Asia-Europe Box Rates Inch Up

Shipping freight rates for transporting containers from ports in Asia to Northern Europe rose by 2.7 percent to $573 per 20-foot container (TEU) in the week ended on Friday, data from the Shanghai Containerized Freight Index showed.

Average rates for 2015 were $607.82 per TEU compared with $1,171,50 the previous year.

In the week to Friday, container freight rates rose 6.8 percent from Asia to ports in the Mediterranean, fell 0.3 percent to ports on the U.S. West Coast and were down 0.4 percent to ports on the U.S. East Coast.

Copenhagen-based Maersk Line, the global market leader with more than 600 container vessels and part of Danish oil and shipping group A.P. Moller-Maersk, reported in November a 61 percent drop in net profit in the third quarter.

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

Reporting by Ole Mikkelsen