Maritime courts win trust of litigants
July 1, 2014 Category Logistics, Ports & sea transport
Chinese courts have heard an increasing number of commercial marine cases in the past three years, especially disputes involving foreign entities, according to an official with China’s top court. Disputes over marine cargo, ship rentals, vessel collisions and ship construction have risen, according to Luo Dongchuan, Chief Judge of the Maritime Department at the Supreme People’s Court (SPC). In 2011, Chinese maritime courts handled 8,692 cases. The figure rose to 11,224 last year. Of the 30,723 cases handled in the past three years by the 10 maritime courts, mostly located in coastal cities including Qingdao in Shandong province and Xiamen in Fujian province, 4,454 cases involved foreign litigants. Foreign-related marine cases heard by Chinese courts have involved 73 countries and regions, including Japan, the United States and Britain. Guo Ping, Professor specializing in marine cases at Dalian Maritime University in Liaoning province, said the increasing number of foreign cases is a good opportunity for Chinese maritime courts to establish judicial credibility. He Lixin, Professor of Marine Law at Xiamen University, said the high proportion of foreign-related cases also indicated that some foreign litigants have accepted Chinese trials as fair and just. China detained more than 6,000 ships, including 800 foreign vessels, from 2000 to 2013, the Supreme People’s Court said. Xu Guangyu, a senior lawyer specializing in marine cases, said some foreign companies have started asking Chinese lawyers to handle their disputes after vessels are detained, which means Chinese legal credibility has improved. “But the number of lawyers or judicial staff who are able to deal with maritime disputes is still small,” Xu said. Confusion about the application of foreign laws and delays in tracking judicial documents are among the major challenges facing Chinese maritime courts over international marine disputes. Sometimes cases can drag on for years, the China Daily reports.
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