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The shipping companies Hapag-Lloyd and CMA CGM, two of the largest in the world, have notified their representative agencies in Cuba of the implementation of a “STOP BOOKING” — total halt on bookings — for all origins and destinations of their regular services to and from the island, according to an urgent statement obtained exclusively by this outlet.
The document, dated May 14, 2026, states verbatim: “Yesterday morning, we received official communication from the Representation Agencies in Cuba of the shipping companies Hapag-Lloyd and CMA CGM, through which we were notified of the implementation of a STOP BOOKING for all origins and destinations of their regular services to and from Cuba.”
Several independent sources have confirmed the authenticity of the statement and clarified that the measure goes beyond these two companies: all shipping companies have paused and rescheduled their deliveries to Cuba, both maritime and aerial.
The suspension would be temporary and would address the need to restructure contracts to remove GAESA as a counterparty, following the sanctions imposed by Washington on the Cuban military conglomerate.
The direct trigger was the sanctions package announced on May 7 by Secretary of State Marco Rubio under Executive Order 14404, signed by President Donald Trump on May 1.
The sanctions designate GAESA —the Business Administration Group S.A., a conglomerate controlled by the Revolutionary Armed Forces— as a blocked entity, freeze all its assets under U.S. jurisdiction, and prohibit any transactions with U.S. individuals or companies.
Crucially, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) granted foreign companies and financial institutions a deadline until June 5, 2026 to close all their operations with GAESA and its subsidiaries, under the threat of secondary sanctions.
The problem for shipping companies is structural: GAESA controls approximately 40% or more of the Cuban economy, including ports, maritime terminals, and the Mariel Special Development Zone through its subsidiary AUSA.
This means that practically any business operation on the island involves some contractual link with the conglomerate, which makes it extremely difficult to operate in Cuba without incurring the risk of sanctions.
The State Department described GAESA as "the core of the kleptocratic communist system of Cuba" and accused the conglomerate of managing revenues that "likely triple the Cuban state budget," as well as controlling up to 20 billion dollars in illicit assets abroad.
The executive president of GAESA, Ania Guillermina Lastres Morera, a brigadier general in the FAR, was personally sanctioned on May 7th.
The shipping halt adds to a cascade of company withdrawals. The Canadian miner Sherritt International suspended all its direct operations in Cuba on the same day, stating that the executive order makes it "materially impossible" to maintain normal operations, which exacerbates the already critical energy crisis in a country where blackouts affect more than 55% of the territory for up to 25 hours a day.
Since January 2026, the Trump administration has imposed over 240 sanctions against the Cuban regime and intercepted at least seven tankers carrying oil, reducing the island's energy imports by between 80% and 90%.
Rubio warned in his statement on May 7 that "new sanctions are expected in the coming days and weeks," a sign that the pressure on the regime and its international trading partners has not yet reached its peak.
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