DHL has launched new services from Asia to the Americas from a new multimodal gateway located at South Korea’s Port of Busan.

The head of Maersk Line, the world's biggest container shipping company and a unit of Danish group A P Moller-Maersk, said that container exports from Asia to Europe are likely to drop three percent this year.

Asian shippers will have to cough up higher freight rates from September on services offered by the top three shipping lines across various trade lanes.

Hapag-Lloyd, the world's No 5 container shipping company, has a good chance of increasing its market share now that a change in ownership has returned its focus to longer-term strategic planning, one of its main shareholders said.