Asia-Europe Box Rates Soar 328 pct

Shipping freight rates for transporting containers from ports in Asia to Northern Europe surged 327.7 percent to $988 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 fourfold increase was the result of planned rate increased announced earlier in October by the majority of the largest shipping companies.

In the week to Friday, container freight rates jumped 298 percent from Asia to ports in the Mediterranean, rose 16.9 percent to ports on the U.S. West Coast and were up 8.8 percent to ports on the U.S. East Coast.

A.P. Moller-Maersk who owns Maersk Line, the global market leader with nearly 600 container vessels, last week cut its 2015 profit forecast by 15 percent, blaming a slowdown in the container shipping market.

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

 

Reporting by Ole Mikkelsen