Asia-Europe Container Shipping Rates Skyrocket

The 13,082-teu Hyundai Tenacity photographed in early March 2014 in the port of Southampton, image: DP World

COPENHAGEN, Jan 26 (Reuters) – Shipping freight rates for transporting containers from ports in Asia to Northern Europe jumped 24.6 percent to $1,256 per 20-foot container (TEU) in the week ended on Friday, data from the Shanghai Containerized Freight Index showed.

The rise in freight rates on the world’s busiest route was a result of a general rate increases announced by the global leader Maersk Line and other major container shipping companies earlier in January.

In the week to Friday, container freight rates rose 7.4 percent from Asia to ports in the Mediterranean, fell 1.2 percent to ports on the U.S. West Coast and were unchanged to ports on the U.S. East Coast.

Ships owned by Maersk Line, a unit in Danish oil and shipping group A.P. Moller-Maersk, carry around one fifth of all containers transported from Asia to Europe. (Reporting by Ole Mikkelsen; Editing by Simon Johnson)

(c) 2015 Thomson Reuters, All Rights Reserved

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