Container Freight Rates Plummet for Second Week

Shipping freight rates for transporting containers from ports in Asia to Northern Europe plunged by about 40 percent to $409 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.

Spot rates on the world's busiest route dropped about 30 percent last week, and the current level is widely seen as a loss-making price for container shipping companies.

By comparison, average rates for Asia to Europe were over $1,100 at the end of 2014, for a net price drop of roughly two thirds over the past eleven months.  

In the week to Friday, container freight rates also fell 37 percent from Asia to ports in the Mediterranean, fell 8 percent to ports on the U.S. West Coast and were down 9 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, last week reported a 60 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.

The stock price for the recently listed number five shipper, Hapag-Lloyd, had dropped below its offering price of 20 euros as of November 13.

(Reporting by Ole Mikkelsen; editing by Sabina Zawadzki)