Asia-N.Europe Box Rates at New Low

Freight rates for the shipping of containers from Asia to Northern Europe fell by 1.7 percent to a record low $343 per 20-foot container (TEU) in the week ended Thursday, a source with access to data from the Shanghai Containerized Freight Index told Reuters.

It was the 13th consecutive week of falling rates on the world's busiest route, to the lowest level since the index was launched in 2009.

Rates jumped 43.7 percent from Asia to ports in the Mediterranean, and rose 11.7 percent to the U.S. west coast but fell 1.4 percent to the U.S. east coast.

Maersk Line, the world's biggest container shipper with more than 600 container vessels and part of Danish oil and shipping group A.P. Moller-Maersk, is the most profitable of the 20 biggest players after a cost-cutting plan that has reduced its cost per unit by more than five percent.

The Danish company transports around a fifth of all containers that are shipped from Asia to Europe.

Reporting by Ole Mikkelsen