On Nov.28, 1996, Shanghai Shipping Exchange (SSE) was jointly established by the Ministry of Transportation of the PRC and Shanghai Municipal Government upon the approval of the State Council, which was an important initiative of Chinese government to cultivate and develop shipping market, and build the Shanghai International Shipping Center.

 

Upholding the principles of "openness, fairness and justice", SSE performs three primary functions i.e. maintaining fairness of shipping market, regulating shipping transaction behaviors and communicating shipping information, deals in three primary businesses ("triple freights") i.e. freight filing, freight index and freight trading, and targets at "four Shanghai" i.e. Shanghai regulation, Shanghai standard, Shanghai trading and Shanghai brand. SSE's functions and businesses have been included in the Regulations of Shanghai on Promoting the Construction of an International Shipping Center.

 

Since the founding, SSE has accomplished ten major pioneering innovations, i.e. China's first "one-stop" customs clearance service platform, taking the lead in round-the-clock customs clearance service, the world's first container freight index CCFI, China's container freight filing center, platform of China ship SNP information, the first spot booking rate index of Shanghai (export) Containerized Freight Index (SCFI), the first electronic trading platform of shipping derivatives, the first template service contract linked with China's coastal bulk freight index, the first Global Carrier Schedule Performance index (GCSP) and the SCFI based on settled rates, the first rate for futures trading.

 

Freight filing: pursuant to relevant stipulations in the Regulations of the PRC on International Maritime Transportation, SSE was designated by the MOT as the agency to receive freight filing information tendered by all container lines and NVOs engaged in liner service at home and abroad, effectively regulating the pricing behaviors of China's international container market players. SSE has been recognized by the FMC as "a barometer of market regulation of a big maritime country."

 

Freight index: SSE's "Shanghai Shipping Index®" includes a total of 23 categories of shipping-related index and 200+ sub-indices, e.g. container, bulk cargo, tanker, B&R maritime and trade, seafarers' remuneration and carrier schedule performance, with the most diverse products in the world. These market-representing, authoritative and practical indices have been extensively recognized and applied, and included in the national big data platform, providing a useful tool for the decision-making of governments and enterprises.

 

Freight trading: the maritime community now has innovative pricing instruments such as the index-linked contract (ILC) and the SCFIS-based futures. Shanghai Shipping Freight Exchange Company under SSE runs a spot space exchange platform with additional product of spot-futures interaction, providing a tool of hedging and price discovery for container and bulk cargo clients.

 

Shipping information: The Shanghai International Shipping Information Center at SSE was jointly unveiled by the MOT and Shanghai Municipality and provides all-time information products, including "three books" i.e. Report on China Shipping Development (annual whitepaper), Shipping Exchange Bulletin (weekly), and shipping updates (monthly) and "three websites" i.e. SSE's official website, Chinese Shipping web and China ship SNP web. As a thinktank for transport authorities, SSE has undertaken 70+ ministerial, provincial or municipal research projects and gained a number of valuable research results, some of which have been used by the State Council in developing policies. SSE also conducts bid tendering on behalf of the government. The exchange once was commented by Lloyd's List as "a source of China's shipping information". SSE has organized ten sessions of Shanghai Shipping Exchange Forum®, one of the most influential shipping summits in Shanghai, and hosted the Finance and Insurance session of the North Bund Forum for consecutive years.

 

Ship trading: SSE runs a full industry chain of ship SNP including SNP information release, handling of ship trading formalities, bid tendering, ship valuation, collection and payment of SNP fees, etc. The China ship trading information platform designated by the MOT receives the trading information tendered by marketplaces throughout China, and issues public notices on key vessels. SSE's ship insurance and adjustment company is a professional and authoritative legal entity mainly engaged in ship survey, valuation and loss adjustment as well as investigation, survey, loss adjustment, salvage value, risk management and consultancy for insured vessels.

 

SSE also organizes shipping salons, policy publicity lectures, business training and other activities from time to time, and actively organizes communication and exchanges between domestic and foreign shipping communities. So far SSE has 100+ members including port operators, carriers, shippers, forwarders, finance institutions and brokers.