Asia-North Europe container freight rates jump 60 percent

Shipping freight rates for transporting containers from ports in Asia to Northern Europe rose by 60.4 percent to $879 per 20-foot container (TEU) in the week ended on Friday, one source with access to data from the Shanghai Containerized Freight Index told Reuters. It was the second consecutive week of rising freight rates on the world's busiest route. Container freight rates have so far increased in 5 weeks this year but fallen in 20 weeks.
In the week to Friday, container freight rates jumped 39.4 percent from Asia to ports in the Mediterranean, rose 15.6 percent to ports on the US West Coast and were up 3.0 percent to ports on the US East Coast. Average rates for 2015 are so far $666 per TEU compared with $1,171 last year. Maersk Line, the global market leader with more than 600 container vessels and part of Danish oil and shipping group A.P. Moller-Maersk, was one of the few container shipping companies to make a profit last year.