Shares of Hong Kong-listed Chinese shipping companies have rallied along with Asian rivals amid hopes they will be able to increase freight rates and expectations that Beijing's move to ban a new class of giant freight carriers from the country's ports could benefit Chinese ship operators.

OOCL said it plans to lift freight rates by $200 per container to cover costs for cargo moving from North Europe to Asia from Feb. 15.

"Further rate restorations to be applied during 2012 will be announced in due course," OOCL said in a statement.

The general rate increase was announced after a report that Maersk Line was raising its rates on the Asia-Europe lane by $775 from March 1.

China Shipping Container Lines analyst Philip Chow said customers have bargaining power over freight rates. It was still a question of whether shipping companies would be able to implement an increase in part or in full, so the stock rally might not be sustainable, he said.

"They are already trading closer to mid-cycle valuations, but remember these companies are still losing money, so it is very hard for me to imagine that they can stay at 1.0 times book or 0.8 times book forever," he said.

Slowing economic growth in the United States and China and the European debt crisis are expected to affect global trade and demand for shipping, an industry that has already been facing a supply glut, analysts said. (Reuters)