The Shipping Development Institute of SISI was inaugurated on January 28, 2010.

The Shipping Development Institute of SISI was inaugurated jointly by Mr. Sun Jiankang, General Manager of COSCO Container Lines Co., Ltd. (COSCON), and Mr. Huang Youfang, Vice President of Shanghai Maritime University. Ying Mingyong, Deputy District Mayor of Shanghai Hongkou District People’s Government, witnessed the ceremony.

Co-founded by COSCON and SISI, the Shipping Development Institute (SDI) will cooperate in shipping-related fields to contribute to the construction of Shanghai International Shipping Center and the development of China's shipping industry. Sun Jiakang was appointed as the Director of SDI; while Ms. Huang Jing, Manager of the Strategic Planning Department of COSCON, and Mr. Li Gang, SISI Deputy Secretary-General, as Deputy Directors of SDI.

As defined by Director Sun Jiakang, SDI aims to develop into a domestic and international well-known shipping research institution combining theory with practice. SDI is expected act as an emerging powerhouse for the construction of Shanghai International Shipping Center.

SDI's expert team consists of senior enterprise executives, experts and professors having long been engaged in shipping and logistics management and research. Sun Jiankang issued letters of appointment to some experts present at the ceremony.

Also witnessing the inauguration of SDI were 100-odd elites attending the "Shipping & Logistics Development Forum 2010 – Thoughts and Countermeasures against the Financial Crisis" jointly organized by Shanghai Hongkou District People's Government, SISI and Shanghai Jingfeng Management Consulting Co., Ltd.