Shipping freight rates for transporting containers from ports in Asia to Northern Europe fell by 4.5 percent to $705 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 fifth consecutive week of falling freight rates on the world’s busiest route and it is the lowest level in a year. Container freight rates have so far increased in 11 weeks this year but fallen in 30 weeks. The world’s third biggest container shipping company, French CMA CGM, announced earlier this week its intention to increase freight rates on routes from Asia to North European ports by $850 per TEU. Maersk Line, the global market leader with nearly 600 container vessels and a 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. The Danish shipping company controls around one fifth of all transported containers from Asia to Europe.