The First Micro Forum on Shipping Industrial Chain Closed Successfully!

On March 16th, 2021, the first Micro Forum on Shipping Industrial Chain was successfully held in Shanghai Pudong Development Building. The forum is jointly organized by E-PORTS, Shanghai International Shipping Institute, Shanghai Shipowners Association, Shanghai Pudong Shipping Committee, MBA Education Center of Shanghai Maritime University and Shanghai Pudong Development Bank. More than 160 guests including experts, scholars, industry leaders and media were invited to attend the event, and discussed four major themes: "Focus, the Impact of RCEP on Shipping", "Innovation, Digital Development of Shipping Industry Chain", "Development, Exclusive Financial Service Scheme for Shipping Enterprises" and "Overall Design of Shipping Industry Chain Series Activities".

Zhang Yongfeng, director of SISI Shipping Office, hosted the forum. At the beginning of the event, Zhang Yilei, president of Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone Sub-branch of Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, Gao Tao, deputy secretary of the Party Committee of School of Economics and Management of Shanghai Maritime University, Tong Chengquan, secretary-general of Shanghai Shipowners Association, and Zhang Jieshu, secretary-general of SISI delivered speeches respectively.

Zhang Yongfeng, Director of SISI Shipping Office

Based on the global perspective and the sustainable development of the maritime industry, they exchanged their ideas on how to respond to risks and opportunities brought by RCEP in the process of high-quality development of China's maritime industry. It is advocated that under the background of the new era, we should promote the sustainable development of the shipping industry with a forward-looking and open vision, explore new drivers for industrial development to open up a new pattern of the global shipping industry.

Lecture 1: "The Impact of RCEP on Shipping From Policy Perspective"

Xiao Lie, Manager of Investment Management Research Office, Research and Consulting Center, COSCO Shipping Co., Ltd., introduced four major aspects, namely the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, the situation of world trade development, the trade development situation among member countries of RECP, and the impact of RECP on trade .

The profound speech enabled all the guests present to have a deep understanding on RCEP. RECP acts as an "integrator" of economic and trade rules in the region, and the formulation of this rule means a wider opening and deeper development of trade for our country. RECP will not only expand China's export market, but also greatly improve the efficiency of regional transportation. Following the trend, the shipping industry will embrace digitalization to optimize the shipping logistics supply chain.

Lecture 2: "The Impact of RCEP on Shipping from Enterprise Perspective"

Xue Mingyuan, General Manager of Haifeng International Holdings Co., Ltd., mainly discussed the future opportunities brought by RCEP to shipping enterprises around the theme. He believes that RCEP will improve efficiency of shipping and facilitate the flow of goods, technology, services, investment and talents in the region, and that RECP is conducive to the allocation of regional resources among countries in the region and the stable increase of trade volume.

Rules under RCEP will also ensure the safety and stability of investment. Facing the reconstruction of industrial chain, it will create trade opportunities for a large number of products, and promote trade, procurement and market expansion. Under the RCEP system, the regional market will have greater vitality; the regional economy is developing and the market consumption capacity is expanding. RCEP will bring more opportunities to international trade and shipping logistics in the region.

Lecture 3: "Digital Development of Shipping Industry Chain"

Chen Feier, lecturer and master tutor in the Department of Marine and Ocean Engineering, Shanghai Jiaotong University, made an academic and professional analysis on the digitalization of shipping industry chain. She said with the trend of digitalization in all walks of life, the combination of business and mathematics makes the industry innovate rapidly.

But it is a challenging task with a huge amount of calculation, which involves complex network theory, multi-scale theory, econometrics and other disciplines. Besides, business transactions and other behaviors cannot be calculated. However, the integrated development of mathematics and economics will serve the operation and commercial activities of shipping industry at a higher level.

Lecture 4: "Introduction to the Exclusive Financial Service Scheme of Shanghai Pudong Development Bank For Shipping Enterprises"

Zhang Menghan, Manager of Trade and Finance Department of Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone Sub-branch of Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, delivered a speech which mainly introduced the rules and trends of free trade zones and free trade accounts.

The free trade account is a local and foreign currency account with uniform rules opened by financial institutions in the separate account accounting unit of the Pilot Free Trade Test according to customers' needs, and this account will solve the problem of earmarking for shipowners, and can be opened according to the principle of single ship and single account management, bringing convenience to tax administration and tax filing.

Lecture 5: "Overall Design of Shipping Industry Chain Series Activities"

Shi Guorun, Supervisor of Shanghai Shipowners Association and Deputy Secretary-General of Ship Management Committee), introduced the arrangement of a series of forums for shipping industry. He said that this micro-forum is the first phase of the forum, and the joint salon will be classified into 15 categories based on the shipping service industry chain. It is estimated that 20 salons and many large-scale forum activities will be organized throughout this year.

Based on the concept of integrating professional and precise services, this series of forums adopts a new model of empowerment, integration and win-win to create an ecological chain of public services with strong market influence. In the future, there will be more forums on  "finance, life, policy, commerce and market".

At the end, the host announced the successful conclusion of the event with warm applause. E-PORTS business executives and marketing brand staff also exchanged and discussed with guests from all walks of life, and gained a lot. We believe that our joint efforts definitely will give momentum to the growth of digital shipping.

E-PORTS, as a third-party global shipping service management platform, provides ship owners/operators with unified management of comprehensive marine service of ship at port globally. Our businesses include but not limited to the management of shipping agent services, suppliers of materials, spare parts and fuel, and coordinated service providers such as technical inspection companies.

Via the up-to-date and shared information, E-PORTS on-line platform simplifies the process of traditional shipping service, avoids the information lag, and improves the efficiency of shipping service management. E-PORTS realizes the informationization of shipping service management, enabling ship owners/operators to strengthen their control over shipping service business.

E-PORTS effectively and reasonably arranges the service for ships at port according to the advantage of each port, improving the service efficiency and reducing the operation and management costs.