HTB Cruise Co. said Wednesday it has suspended its large liner service between Nagasaki and Shanghai until March 15 as relations between Japan and China remain strained over the Senkaku territorial dispute.

The subsidiary of theme park operator Huis Ten Bosch Co. said it will try to determine by late January if the March 15 resumption is feasible. The company initially hoped it could restart the cruises by the end of this year.

Passenger numbers fell sharply following the central government's purchase in mid-September of three of the islets, angering China.