ABSTRACTThis article proposes a framework for a daily container freight index (DCFI) and investigates a number of principles in the design of this type of indices. Based on a comparative analysis with the existing container freight indices, we explore a method of integrating the framework with the use of data from e-booking platforms and illustrate why the new index can provide more insightful information for shippers. We also apply the framework to have a daily Shanghai container freight index by combining data sources from the platforms linked to the Shanghai port. By implementing the index to a risk analysis problem, we use numerical results to show the DCFI’s potential position in real hedging problems for container liner markets.