Evergreen suspends bookings for Middle East ports

In a customer advisory to shippers, the Taiwan-based carrier said it had carried out an operational assessment in response to what it described as an “evolving security situation” in the region and decided to suspend bookings as a precautionary measure.

Evergreen said the decision was taken “in order to safeguard the safety of our crew members, vessels, and customers’ cargo”.

The suspension applies to both Port of Loading (POL) and Port of Discharge (POD) and takes effect immediately until further notice.

According to the advisory, the measure covers all ports in Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. It also applies to all Saudi Arabian ports except Jeddah, as well as Iraq’s port of Umm Qasr.

For cargo already in transit or shipments that had been booked prior to the suspension, Evergreen stated that local offices would contact customers directly to arrange appropriate follow-up actions.

The carrier said it will continue monitoring developments in the region and provide updates if conditions change.

The advisory noted that Evergreen remains committed to maintaining service reliability where possible while the situation evolves.

The update comes as several shipping companies have increasingly adopted similar measures as security risks and operational disruptions affect traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.