For the 18th consecutive week, global container shipping rates have continued to fall, raising further concern within the industry.
Rates on services to the US west coast also slid $43, to reach $2,159 per teu, and services to the east coast were down $98 to $3,459 per teu.
Analysts at the Shanghai Shipping Exchange (SSE) said: “The demand in European services didn’t show any signs of recovery this week, and the capacity available on the market was still in over-abundance.
“Yet despite the excessive capacity, carriers didn’t seem to lower the price; while some of them were poised to cut capacity in order to regain market equilibrium.
The SSE added: “It seems North America was also impacted by a similar predicament in Europe and the Mediterranean, as surplus capacity remains.
“In addition, the fourth quarter has always been a slack season for the box shipping industry, so the freight rate was expected to maintain the slump trend.”