Shanghai Maritime University (SMU) founded in the Department of shipping, Shanghai Institute of Advanced Industry (Nanyang public school), Ministry of Post and Communication in 1909 in the late Qing Dynasty. Featured by shipping, logistics, and ocean, it is a multi-disciplinary university consisting of engineering, management, economics, law, literature, science, art, and other disciplines. It is also the chairman unit of the Logistics Major Teaching Steering Committee of the Ministry of Education of PRC.
To better serve the construction of Shanghai international shipping center and the development of China's shipping industry, Shanghai Municipal People's government signed an agreement with the Ministry of Transport of PRC to build Shanghai Maritime University jointly and moved the main body of the school to Lingang New Town (now Lingang New Area of Shanghai Free Trade Zone) in 2008. According to the statistics of Scopus, Shanghai Maritime University has been number one in the field of the port, shipping, and logistics for many years. The employment rate of graduates maintaining at more than 95%, the university awarded one of the "top 50 national universities with typical employment experience of graduates".
Relying on the professional advantages of the Port and Shipping logistics course, industry influence, and international cooperation, SMU exports Chinese technology, leads international standards, and trains high-end talents. The school has made breakthroughs in intelligent logistics information management, advanced logistics equipment management, and engineering, maritime safety and security, intelligent maritime technology innovation, and other fields, forming the first international standard for automatic terminals and the first national standard for remote monitoring of insulated containers.
Since 2012, SMU has developed the application technology of the container IoT, which has been strongly supported by the government and enterprises in the industry and actively promoted the in-depth cooperation between the university and enterprise and integration between academic innovation and industry application. Up till now, it has formed a complete set of solutions for the application of the container IoT.
In 2019, the university transformed the scientific and technological achievements into a commercial area by injecting the related intellectual property rights of the application of the container IoT into BoxPlus Information Technology Co., Ltd.