Spot rates from the Shanghai Containerised Freight Index (SCFI) on the Asia to northern Europe route fell 6.5 percent to US$938 per TEU on Friday, Reuters reports.

It was the fourth straight week of falling rates on the world's busiest route. Container freight rates have so far increased two weeks this year but fallen for five.

On the Asia-Mediterranean run, rates fell 6.1 percent and dropped 11.3 percent from Asia to the US west coast and were down two percent to ports on the US east coast.