Shipping freight rates for transporting containers from ports in Asia to Northern Europe fell by 8.3 percent to $1,153 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. The level is some 27 percent lower than the corresponding period a year earlier. “Reports suggest that attempts by carriers to raise rates during February via the use of both a peak season surcharge and general rate increase appear to have fallen flat,” container derivative broker Richard Ward from Freight Investor Service in London wrote in a note to clients. In the week to Friday, container freight rates fell 2.3 percent from Asia to ports in the Mediterranean, fell 4.2 percent to ports on the U.S. West Coast and were down 1.4 percent to ports on the U.S. East Coast. Maersk Line, the global market leader with nearly 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. The Danish shipping company controls around one fifth of all transported containers from Asia to Europe.