NYSHEX Appoints Nico Smuts to Board of Directors
Capital markets expert brings deep expertise as NYSHEX scales NYFI, the benchmark underlying ocean freight futures now trading on Intercontinental Exchange (ICE)
NEW YORK, May 21, 2026 - NYSHEX, the data and technology company powering performance management and financial risk management across global container shipping, today announced the appointment of Nico Smuts to its Board of Directors. Smuts is an investor in NYSHEX through Collate Capital, which joins Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), Goldman Sachs and other leading financial and industry investors backing the company, and joins the board through that affiliation.
Through its global freight benchmark, NYSHEX Freight Index (NYFI) and unified performance platform, NYSHEX empowers shippers, carriers, and NVOCCs to eliminate the inefficiencies that have long defined global container shipping. NYFI also serves as the underlying benchmark for ocean freight futures listed on Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), which are now trading, giving shippers and carriers a means of hedging their pricing risk and offering financial market participants a regulated venue to gain exposure to global container freight. The appointment comes at a pivotal moment for the company, as institutional interest in ocean freight as a tradeable asset class continues to accelerate and demand grows for credible, transparent benchmarks.
Smuts brings extensive data and capital markets experience to NYSHEX from his career at a top-tier investment firm, where he held roles in research and data science supporting international equities strategies. His work has focused on the intersection of capital market infrastructure, quantitative research, and alternative data - a perspective NYSHEX leadership believes will be highly valuable as the company continues to grow its data and index business.
“Nico brings a rare combination of deep capital markets fluency and a builder’s mindset for data-driven products,” said Gordon Downes, CEO of NYSHEX. “His experience leading research and data science work at a top-tier investment firm gives him a clear view of what financial market participants need from new asset classes. As we continue to scale NYFI and broaden access to ocean freight as a tradeable market, Nico’s perspective will be invaluable.”
ICE NYFI futures are now live and trading. The contracts are settled against the NYFI index, a transparent benchmark that shippers, carriers, investors and risk managers can use to understand and hedge ocean freight exposure.
"NYSHEX has built genuinely differentiated infrastructure in a market that has historically lacked transparency and hedging tools," said Nico Smuts. "Containerized ocean freight is one of the largest remaining markets without a robust, institutional-grade benchmark and unlike traditional freight indices that rely on carrier quotes, NYFI is built on verified, executed transactions. That's exactly the kind of data integrity sophisticated users demand. I'm excited to work with the NYSHEX team and my fellow board members to support the company's next phase of growth."
Smuts joins a 12-member NYSHEX Board of Directors that is evenly split between industry representatives, drawn from the shippers and ocean carriers that use the platform and financial representatives from the investment community. This balanced structure reflects NYSHEX’s mission to bring institutional-grade infrastructure, transparency, and accountability to the world’s container shipping markets, and Smuts’ expertise complements the board’s existing mix of operational, technology, and capital markets experience.
About NYSHEX
NYSHEX has evolved from a marketplace for enforceable ocean contracts into a data and technology company that powers performance management and financial risk management across global container shipping. What began as a way to make contracts work better has become the foundation for how the industry executes, measures, and manages freight performance and risk in real time. Through its global freight benchmarks (NYFI) and unified performance platform, NYSHEX empowers shippers, carriers, and NVOCCs to eliminate the inefficiencies that have long defined global container shipping. NYFI also serves as the underlying benchmark for ocean freight futures trading on Intercontinental Exchange (ICE). NYSHEX is backed by leading financial and industry investors including Goldman Sachs, New Road Capital, Collate Capital, Maersk, CMA CGM, Hapag-Lloyd, and Blumberg Capital, and is headquartered in New York City. Learn more at nyshex.com.
Media Contact
Kristin Langdon
SVP of People & Communications, NYSHEX
kristin.langdon@nyshex.com