Freight Rates Fall 50 Percent on Key Asia-N. Europe Route -Source

COPENHAGEN, Dec 4 (Reuters) – Shipping freight rates for transporting containers from ports in Asia to Northern Europe dropped 50.4 percent to $275 per 20-foot container (TEU) in the week ended on Friday, one source with access to data from the Shanghai Shipping Exchange told Reuters.

The drop came after spot freight rates on the world’s busiest route soared 88 percent last week as shipping companies implemented scheduled rate hikes with effect from Dec 1.

In the week to Friday, container freight rates rose 24.6 percent from Asia to ports in the Mediterranean, fell 4.8 percent to ports on the U.S. West Coast and were down 4.4 percent to ports on the U.S. East Coast.

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, editing by Terje Solsvik)

(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015.

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