Shanghai: The Journal of Commerce and PIERS, container shipping-focused units of UBM Global Trade, signed a strategic agreement this week with the Shanghai Shipping Exchange to provide greater container shipping data and analysis on trade between the United States and China and to cooperate on the JOC's Container Shipping Conference in Shanghai, to be held for the second year in June 2012.
Under the new partnership signed Dec. 7 at the Shanghai Shipping Exchange Forum: The Journal of Commerce will publish the Shanghai Shipping Exchange indices, including the SCFI Shanghai Containerized Freight Index; both entities will collaborate on US/China import and export data analysis, providing further useful market intelligence for the industry; and SSE will support the development of The Journal of Commerce Container Shipping Conference in Shanghai on June 4-5, 2012.
This event will also be supported by Shanghai International Port Group (SIPG) and the Hongkou District government, which is developing the North Bund area of Shanghai as a shipping services cluster. The JOC Container Shipping Conference in Shanghai will attract international container shipping thought leaders to discuss shifting manufacturing trends in China and Asia, issues of interest to emerging China-based beneficial cargo owners as well as those faced by anyone operating in the China containerized import-export trade.
"The Journal of Commerce is delighted to sign this strategic agreement with the Shanghai Shipping Exchange. With the SCFI playing an increasing role in global freight rate contracts and settlement, the collaborative market intelligence we will produce for the industry, plus the support for our JOC Container Shipping Conference in Shanghai, this agreement completely intertwines with our strategy and coverage in Asia," said Greg March, Asia director for The Journal of Commerce.
At the forum, SSE also officially launched the China Coastal Bulk (Coal) Freight Index, members of which include COSCO, China Shipping, Cargill and SIPG.
Shanghai Shipping Freight Exchange Co., China's first shipping-freight centralized trading platform -- launched June 28 -- settles freight forward contracts against the Shanghai Containerized Freight Index. SSE's Jason Wang said at the forum that SSE has 35 members with around 2,000 companies trading approximately 90,000 twenty-foot equivalent units per month virtually. The total trading volume of Shanghai Shipping Freight Exchange's trading platform is estimated to be 120,000 lots (approximately 180,000 twenty-foot equivalent units per day) with a daily trading value is more than $100 million.
