In recent years, Shanghai's position as an international hub of seaports has been further consolidated and has gradually become a composite hub of Asia-Pacific portal aviation. Shanghai is making great strides in the process of building an international shipping center, and takes the "The belt and road" initiative and the "Yangtze River Economic Belt" regional development as an opportunity to achieve a new leap forward. At present, the construction of Shanghai International Shipping Center has entered a sprint stage.

From international experience, shipping centers and financial centers are inseparable. Improving the competitiveness of shipping financial services is a breakthrough in the construction of international shipping centers. Jiang Yan, chairman of the Board of Directors of SHFE, mentioned that futures market is an important part of the financial system and plays an important role in providing pricing services, promoting enterprise transformation and upgrading, and assisting risk management. The combination of futures market and shipping market will be a powerful measure to improve the level of Shanghai shipping financial services. With the development of China's shipping market and the improvement of Shanghai Shipping Exchange's shipping index influence, the conditions for launching shipping index futures are becoming more and more mature.

In addition to better help enterprises control business risks and actively respond to changes in the international economic environment, the development of China's independent shipping financial derivatives market is also of great significance to promote the construction of China's maritime power and Shanghai's international shipping and international financial center. Participants said that Shanghai urgently needs to make full use of existing policies and market conditions to accelerate the development of shipping derivatives to meet the needs of the construction of resource allocation-based international shipping centers, enhance the service level of shipping finance to the shipping industry, and make shipping finance an important driving force for the transformation and development of China's shipping Entities' economy from big to strong.

Breakthrough the Dilemma of Shipping Market

Shipping industry is a high-investment and high-risk industry. Zhang Pai, president of Shanghai Shipping Exchange, said at the forum that under the influence of periodicity and externalities, the uncertainty of the transport market is increasing day by day. Freight fluctuations are intense, frequent and uncertain. Not only need face to the macro-level by geopolitics, the world economy, natural conditions and many other factors, daily operation, but also need to face market changes, oil price fluctuations, port congestion, personnel strikes, transport accidents, extreme climate, terrorist attacks and other uncertain factors brought about by operational risks. These uncertainties are mainly reflected in the fluctuation range of transport price, ship price and transport cost.

Historical data show that the Clarkson Composite Freight Index has reached more than 20,000 points in the past decades, while the lowest is more than 7,000 points. The fluctuation range of the BDI varies greatly from more than 20,000 points to more than 200 points. Shi Xin, a professor at Shanghai Maritime University, said: "Shipping market is full of fluctuations and uncertainties, which brings great difficulties to the smooth operation of industry organizations. In the past ten years, with the homogenization and commercialization of the industry, the shipping market has shown a state of weak demand and excessive supply. The return on shipping investment has experienced a dramatic decline, which makes the industry with a long history face great challenges.

Under the traditional mode of thinking, shipping operators often evade risks through conventional shipping management strategies. Shi Xin said that many enterprises hope to choose the right investment decision, that is, to choose the right ship type at the right time, the right price, the right market, or to choose the right market model, and flexibly optimize the operation strategy through time charter. Some enterprises locked in through COA contracts, or joined the Consortium for heating, to tide over difficulties. Some international enterprises have gradually begun to integrate their industries and merger and acquisition to improve their market dominance. However, it is also noted that in the booming shipping market, more profits can be made by expanding transport capacity and increasing market share. Once the market reverses, it will face large losses.

In recent years, in addition to the traditional perspective of the shipping industry, the use of financial concepts to avoid risks has attracted increasing attention - shipping derivatives. Shi Xin introduced that there are many forms of shipping derivatives nowadays, among which there are probably two kinds of representative influence. One is the Baltic Freight Index from the 1980s. Second, FFA is also widely used today, including relevant forward futures and options.

