Asia-Euro Box Rates Jump 88 pct

Shipping freight rates for transporting containers from ports in Asia to Northern Europe jumped 88.2 percent to $1,312 per 20-foot container (TEU) in the week ended on Friday, one source with access to data from the Shanghai Containerized Freight Index told Reuters.

The increase reversed the weekly declines that have lasted the past 12 weeks and saw rates drop to a yearly low of $697 per TEU.

Maersk Line, the global market leader with nearly 600 container vessels and part of Danish oil and shipping group A.P. Moller-Maersk, said on Oct 17 it intended to hike rates by $900 with effect from Nov 1.

In the week to Friday, container freight rates rose 51.3 percent Asia to ports in the Mediterranean, fell by 5.7 percent to ports on the U.S. West Coast and were down by 1.7 percent to ports on the U.S. East Coast.

The Danish shipping company controls around one fifth of all transported containers from Asia to Europe. (Reporting by Ole Mikkelsen