Hapag-Lloyd AG will suspend Pacific operations.

The company, Germany’s largest steamship line, said operations between the Far East and ports on the West Coast of the United States will be suspended at the end of October. Hapag-Lloyd’s 17 other worldwide services, including those between America’s West, East and Gulf coasts and Europe, will not be affected. The decision to terminate the company’s transpacific operations is due to excess shipping capacity and extremely depressed freight rates in the trade, the company said. Hapag-Lloyd has been operating a direct weekly service between ports in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan and the U.S. ports of Tacoma, Wash., Oakland and Long Beach since the beginning of 1978.