Asia-Europe Box Rates Plunge 23 pct

Shipping freight rates for transporting containers from Asia to Northern Europe fell 23 percent to $588 per 20-foot container (TEU) in the week ended Friday, a source with access to data from the Shanghai Containerized Freight Index told Reuters.

The fall came after two weeks with rising freight rates on the world's busiest route. Container freight rates have so far increased in 8 weeks this year but fallen in 27 weeks.

In the week to Friday, container freight rates fell 29 percent from Asia the Mediterranean while they rose 0.3 percent to the U.S. West Coast and were down 0.1 percent to the U.S. East Coast.

Average rates for 2015 are $664 per TEU, compared with $1,172 last year.

Maersk Line, the world's biggest container shipper 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