Among them, BIFFEX is the Baltic Freight Index Futures. In 1985, the Baltic Shipping Exchange (BSE) issued a comprehensive dry bulk freight index, and in 1990 it launched BFI-based index futures. However, because BFI covers a large range of ship types, cargo types and routes, which is contrary to the trend of increasingly detailed industry sector, it is difficult for participants to effectively achieve one-to-one value preservation and manage freight risk through BFI, resulting in the lack of liquidity of BIFFEX futures. Moreover, the products related to the Baltic comprehensive freight rate are not completely synchronized with the external changes of the relevant trade market and shipbuilding market, and they withdrew from the historical stage in early 2002.

Clarkson's FFA, launched in 1991, is a forward agreement based on the SWE's sub-ship index. In June 2005, the Oslo International Maritime Exchange (IMAREX) and Norwegian Futures and Options Clearing House launched forward freight subscription options and so on. FFA has been trading so far, is currently the most active and widely recognized shipping financial derivatives in the market. "FFA is essentially a freight risk management tool. Because there is a dynamic positive correlation between market freight and FFA price, the positive correlation provides the basis for hedging, while the dynamic and dynamic characteristics provide the market with arbitrage space. Shi Xin said that participants in FFA trading include ship owners, commodity traders and financial institutions. More than 20% of participants are to avoid the risk of freight fluctuation, and more than 70% of participants are to gain excess profits through speculation
An advice of others can create a post-development advantage
In fact, under the current open, market-oriented and internationalized environment, China should actively promote the development of the domestic shipping financial derivatives market. Under the strict supervision of Chinese financial regulatory agencies, it is possible for shipping companies to reflect market changes more timely and accurately by link contracts, participate in the hedging of the freight derivatives market with fair and confidence, and summarize the experience accumulation and contingency strategies from theory to practice, which could be better help enterprises control business risks and actively respond to changes in the international economic environment.
According to Ye Zhang, for shipping-related enterprises, shipping financial derivatives are important risk management tools, which could help enterprises to scientifically arrange production operations and formulate strategic plans. At the same time, the rational use of shipping financial derivatives tools in the market will better serve the development of the shipping industry. On the one hand, in the case of huge fluctuations in market freight rates, shipping companies can control the risk of large fluctuations in freight rates through the hedging of shipping financial derivatives markets, which can avoid risks achieved by reverse operations between the spot and shipping financial derivatives markets. At the same time, because the shipping financial derivatives market has the function of discovering prices, it enables enterprises to obtain open market information in a timely manner, helping enterprises to have a scientific and rational expectation for future development, and rationally arrange investment, financing, leasing, transportation, shipbuilding and other services. The development of the shipping industry. The shipping financial derivatives market can transform the spot market, exchange rate changes, natural conditions and other information into price fluctuations in a short period of time. Efficiently transforming economic, political, military, and market information into price changes is one of the important benefits of derivatives, which will directly affect the supply-demand relationship and resource allocation of the entire shipping industry.
As for the current domestic background, the research on shipping derivatives started late, and has not yet formed a mature system. There are relatively few researches on shipping derivatives related in terms of theoretical level and institutional design. FFA as a highly accepted shipping derivative in the world, its relevant trading experience and lessons can be used as a reference for the development of domestic shipping derivatives to avoid detours in development.
From Xin Shi's view, the FFA's institutional design can better reflects the attributes of derivatives than the BDI. Moreover, through the margin mechanism and the clearing mechanism, to some extent, could evade the risk of the counterparty, through the premium and different contract combinations to meet diverse needs. For example, it can correspond to the sensitive price fluctuations in the shipping market through the daily quotation mechanism. Through the clearing mechanism and the margin mechanism, the risk is avoided to a certain extent. At the same time, through the market mechanism, premium and appropriate combination of product contracts, a multi-faceted demand. Although there are advantages such as low cost, easy access, and so on, FFA also has some risks. For example, if the margin ratio is link to the market characteristics of the industry, the related transactions are not easy to carry out and the specific subdivision of the shipping market leads the transaction is not easily being matched.
For the future theoretical research in China, Shi Xin believes that there are three breakthrough points. The first is to further develop an authoritative freight index with typical Chinese elements. Because all shipping derivatives, whether long-term futures or forward tariffs, they are based on indices. Second, financial derivatives that are suitable for the financial derivatives with large fluctuating characteristics in the shipping industry. Third, we should explore its organizational model and should not integrate index publishers with index traders. On the practical level, he said that the current understanding of risk control in the entire shipping industry needs to be further expanded, because it directly affects the acceptance of shipping derivatives in the shipping industry. In addition, domestic shipping derivatives themselves, especially the shipping market's volatility caused by the volatility of freight rates, are not sufficient to control the risk of shipping derivatives themselves. The neglect of risk control often leads to obstacles in our system design and product access. He suggested that it is necessary to improve the regulatory system of the shipping financial derivatives market and promote the development of a Centralized exchange market of shipping derivatives. At the same time, it must also implement financial supporting reforms and strengthen the cultivation of market bases.
Making persistent efforts for building a shipping center's derivatives construction
Shanghai has been booming by the sea. It started its first international container route more than 40 years ago and took the first step towards Shanghai Port to the world container port. Since then, with the construction of the diplomatic bridge and Yangshan deep-water port, from the scale of million level to the tens of millions level, Shanghai port has maintained the world's largest container port for nine consecutive years. The status of Shanghai container hub port has been further consolidated, the port collection and distribution system has been further optimized, modern shipping service elements have been further aggregated, and the influence of Shanghai International Shipping Center has been further consolidated. With the continuous deepening of the construction of the Shanghai Free Trade Zone and the implementation of the ‘the belt and road’ initiative, the construction of the Shanghai International Shipping Center is entering a new era. ‘Sipping finance’ is an important driving force for the transformation and development of China's shipping real economy and make it from large to strong. Shipping derivatives are the best integration point for both shipping and finance. They are also the most important starting point for Shanghai to build high-end shipping service functions and speed up the elements of agglomeration shipping services.’ said by Zhang Lin, deputy director of the Shanghai Municipal Transportation Commission.
Shipping is the carrier of global trade. Nearly 90% of the total global trade is undertook by sea. The shipping volume of the shipping market is hundreds of billions dollars per year. The huge market scale amplifies the impact of freight rate fluctuations on the profit and loss of shipping companies. The shipping market needs to use derivatives as a tool to avoid the risk of price fluctuations.
In fact, the development of shipping derivatives as a building combination of international financial center and an international shipping center, which has always been highly valued by the state and the Shanghai government. Since the State Council promulgated “the State Council's opinions on Promoting Shanghai's International Financial Center and International Shipping Center for Accelerating the Development of Modern Service Industry and Advanced Manufacturing Industry”, and ‘the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone Overall Plan’ issued by the State Council in 2013 Then, in 2018, the Shanghai Municipal Government issued the ‘Three-Year Action Plan for the Construction of Shanghai International Shipping Center (2018-2020)", which explicitly mentioned to develop shipping derivatives.

