The company had to act, and act it did last Monday night, announcing that it would dramatically cut back operations in Europe, including halting so-called local deliveries between countries there.

The firm also halted deliveries of products containing meat from a German supplier.

But it has also taken on a leading role as traffic cop in trying to halt deliveries of advanced weapons and other arms to militants and adversaries.

In the town of Chokwe, some people rioted recently when it became clear that there was not enough emergency food aid to go around, and relief agencies have temporarily halted deliveries there.

Food supplies flooded into the city in such number that New York officials were compelled to halt deliveries.

Belarus has refused to pay market-rate tariffs, and in an escalation of a fight over subsidies, Gazprom, the Russian natural gas monopoly, said it would temporarily halt deliveries.

The closure of the Blackwater railway system halted deliveries of coal from the Bowen Basin.

In Chinatown, restrictions on truck movements halted deliveries to many businesses, particularly garment factories.

A25 The milk deliverers' union struck, halting deliveries in New York City, Long Island and most of Westchester County, officials said.

Restrictions on bridge and tunnel crossings made things worse, halting deliveries of ink, paper and finished products, even for printers in the boroughs outside Manhattan.