Asia-Europe container freight rates jump 115%

[COPENHAGEN] Shipping freight rates for transporting containers from ports in Asia to Northern Europe jumped 115 per cent to US$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 US$620.30 per TEU compared with US$1,171.50 in the previous year.

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

Copenhagen-based Maersk Line, the global market leader with more than 600 container vessels and part of Danish oil and shipping group AP Moller-Maersk, reported in November a 61 per cent drop in net profit in the third quarter.

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

REUTERSk