Asia to Northern Europe Shipping Rates Jump 177%
By Aiswarya Lakshmi
Wednesday, August 5, 2015
Asia to Northern Europe shipping freight rates for transporting containers jumped by 177.3 percent to $1.109 per 20-foot container (TEU) in the week ended on Friday, reports Reuters, quoting data from the Shanghai Shipping Exchange.
As all major container shipping lines implemented a price hike announced earlier, the freight rates rose nearly three-fold.
Freight rates on the world’s busiest shipping route have tanked this year due to overcapacity in available vessels and sluggish demand in goods to be transported. Rates generally deemed profitable for shipping companies on the route are at about $800-$1,000 per TEU.
Maersk Line attempted to lift freight rates by $1,000 from Aug. 1. It controls around one fifth of all transported containers from Asia to Europe.
In the week to Friday, container freight rates rose by 178.4 percent from Asia to ports in the Mediterranean, by 43.1 percent to ports on the U.S. West Coast and were up 20.2 percent to ports on the U.S. East Coast.