According to Zhang Lin, in the past ten years, Shanghai has actively explored the shipping freight derivatives. The Shanghai Stock Exchange has released 20 major shipping indices covering containers, dry bulk, oil transportation and other fields to form a complete Shanghai shipping index system. SHSI). Among them, China's Export Container Freight Index (CCFI) and Shanghai Export Container Freight Index (SCFI) have become the vane of the international container transport market, laying a solid foundation for the development of shipping derivatives, and the conditions for launching shipping index futures have matured. This year is the first year of reform and opening up, and it is also a year of deepening cooperation between the Shanghai Futures Exchange and the Shanghai Shipping Exchange. On January 9, the Shanghai Futures Exchange and the Shanghai Shipping Exchange signed a strategic cooperation agreement to jointly implement the concept of developing shipping derivatives and work together to serve the shipping market.
The guests expressed they believe on the basis of the increasing influence of the Shanghai shipping index, with the platform of mature and standardized exchanges, the combination of shipping and finance will promote the coordinated development of the two markets. Shipping index futures are expected to stimulate the financial needs of the shipping market, drive the development of related companies, and help the shipping market to cultivate a group of global professional investors. At the same time, the self-development of the shipping index futures business will further improve the shipping finance service system, which will attract shipping and commodity-related enterprises to further gather in Shanghai, could also drive the development of related service industries. Finally, the formation of international standards for the local characteristics of shipping derivatives trading will be promoted to serve the construction of Shanghai International Shipping Center and International Financial Center.

