Asia-N.Europe Container Rates Fall 17%

Shipping freight rates for transporting containers from ports in Asia to Northern Europe fell 17 percent to $776 per 20-foot container (TEU) in the week ended on Friday, the Shanghai Containerized Freight Index showed according to a source with access to the data.

In the week to Friday, container freight rates dropped 20.3 percent from Asia to ports in the Mediterranean, rose 21.9 percent to ports on the U.S. West Coast and were up 8.3 percent to ports on the U.S. East Coast.

Maersk Line, the global market leader with a market share of around 15 percent and part of Danish shipping and oil group A.P. Moller-Maersk, said in May its profit in the first quarter fell 95 percent from a year earlier to $37 million due to weak demand and record low freight rates.

Maersk transports around one fifth of all containers shipped from Asia to Europe.