Asia-Europe Box Rates Plunge Again

Shipping freight rates for transporting containers from ports in Asia to Northern Europe fell by 23.2 percent to $640 per 20-foot container (TEU) in the week ending on Friday, one source with access to data from the Shanghai Containerized Freight Index told Reuters.

The drop came after a similar fall of 24.9 percent in the previous week.

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 24.8 percent from Asia to ports in the Mediterranean, but rose 11.5 percent to ports on the U.S. West Coast and were up 5.8 percent to ports on the U.S. East Coast.

Maersk Line, the global market leader with more than 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