Asia-N.Europe Box Rates Up 156 pct

Shipping freight rates for transporting containers from ports in Asia to Northern Europe jumped 156 percent to $703 per 20-foot container (TEU) in the week ended on Friday, one source with access to data from the Shanghai Shipping Exchange told Reuters.

The rise came after shipping companies implemented scheduled rate hikes on the world's busiest route and after rates dropped 50 percent last week.

In the week to Friday, container freight rates dropped 25 percent from Asia to ports in the Mediterranean, fell 6.4 percent to ports on the U.S. West Coast and were down 7.3 percent to ports on the U.S. East Coast.

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 a fifth of all transported containers from Asia to Europe.

Reporting by Ole Mikkelsen