助力中国国际航运中心建设 国内推出航运指数期货的条件日渐成熟
近年来，上海作为海港国际枢纽的地位进一步巩固，并已逐步成为亚太门户复合航空枢纽。上海在打造国际航运中心的征程中，正大步迈进，并以“一带一路”倡议、“长江经济带”区域发展为契机，不断实现新的跨越。目前，上海国际航运中心建设已经进入了冲刺阶段。
从国际经验看，航运中心和金融中心密不可分，提升航运金融服务的竞争力是建设国际航运中心的突破口。上期所理事长姜岩在上衍航运论坛提到，期货市场是金融体系的重要组成部分，在提供定价服务、推进企业转型升级、协助风险管理等方面发挥着重要作用，期货市场与航运市场的结合将是提升上海航运金融服务能级的一个有力举措。随着中国航运市场的发展以及上海航运交易所航运指数影响力的提升，推出航运指数期货的条件日渐成熟。
除了更好地帮助企业控制经营风险、积极应对国际经济环境的变化，发展中国自主的航运金融衍生品市场，对推进中国海运强国和上海国际航运和国际金融中心建设也具有非常重要的意义。与会嘉宾表示，上海急需充分利用现有政策和市场条件，加快发展航运衍生品，以适应资源配置型国际航运中心建设的需要，提升航运金融对航运业的服务水平，使航运金融成为中国航运实体经济转型发展、由大变强的重要推动力。
航运市场困境中求突破
航运业属于高投入、高风险行业。上海航运交易所总裁张页在论坛上表示，在周期性与外部性叠加影响下，运输市场的不确定性日益增加，运价波动剧烈、频繁，且不确定性大。除宏观层面受地缘政治、世界经济、自然条件等诸多因素影响外，日常运营中，还需面对市场变化、油价波动、港口拥堵、人员罢工、运输事故、极端气候、恐怖袭击等不确定因素带来的经营风险。这些不确定性集中体现在运输价格、船舶价格和运输成本的波动幅度上。
历史数据显示，几十年来，克拉克森综合运价指数最高曾经达到了2万多点，而最低则为7000多点。波罗的海散货指数的波动区间更是从2万多点到200多点的巨幅变化。上海海事大学教授施欣表示：“航运市场充满波动、不确定性本就给行业机构的平稳经营带来很大困难。近十年来，伴随行业同质化、商业化发展，航运市场呈现出需求疲软和供给过剩状态，航运投资回报率经历了巨幅下降，更让这个历史悠久的行业面巨大挑战。”
传统思维模式下，航运业经营者们往往通过常规的航运经营策略来规避风险。施欣介绍，很多企业寄希望于选择正确的投资决策，即在合适的时间、合适的价位、合适的市场选择合适的船舶船型，或者选择合适的市场模式，通过期租、承租等方式灵活优化经营策略。一些企业通过COA合同锁定，或者加入联营体共同抱团取暖，共渡难关。一些国际企业也逐步开始进行产业整合以及并购的方式，提高市场主导地位。但是也注意到，在航运市场景气期，通过扩充运力提高市场份额来赚取更多利润，一旦市场反转，便会面临大面积亏损。
近几年来，传统的航运业界经营视角之外，利用金融的理念来规避风险日趋受到大家的重视——航运衍生品。施欣介绍，现今航运衍生品的表现形式多样，其中比较有代表性影响力的大概有两大类。一是源于上世纪80年代的波罗的海运价指数。二是到现在也广受应用的FFA，包括相关远期期货和期权。
