Asia-Europe Box Rates Plunge 25 pct

Shipping freight rates for transporting containers from ports in Asia to Northern Europe fell by 24.9 percent to $833 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 drop came after the previous week's increase of 177 percent which was a result of most of the major container shipping companies implementing a general rate increase from Aug 1.

Freight rates on the world's busiest shipping route have tanked this year due to overcapacity in available vessels and sluggish demand in goods to be transported. Rates generally deemed profitable for shipping companies on the route are at about $800-$1,000 per TEU.

In the week to Friday, container freight rates fell 21.4 percent from Asia to ports in the Mediterranean, fell 4.0 percent to ports on the U.S. West Coast and were down 2.1 percent to ports on the U.S. East Coast.

Maersk Line, the global market leader with nearly 600 container vessels and part of Danish oil and shipping group A.P. Moller-Maersk, controls around one fifth of all transported containers from Asia to Europe.

Reporting by Ole Mikkelsen