COPENHAGEN - Shipping freight rates for transporting containers from ports in Asia to Northern Europe jumped by 177.3 percent to $1.109 per 20-foot container (TEU) in the week ended on Friday, data from the Shanghai Shipping Exchange showed. The nearly three-fold rise in freight rates came after all major container shipping lines implemented a price hike announced earlier. 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, the global market leader with more than 600 container vessels and part of Danish oil and shipping group A.P. Moller-Maersk, said earlier in July it attempted to lift freight rates by $1,000 from Aug. 1. The Danish shipping company 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.