Asia-Europe Box Rates Drop 10 pct

Shipping freight rates for transporting containers from ports in Asia to Northern Europe fell by 10.4 percent to $1,175 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 fall came after last week's jump of 88 percent on the world's busiest route. Container freight rates have so far increased in 12 weeks this year but fallen in 32 weeks.

"Within just one week carriers have witnessed their most recent general rate increase erode by 22 percent, reflecting how ineffective such increases are at improving revenue streams in the medium or long term," wrote container derivative trader Richard Ward from Freight Investor Services in London.

In the week to Friday, container freight rates rose 7.8 percent from Asia to ports in the Mediterranean, fell by 3.1 percent to ports on the U.S. West Coast and were down by 2.6 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, was one of the few container shipping companies to make a profit last year.

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

 

Reporting by Ole Mikkelsen