Shanghai Exchange Launches 7 New Container Freight Benchmarks

The Shanghai Shipping Exchange has officially launched seven new container freight benchmarks covering major global trade routes, including 20-foot and 40-foot container rates to East Africa, Central and South America, the Indian subcontinent, Europe, and the Mediterranean. These indices, which completed trial phases between January 2025 and May 2026, now provide official reference pricing for the shipping industry. Concurrently, the exchange released a revised 2026 edition of its index-linked container service contract template, which expands the range of container sizes and freight indices available for calculating contract payments.

This development addresses a critical pain point in containerized shipping: pricing opacity and settlement disputes. By formalizing multiple reference points across diverse trade lanes and container sizes, the exchange enables carriers, cargo owners, and financial institutions to negotiate and settle freight contracts with greater confidence and transparency. The previous 2023 template was a foundational step; this 2026 update responds to market demand for more granular pricing guidance tailored to specific routes and vessel configurations.

For supply chain professionals, this represents a structural improvement in freight cost predictability and contract standardization. The new benchmarks reduce the information asymmetry that has historically disadvantaged smaller shippers and enable better cost forecasting in volatile freight markets. Organizations relying on containerized trade should evaluate whether their current carrier contracts can be transitioned to these index-linked models to reduce future rate disputes and improve budget certainty.