The 4th Tianjin International Shipping Industry Expo was convened at the National Convention and Exhibition Center (Tianjin) from June 3rd to 5th.
With a focus on "Navigating the World, Operating the Future – AI Ushers in New Opportunities for Port and Shipping Development," the event gathered enterprises from across the global shipping industry value chain, concentrating on pathways for green, intelligent, and high-end transformation.
As the sole nationwide joint-stock commercial bank headquartered in Tianjin, CBHB (SEHK: 09668) presented its innovative achievements in shipping finance and comprehensive service solutions at the exhibition.
Aligned with its "Industry Bank" strategic framework, the bank leverages specialized, scenario-based, and globalized financial services to bolster the development of Tianjin as a Northern International Shipping Core Area and propel China's shipping industry toward the medium-to-high end of the global value chain.
Strategic Direction: Cultivating a Niche and Fortifying the Foundation
Maritime finance serves as a critical pillar for the shipping services sector, playing a vital role in enhancing a city's shipping capabilities and industrial competitiveness.
Amidst accelerating adjustments in global trade patterns and the industry's deep transition towards green and intelligent operations, the added value of modern shipping services continues to rise, making the integration of finance and industry an inevitable trend.
Capitalizing on its strategic location with its headquarters in Tianjin, CBHB has designated maritime finance as a key specialty within its "Industry Bank" strategy.
In 2024, the bank established a Head Office Maritime Finance Center, creating a two-tiered professional service system spanning headquarters and branches.
Guided by the principle of "integrating internal and external resources, deeply embedding in scenarios, and aggregating capabilities," it embeds financial services into five core scenarios: ports, maritime shipping, offshore engineering, bulk commodities, and customs duties.
This has enabled the bank to build a maritime financial service system that covers the entire vessel lifecycle, the complete trade process, and integrates onshore and offshore business, providing stable financial support for the integrated development of Tianjin's port, industry, and city.
Practical Advances: Enhancing Full-Chain Services and Driving Industrial Upgrading
Addressing the diverse needs of the shipping industry, CBHB has made sustained efforts across three dimensions—cross-border finance, scenario penetration, and ecosystem collaboration—yielding a portfolio of quantifiable and replicable service outcomes.
The bank's capabilities in cross-border financial services have been consistently elevated. CBHB is the only direct participant bank in the Cross-border Interbank Payment System (CIPS) based in Tianjin and the first bank in the region to launch Free Trade (FT) accounts.
Through a tripartite structure comprising its Head Office, FT Free Trade Branch, and Hong Kong Branch, the bank achieves coordinated management of domestic, FT, and overseas accounts, enabling integrated cross-border settlement and investment/financing services.
Since the establishment of its Maritime Finance Center, the bank has served nearly 40% of Tianjin's top 100 import-export enterprises, with cross-border RMB settlement volume for the Tianjin region reaching 26 billion yuan in 2025.
Financial services for the five core scenarios have been precisely implemented. In the port scenario, it supports smart and green port construction, the shift from bulk to containerized cargo, and digital warehouse upgrades, providing working capital loans and green equipment loans.
In the maritime shipping scenario, it covers the entire process from shipbuilding and delivery to vessel financing, leasing, and freight turnover, launching an online product, "Freight E-Loan," to effectively alleviate financing pressure on small and medium-sized shipping enterprises.
In the offshore engineering scenario, it offers services like advance payment guarantees and performance bonds, helping high-end equipment manufacturers compete internationally.
For bulk commodities, it provides fund settlement and trade finance services for categories such as iron ore, oil & gas, grains & oils, and chemicals, ensuring stable industry chain operations.
In the customs duty scenario, its electronic duty payment service covers 33 customs regions nationwide, and it executed Tianjin's first cross-border e-commerce electronic customs duty guarantee business, significantly improving customs clearance facilitation.
The maritime financial services ecosystem is rapidly taking shape. CBHB actively integrates resources from various parties, fostering multi-dimensional collaboration involving bank-leasing, bank-insurance, and digital synergies.
In bank-leasing collaboration, leveraging the Dongjiang Leasing Demonstration Area, it serves over 20 leasing and factoring companies, creating a linked model of loans and bond investments to support large equipment leasing for vessels and aircraft.
For bank-insurance linkage, through a headquarters-level partnership with Sinosure, it executed a $160 million vessel cross-border financing project for international receivables under lease insurance, achieving a breakthrough in providing full-chain local services.
Concurrently, it implemented a €70 million African sovereign credit insurance project to support enterprise participation in Belt and Road initiatives.
In digital collaboration, it has established direct platform data connections with shipping enterprises, enhancing financing efficiency for small and medium-sized carriers.
Regarding brand leadership, in collaboration with the Shanghai Clearing House, it launched the nation's first Tianjin Port-Industry-City Integrated Development Bond Index, guiding social capital to support port economic development.
These initiatives have yielded significant results. In 2025, CBHB's supply chain finance disbursements exceeded 330 billion yuan.
Through its comprehensive maritime financial services, the bank effectively supports shipping enterprises in expanding into global markets, facilitates the shift of Tianjin's shipping industry from scale expansion to quality and efficiency improvement, strengthens the agglomeration effect of high-end shipping services, and provides solid underpinning for integrated port-industry-city development.
Looking ahead, CBHB stated it will continue to adhere to its "Industry Bank" strategic positioning, persistently cultivate the maritime finance sector, fully leverage the locational and resource advantages of its Tianjin headquarters, and continuously enhance its professional maritime financial service capabilities.
It aims to utilize financial strength to support the construction of the Northern International Shipping Core Area, assisting China's shipping industry as it forges ahead on its transformation path towards greening, intelligence, and high-end development, truly realizing the vision of "prospering shipping through finance and strengthening through maritime endeavors."
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