Asia-Europe Box Rates Soar 115 pct

Shipping freight rates for transporting containers from ports in Asia to Northern Europe jumped 115 percent to $1,232 per 20-foot container (TEU) in the week ended on Friday, data from the Shanghai Containerized Freight Index showed.

Average rates for 2015 were $620.30 per TEU compared with $1,171.50 in the previous year.

In the week to Friday, container freight rates soared 146.5 percent from Asia to ports in the Mediterranean, jumped 98.2 percent to ports on the U.S. West Coast and were up 76.5 percent to ports on the U.S. East Coast.

Copenhagen-based 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 one fifth of all transported containers from Asia to Europe. (Reporting by Ole Mikkelsen