"MASCOT—An Intelligent Operation Platform Based on Shipping Big Data", an innovative application scenario of the digital transformation of China Merchants Energy Shipping Co., Ltd. ("CMES" or the "Company"), was included in the "Typical Scenarios of Corporate Digital Transformation in 2021" at the First China Central State Owned Companies Digital Transformation Summit held at the end of 2021 and released as one of the "Top 100 Typical Scenarios of Corporate Digital Transformation".

In recent years, CMES Shipping has combined digital and forward-looking thinking and innovative ideas with the characteristics of the international shipping industry and itself, constantly deepened application scenarios regarding key processes of production, operations, and the industry chain, promoted the value creation of business digitalization, and properly adopted measures for the digital transformation of the shipping industry.

In order to push forward the main business of bulk cargo shipping and focus on core operations, the Company established a special group consisting of personnel specializing in digitalization and the shipping operation team in 2020, which independently developed the "MASCOT" intelligent shipping operation platform. Shipping big data and artificial intelligence (AI) were adopted to integrate "technologies" with "scenarios" and "data" with "businesses". After more than two years of in-depth study and innovation R&D, a new digital shipping platform with independent intellectual property rights has been gradually created, integrating a shipping big data analysis platform, an intelligent information perception and processing platform, and an intelligent shipping operation and innovation platform. This platform can be used to track, analyze, and predict the multiple factors of the complicated market of bulk cargo shipping from several dimensions so as to provide digital support for the macro and micro strategies of fleet operations and decision-making.

"MASCOT" stands for markets, analysis, shipping data, creativity, operations, and technologies. The platform (Phase I) went live at the end of 2021 to turn the ship rental, ship operations, and customer services of the large oil tanker and bulk cargo fleets of CMES more digital and intelligent. Specifically:

Markets: Dynamic and automatic sensing of markets

The platform centers on global markets of bulk cargo shipping, such as energy and ores, deeply digs data value, explores market demands, achieves dynamic sensing and monitoring of the information on typical global markets and gains a deeper insight into the market sentiment and supply-demand changes.

Analysis: Panoramic analysis and prediction

The platform can be used to collect and integrate multivariate shipping information and macroeconomic data, track and analyze numerous information on ship behavior and cargo trade, and thoroughly analyze and predict changes in the major markets of bulk cargo shipping from multiple dimensions.

Shipping data: Data support for operations and decision-making

The platform focuses on key operation processes and enables the digital decision-making and analysis of the configuration of transportation capacity, resource distribution, operation strategies, and performance assessment. As a result, such processes can be measured and reviewed in a more precise and intelligent manner.

Creativity: Creative application of digital technology

Digital modeling, mining, and analysis can be performed, based on complicated and multivariate data. Intelligent analysis and the game theory are combined with innovative ideas on shipping to propose new business models.

Operation: Deep integration of data and businesses

Experience in the shipping industry and business management practices are integrated to provide strong digital support for the reasonable scheduling of fleets, effective voyage execution, and the optimization of operation strategies.

Technologies: Intelligent algorithms and models based on big data + AI

By utilizing digital technologies for integration, such as cloud computing, a spatio-temporal database, and natural language processing (NLP) and combining operational research and the game theory, CMES has established a shipping big data platform and an intelligent information processing platform and developed algorithms and models based on big data analysis, deep learning, and AI so as to monitor and predict ship behavior and market changes. Data and algorithms serve as the foundation of the digital empowerment of market sensing and fleet operations.

Thanks to the expertise and unremitting efforts of CMES' digital and management teams, "MASCOT" has addressed the challenges of automatic collection, cleaning, dimension-raising, consolidation, and intelligent analysis of big data from multiple sources and contained leading algorithms and models for global shipping operations. Furthermore, the platform has made up for the serious deficiency in micro data refinement and continuity of the existing big data-based products for public shipping services and deeply integrated ship operations and management with big data analysis and AI. In addition, "MASCOT" serves as a digital and intelligent brain of fleet operations, provides partners and customers with personalized and value-added services, and effectively creates opportunities matching market factors. Legends of intelligent shipping operations will be written based on data and algorithms.

"MASCOT" was included in the "Typical Scenarios of Corporate Digital Transformation in 2021" released by Central Enterprise Digital Development Research Institute at the first China Central State Owned Companies Digital Transformation Summit held on December 14, 2021.

Looking ahead, CMES will continuously push forward the expansion, optimization, and upgrading of the "MASCOT" intelligent shipping operation platform, dive into the study of digital and intelligent technologies, expand the scope of ship models, and accelerate the shipping information flow. Meanwhile, the Company will raise shipping efficiency, optimize shipping resource allocation, propose new business models for bulk cargo shipping, and drive the digital transformation and development of the international shipping industry.