Shipping costs continue to fall

Sea freight rates are currently on a downward trend that looks likely to continue for the foreseeable future, says freight forwarding specialist Rob Shelley of Maritime Cargo Services. According to industry feedback, this year’s peak season from Asia to Northern Europe got off to a slow start in July, and remained unconvincing even up to the beginning of September. Exports from Asia to Northern Europe in the second quarter were only the same as during the same period last year, and year-on-year growth in the first seven months of 2013 reached just one per cent.