Maersk is scrapping its container shipping service to the Port of Halifax for the time being, reports The Canadian Press.

It said that Maersk's Middle East container line contributes about nine per cent to the port's container business, according to port authority spokeswoman Michele Peveril.

She declined to say how much the shipping line's departure will cost the port in terms of lost revenue, or Halterm, which operates the terminal Maersk uses.

It will not be the first time that Maersk has frozen its service. In 2005 it stopped calling at the port, only to return the next year, raising optimism that the world's largest shipping line will patronise the port again in future.

Maersk is expected to make an official announcement on the service change shortly.