ZIM Integrated Shipping
ZIM Integrated Shipping is a logistics company at Port Elizabeth with a documented role in the military supply chain moving through the New York metro area. Israeli shipping company ZIM is a well known provider of services for the Israeli Ministry of Defense. As recently as 2023, ZIM came under scrutiny for violating the Belgian government's bans on armament shipments to Israel. Tied to 1 published source, cited below.
🔎 Evidence
- The Israeli shipping company ZIM came under scrutiny in late 2023 after investigations by Peace Action and International Peace Information Service (IPIS) revealed that it transported as much as 246 tons of munitions from Hamburg
🚢 Israel's national carrier
ZIM was founded on June 7, 1945 by the Jewish Agency, the Israel Maritime League, and the Histadrut, and during the 1948 war it was Israel's sole maritime connection, supplying food, freight, and military equipment. Today it is headquartered in Haifa, trades on the New York Stock Exchange, and operates about 70 vessels. The State of Israel holds a Special State Share in ZIM: under the terms in ZIM's own SEC filings, the company must stay incorporated and headquartered in Israel, maintain a minimal fleet of 11 fully owned vessels the state can access in an emergency, and keep Israeli citizens as a majority of its board, its chair, and its CEO.
Three days after October 7, 2023, ZIM announced it had offered Israel all of its vessels, ships and infrastructure for the war. In February 2026 a German container line agreed to acquire ZIM for roughly $4.2 billion, with a new Israeli company set to take over 16 vessels and the state's special share, pending Israeli government approval.
📄 Documented weapons shipping
The research group Who Profits describes ZIM as "one of the main shippers of weapons and military equipment to Israel" and documents that ZIM provides the Israeli Ministry of Defense with maritime transport of weapons and security cargo purchased with US aid funds; under a 1991 US Federal Maritime Commission agreement, it reports, ZIM is one of three carriers moving Ministry of Defense cargo between US ports and Israel. How military cargo like this is supposed to be tracked on paper, from export license to named recipient, is the subject of our end-user certificate (EUC) explainer.
Belgian peace groups Vredesactie and IPIS documented ten ZIM vessels carrying ammunition through the port of Antwerp between November 2022 and July 2023, including as much as 246 tons of munitions from Hamburg. A criminal complaint alleging unlicensed arms transit was filed in December 2023 and joined by nine more organizations in May 2024; the case is ongoing, no court has ruled against ZIM, and the groups say the Antwerp arms transit has since stopped. In 2025, Middle East Eye documented at least 13 cargo runs by Greek-managed vessels, many operated by ZIM, carrying military hardware bound for Elbit Systems, including 18 tonnes of cannon barrels that French dockworkers blocked in December 2025.
✊ Block the Boat
ZIM is the ship the movement learned to stop. In 2014 the Arab Resource and Organizing Center answered a call from Palestinian workers by launching Block the Boat in Oakland, where community pickets honored by ILWU longshore workers kept the ZIM Piraeus from unloading; that October, ZIM rerouted a ship to Russia rather than attempt Oakland again. In June 2021 the ZIM Volans idled off the California coast for 17 days and finally sailed away without unloading, the seventh year in a row that Israeli-owned ships moved no cargo at the Port of Oakland.
In December 2023 Malaysia banned ZIM from its ports entirely, with the prime minister citing Israel's actions against Palestinians.
🗽 Port Newark-Elizabeth, New Jersey
ZIM's US East Coast cargo moves through the Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal in New Jersey, where it has been a customer of its Elizabeth terminal since the early 1970s. The port is the chokepoint mapped by our Port Elizabeth campaign.
On April 15, 2024, port workers and community groups led a caravan through the Port of New Jersey to denounce ZIM. On May 22, 2026, more than 30 activists blockaded the terminal entrance at 4:30 in the morning to stop ammunition and weapons components from being loaded onto the ZIM Virginia; the activists' press materials included an air waybill listing "Detonating Fuses." Ten people were arrested and released the same afternoon.
📚 Sources
🏢 Corporate profile
❓ Questions
What is ZIM Integrated Shipping's role in the arms supply chain?
Israeli shipping company ZIM is a well known provider of services for the Israeli Ministry of Defense. As recently as 2023, ZIM came under scrutiny for violating the Belgian government's bans on armament shipments to Israel. ZIM Integrated Shipping appears in Break the Chain's audited database of companies with a documented role moving military cargo through the New York metro area, classified as a logistics. The entry is tied to 1 published source cited on this page.
Where is ZIM Integrated Shipping located?
ZIM Integrated Shipping is in Port Elizabeth, within the New York and New Jersey gateway that Break the Chain maps: JFK Airport, Port Newark and Elizabeth, and the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
What is the evidence for including ZIM Integrated Shipping?
The Israeli shipping company ZIM came under scrutiny in late 2023 after investigations by Peace Action and International Peace Information Service (IPIS) revealed that it transported as much as 246 tons of munitions from Hamburg. A company appears here based on already-published sources, which is not a legal conclusion about the company. The sources are listed on this page.
Is ZIM an Israeli company?
Yes. ZIM was founded on June 7, 1945 by the Jewish Agency, the Israel Maritime League, and the Histadrut, is headquartered in Haifa, and carries a Special State Share that requires it to remain incorporated in Israel, maintain a minimal fleet of 11 fully owned vessels the state can access in an emergency, and keep Israeli citizens as a majority of its board, its chair, and its CEO. The acquisition announced in 2026 would move that state share to a new Israeli successor company.
Does ZIM ship weapons?
The research group Who Profits calls ZIM one of the main shippers of weapons and military equipment to Israel and documents its Ministry of Defense transport of US-purchased security cargo. Belgian investigators documented ten ZIM vessels carrying ammunition through Antwerp between November 2022 and July 2023, as much as 246 tons of munitions in one count. A Belgian criminal complaint alleging unlicensed arms transit is ongoing; no court has ruled against ZIM, and every claim here is attributed to the published record cited on this page.
Who owns ZIM shipping company?
ZIM is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker ZIM. The Israeli billionaire family holding company that long controlled it completed its exit in December 2024, so no single shareholder controls the company, but the State of Israel holds a Special State Share with binding conditions on nationality, fleet, and control. In February 2026 a German container line agreed to acquire ZIM for roughly $4.2 billion, with an Israeli successor company set to inherit the state share, pending government approval.
Why did ZIM stop calling at the Port of Oakland?
After Block the Boat pickets began in 2014, ZIM ships repeatedly failed to unload at Oakland: the ZIM Piraeus was held off by days of community pickets honored by longshore workers, another vessel was rerouted to Russia in October 2014, and the ZIM Volans sailed away without unloading in June 2021 after 17 days idling offshore. By 2021, local reporting counted seven consecutive years without Israeli-owned ships moving cargo at the port. ZIM has never formally announced abandoning Oakland.
✊ Take Action
ZIM Integrated Shipping is part of Break the Chain's audited database of companies complicit in arming Israel through the New York metro area. Help cut the supply chain:
🏭 More complicit companies
Full sourced list: Military logistics companies in NYC and New Jersey