On May 26, 2023, the complainant, a Singaporean company, applied to Guangzhou Maritime Court (GZMC) for the pre-action preservation of maritime evidence with regard to a dispute over a time charter contract with a Greek company. The complainant claimed that the Greek vessel called "Alpha Afovos" had a decrease in speed and an unreasonable deviation during the performance of the contract, resulting in the complainant's loss of rent and bunker oil. The complainant requested the preservation of sixteen categories of evidence, including the vessel's registration certificate, the number of voyages, engine logbook of the last voyage, and bunker oil analysis report. 

After receipt of the application materials, the Case Registration Division of GZMC found through examination that the application of the complainant was in compliance with the law, but the conditions for registration were not met yet because the complainant is a foreign legal person with its corporate entity and authorization formalities not notarized and certified. The complainant was very anxious and claimed that the "Alpha Afovos" vessel would arrive at Dongguan Port the next day to unload the goods. In such an urgent case, it requested the court to immediately take preservative measures. The Case Registration Division conducted an urgent panel discussion on the case on the day. The collegial panel decided to adopt the flexible method of "facsimile + letter of guarantee of law firm" to confirm the complainant's entity and authorization materials and then register the case. The following day was a Saturday. To ensure the success of evidence preservation, GZMC quickly made a ruling on the same day, with the enforcement of evidence preservation to start on Saturday. 

On Saturday morning, GZMC staff worked overtime to prepare the legal instruments for evidence preservation and contacted the representatives of both parties to make preparations for the preservation of evidence. Mr. Zheng Wei, Mr. Shu Jian, and Mr. Chen Kaifan delivered the notice of assistance in enforcement to the authorities of immigration inspection and maritime affairs, and then boarded the vessel to serve the legal instruments to the captain and made a transcript. Alpha Afovos, whose captain and crew were all of Greek or Filipino nationality, was required to submit a large quantity of evidence and materials, thus requesting some time to prepare. On Sunday morning, three GZMC staffers boarded the vessel again to examine, check and copy the evidence and materials to be submitted by the respondent. At 8: 00 PM, after completing the preservation of evidence, GZMC sent a notice of completion of enforcement to the authorities of immigration inspection and maritime affairs to ensure that the vessel could depart from port on schedule. At this point, the case was well concluded. 

Maritime courts are an important window to show China's judicial practices to foreign countries. Over the years, GZMC has adhered to the judicial philosophy of equally protecting the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese and foreign parties and handled every case in an impartial and efficient manner. It has established an image as a professional and efficient maritime court among foreigners, manifesting the warmth and speed of Chinese maritime justice. Going ahead, GZMC will take the opportunity of the learning campaign on Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era to further practice justice for the people and maintain impartial justice, as it contributes to the building of an internationalized and law-based business environment in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area!