其中，BIFFEX是波罗的海运价指数期货。1985年波罗的海航运交易所(波交所)发布了干散货综合运价指数，并于1990年推出了基于BFI的指数期货。但是由于BFI覆盖的船型、货种及航线范围过大，与行业板块日益细化的趋势相悖，参与者难以有效通过它实现一对一的保值、管理运价风险，导致BIFFEX期货流动性缺乏。且波罗的海综合运价相关的产品与相关贸易市场、造船市场外部的变化也不完全同步，于2002年年初退出历史舞台。
1991年克拉克森推出的FFA，是一份以波交所分船型指数为交易标的的远期协议。2005年6月，奥斯陆国际海事交易所(IMAREX)联合挪威期货和期权结算所推出运费远期认购和认沽的期权等。FFA一直交易至今，是目前成交最活跃、被市场广泛认可的航运金融衍生品。“FFA从本质上说是一种运费风险管理工具。由于市场运价与FFA价格存在动态的正相关关系，其正相关性为套保提供了基础，而动态和变动的特征则为市场提供了套利空间。”施欣介绍，从事FFA交易的参与者包括船主、大宗商品交易者、金融机构等，其中20%多的参与者是为了规避运价波动风险，70%多的参与者是通过投机获得超额利润。
他山之石打造后发优势
实际上，在当前开放的、市场化、国际化背景下，中国更应该积极推动国内航运金融衍生品市场的发展，在中国金融监管机构的严格监管下，让航运企业能够通过挂钩合同更及时、准确地反映市场变化，公平放心地参与运价衍生品市场的套期保值，总结从理论到实践的经验积累与应变策略，才能更好地帮助企业控制经营风险、积极应对国际经济环境的变化。
据张页介绍，对于航运相关企业而言，航运金融衍生品是重要的运价风险管理工具，有助于企业科学安排生产经营和制定战略规划。同时，市场合理运用航运金融衍生品工具将更好地服务航运业发展。一方面，在市场运价波动巨大的情况下，航运企业可以通过航运金融衍生品市场套期保值来控制运价大幅波动风险，即可以通过在现货市场和航运金融衍生品市场反向操作来达到规避风险的目的。同时，由于航运金融衍生品市场具有发现价格的功能，使企业及时得到公开市场信息，帮助企业对未来的发展有一个科学、理性的预期，合理安排投资、融资、租赁、运输、造船等业务和航运业发展布局。航运金融衍生品市场可以在很短的时间内将现货市场、汇率变化、自然条件等诸多信息转化为价格涨跌。将经济、政治、军事、市场等各类信息高效地转化为价格变化是衍生品重要的效益之一，这将直接影响整个航运业的供需关系和资源配置。
从目前国内情况来看，航运衍生品的相关研究起步较晚，尚未形成成熟体系，在理论层面和制度设计等方面围绕着航运衍生品相关的研究探索相对较少。FFA作为全球范围内接受程度较高的航运衍生品，其交易模式、运作机制等方面相关经验和教训可以在一定程度上作为国内航运衍生品发展的研究借鉴，避免在发展中走弯路。
在施欣看来，相比波罗的海指数，FFA的制度设计更好地体现了衍生品的属性。而且，通过保证金机制、清算机制在一定程度上规避了对手方风险，通过升贴水和不同合约组合满足多样的需求。比如说，它通过每日报价机制能够和航运市场灵敏的价格波动现象相对应，通过清算机制、保证金机制在一定程度规避风险，同时通过市场机制和适当的升贴水、产品合约不同组合，适应了多方的需求。虽然存在成本低、进出便捷等等优势，FFA同样也存在一些风险。比如说，保证金比例和行业市场特性相关之后，导致我们相关的交易不易进行以及航运市场特定的细分性导致交易的不易撮合等。
