Asia-Europe Container Freight Rates Fell 2.7 pct

Shipping freight rates for transporting containers from ports in Asia to Northern Europe fell 2.7 percent to $719 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.

It was the fifth consecutive week of falling freight rates on the world's busiest route. Container freight rates have so far increased in 12 weeks this year but fallen in 36 weeks.

A level below $1,000 is widely seen as loss-making for container shipping companies.

In the week to Friday, container freight rates fell 3.9 percent from Asia to ports in the Mediterranean, and dropped 4.2 percent to ports on the U.S. West Coast and were down 1.4 percent to ports on the U.S. East Coast.

Maersk Line, the global market leader with nearly 600 container vessels and part of Danish oil and shipping group A.P. Moller-Maersk, controls around one fifth of all transported containers from Asia to Europe.

Reporting by Ole Mikkelsen