The Supreme People’s Court published ten representative maritime trial cases in 2017 last week. Dispute over a Contract for Carriage of Goods by Sea in the Case of Fujian Itawa Industry Co., Ltd v. Guangzhou Haide Cargotrans Co., Ltd [( 2015) GHFCZ No.363] tried by Guangzhou Maritime Court has been selected in it, the case was undertaken by former judge Yang Yaxiao of Maritime Administrative Division, Director Xiong Shaohui was the Presiding Judge and Vice Director Zhang Kexiong was the member of the Collegiate Panel.

The selected case involved the identification of the fact that releasing goods without bill of lading in South American countries, where it is difficult to obtain evidences and take a long time for trial. During the first instance, the Collegiate Panel allowed the plaintiff to delay the presentation of evidences for several times. But by the day of judgment, the case was already 18months behind the time limit for trial. The plaintiff cannot obtain the original of the main evidence because he did not complete the authorization procedure for the investigator he entrusted, as a result the ongoing authentification procedure need to be gone through from where it started. So the Panel decided to give judgment on the basis of available evidences. During the second-instance, the plaintiff completed the evidence-taking, and the Higher People’s Court of Guangdong Province amended the judgment after accepting the new evidences.