Asia-Northern Europe Container Freight Rates Drop 12.4 Percent -Source

The former-largest container ship in world, CSCL Globe, docks during its maiden voyage, at the port of Felixstowe in south east England, January 7, 2015. REUTERS/Toby Melville

COPENHAGEN, March 20 – Shipping freight rates for transporting containers from ports in Asia to Northern Europe fell 12.4 percent to $620 per 20-foot container (TEU) in the week ended on Friday, a source with access to data from the Shanghai Containerized Freight Index told Reuters.

It was the seventh consecutive week with falling freight rates on the world’s busiest trade route and the current level is the lowest seen since June 2013.

In the week to Friday, container freight rates dropped 15.5 percent from Asia to ports in the Mediterranean, and fell 4.7 percent to ports on the U.S. West Coast and were down 4.7 percent to ports on the U.S. East Coast.

Denmark’s Maersk Line, the most profitable container shipping company, will spend $9 billion on new ships over the next three years, including on a number of ultra-large vessels it will order in the second quarter, its chief executive told Reuters in an interview in February. (Reporting by Ole Mikkelsen; editing by Sabina Zawadzki)