对于国内今后理论研究层面，施欣认为有三个突破点。一是要进一步研制具有典型中国元素的权威运价指数。因为所有的航运衍生品不管是远期期货还是远期运价协议，它的产品根基在于指数。二是适合航运产业特性的波动比较大的金融衍生品。三是我们要探讨它的组织模式，不能将指数发布者与指数交易者融为一体。实践层面，他表示，目前整个航运界对风险控制的理解还有待进一步拓展，因为这直接影响着航运衍生品在航运界的接纳程度。此外，国内航运衍生品本身，特别是航运市场的运价波动剧烈性所导致的航运衍生品本身风险的控制方法还是不足。风险控制的忽视往往会在我们制度设计、产品准入方面会带来障碍。他建议，要完善航运金融衍生品市场的监管体制，推动航运衍生品场内集中交易市场的发展，同时也要落实金融配套改革，加强市场基础培育。
打造航运中心衍生品建设再接再厉
上海向海而兴，在40多年前开始了我国第一条国际集装箱的航线，迈出了上海港走向世界集装箱大港的第一步，此后随着外交桥和洋山深水港的建设，上海港从百万箱港区迈向千万级的港口，连续9年保持全球第一集装箱大港。上海集装箱枢纽港的地位进一步巩固，港口集疏运体系进一步优化，现代航运服务要素进一步集聚，上海国际航运中心在全球的影响力进一步稳固。随着上海自由贸易区的建设不断深化和“一带一路”倡议的实施，上海国际航运中心建设正在步入新时代。“航运金融则是中国航运实体经济转型发展、由大变强的重要推动力。航运衍生品是航运和金融的最佳融合点，也是上海打造高端航运服务功能、加快集聚航运服务要素的最重要的抓手。”上海市交通委员会副主任张林表示。
航运是全球贸易的载体，全球贸易总量中近90%由海运承担，每年航运市场运费规模高达数千亿美元。庞大的市场规模放大了运价波动对航运企业损益的影响，航运市场需要运用衍生品来作为规避价格波动风险的工具。
实际上，发展航运衍生品作为上海建设国际金融中心和国际航运中心的结合点，一直受到国家和上海市政府的高度重视。自2009年国务院公布的《国务院关于推进上海加快发展现代服务业和先进制造业建设国际金融中心和国际航运中心的意见》，到2013年国务院发布的《中国(上海)自由贸易试验区总体方案》，再到2018年上海市政府发布的《上海国际航运中心建设三年行动计划(2018-2020)》，都明确提到要发展航运衍生品。
据张林介绍，十年来，上海在航运运价衍生品领域积极探索，上海航交所发布20大类航运指数，涵盖集装箱、干散货、油运等领域，形成完整的上海航运指数体系(SHSI)。其中，中国出口集装箱运价指数(CCFI)和上海出口集装箱运价指数(SCFI)成为国际集装箱运输市场风向标，为航运衍生品开发奠定了坚实的基础，推出航运指数期货的条件已经成熟。今年是改革开放再出发的元年，同时也是上海期货交易所与上海航运交易所深化合作的一年。1月9日，上海期货交易所和上海航运交易所签署了战略合作协议，共同深入践行发展航运衍生品的理念，共同致力于服务航运市场。
与会嘉宾表示，相信在上海航运指数影响力日益提升的基础上，借助交易所成熟规范的平台，航运与金融的相互结合，将促进两个市场的协同发展。航运指数期货有望激发航运市场的金融需求，带动相关企业发展，帮助航运市场培育一批全球的专业投资者。同时，航运指数期货业务的自身发展，也将进一步完善航运金融的服务体系，能够吸引航运、大宗商品相关企业进一步集聚到上海，带动相关服务业的发展。最终促进航运衍生品交易本土特色的国际标准的形成，服务上海国际航运中心与国际金融中心的建设。