Asia-Europe Box Rates Fall 6.6 pct

Shipping freight rates for transporting containers from ports in Asia to Northern Europe fell by 6.6 percent to $1.149 per 20-foot container (TEU) in the week ended on Friday, data from the Shanghai Containerized Freight Index showed.

It was the second consecutive week of falling freight rates on the world's busiest route. Container freight rates have in 2014 increased in 13 weeks but fallen in 38 weeks.

In the week to Friday, container freight rates fell 6.4 percent from Asia to ports in the Mediterranean, fell 5.2 percent to ports on the U.S. West Coast and were down 0.8 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, was one of the few container shipping companies to make a profit in the first six months of 2014.

The Danish shipping company controls around one fifth of all transported containers from Asia to Europe.