Breakdown of Они задержали погрузку контейнера в связи с новой пошлиной.
они
they
новый
new
задержать
to delay (pf)
контейнер
container
Questions & Answers about Они задержали погрузку контейнера в связи с новой пошлиной.
Why is новой пошлиной in the instrumental case here?
It is governed by the preposition с inside the compound preposition в связи с (due to / in connection with). Whenever you use в связи с to introduce a cause, the noun phrase that follows it must be in the instrumental case. Here, the nominative новая пошлина changes to the instrumental новой пошлиной.
Could I just use из-за (because of) instead of в связи с?
Grammatically, yes (из-за новой пошлины), but the tone would change. Из-за is standard for everyday speech and often implies a negative or frustrating cause. В связи с is formal, neutral, and highly typical of business, legal, or news contexts. Since this sentence is about logistics and customs duties, в связи с sounds much more natural.
What is the difference between задержать and отложить in this context?
Задержать means to "delay" or "hold up" an action, often implying that something is temporarily paused or taking longer than expected. Отложить means to "postpone" or schedule for a completely different, later time. Here, the loading was held up by the paperwork or cost of the new duty, not necessarily rescheduled for next week.
Why does Russian use the noun погрузку instead of a verb here?