites for F-35 parts are the Lockheed Martin Aeronautics facility in Fort Worth, TX and the Northrop Grumman site in Palmdale, California. Since at least 2018, Maersk has transported nearly all maritime shipments from both facilities. Between December 2019 and January 2025, Maersk facilitated more than 15 million pounds of F-35 equipment through over 1,000 shipments.

Many of those shipments were to the Israeli military or Israeli defense companies, including surface analyzers to Israeli air bases and munition loaders to Elbit Systems.

The fight is far from over — it has only just begun. Maersk remains complicit in genocide, profiting from the slaughter of Palestinians and the escalation of war across the region. Every F-35 component, every bomb part, every piece of military equipment it continues to ship to Israel is another stain on its hands.

This victory proves that grassroots power can shake the foundations of corporate profiteers — but we must continue to increase global pressure until Maersk severs all ties with Israel’s war machine. No more weapons components. No more military cargo. No more business with genocide.

The world is watching. Maersk must choose: Will it continue to be a logistics arm for genocide, or will it finally heed the demands of the people? Until then, we will not stop.