On the morning of Jan. 11^th, 2018, the third meeting of the Fifteenth Guangzhou People’s Congress was solemnly opened at Guangzhou Baiyun International Convention Center. Municipal Party Secretary Ren Xuefeng, Chairman Liu Yuelun of the Committee of Guangzhou People's Political Consultative Conference attended the meeting hosted by Director Chen Jianhua of the Standing Committee of Guangzhou People' s Congress. Mayor Wen Guohui delivered a report on the work of the government. President Ye Liudong of Guangzhou Maritime Court attended the meeting with Vice-president Huang Weiqing and Vice-president Wang Yufei as observers.

Guangzhou Maritime Court sent out an advisory service team of four, including Director Ni Xuewei of Judicial Supervision Division, Judge Wu Guining, Judge Assistant Geng Lijun and Ouyang Di, to provide advisory service for the deputies of People’s Congress. Mayor Wen Guohui and Director Chen Jianhua of the Standing Committee of Guangzhou People' s Congress met with the advisory service team cordially. The team answered comprehensively to the questions raised by Deputy Zhuang Weiyan about the trial, preventive measures, assessment and accreditation of cases involving marine environmental pollution, then, gave the 2016 Guangzhou Maritime Court Report on Trials in three languages of Chinese, English and Portuguese to the deputies as presents.

In the past year, the economic strength of Guangzhou improved steadily and the pace of innovation has accelerated markedly. The emerging industry continued to grow. The "Three go, one drop, one supplement" Policy has scored obvious results. Social governance was strengthened. According to the requirements of “four insists, three supports and two front ranks” and the general objective of “striving to make people to feel the justice and fairness in very judicial case”, Guangzhou Maritime Court, a special court dealing with maritime litigation, made every effort to provide excellent judicial safeguard service for the Belt and Road Initiative and the Strategies of constucting the Guangzhou international shipping center,the Guangdong Pilot Free Trade Zone and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area, of building Guangdong into a powerful maritime province and China into a maritime power. In 2017, there are 2614 new cases and 616 remained cases last year tried by the judges of Guangzhou Maritime Court, 2806 cases claiming for CNY 7.351 billion of which are concluded in the same year. The amounts of trial, conclusion and claim are increased by 7.1%, 16.8% and 16.2% over the last year respectively. Judges at the front line concluded 100.2 trials per person this year. They made important contribution to the construction of building Guangdong into the safest,fairest,and the most stable region with the best legal environment.

After the meeting, President Ye Liudong came to the service counter to inquire about the advisory service and accepted the reporters’ interview.

 

 

At the beginning of the year, Judges Zhang Kexiong and Yang Yaxiao of Maritime Administrative Division of Guangdong Maritime Court were invited to give lessons to Huizhou Division of Guangdong Oceanic Fishery Administration for research and communication.

Judge Zhang Kexiong gave a lecture on the topic of Maritime Administrative Trials and Administrative Enforcement of Marine Fisheries for nearly 40 backbones of Huizhou Division. He focused on the jurisdiction of Guangzhou Maritime Court on maritime administrative cases, which effectively helps the executors of marine fishery administrative division to clarify their misunderstanding between exclusive jurisdiction of maritime courts and centralized jurisdiction of railway transportation courts on administrative cases. At the same time, he reviewed the issues that he found and abstracted in the cases involving the marine fishery administrative divisiontried by the Maritime Administrative Division of Guangzhou Maritime Court in recent years. The lecture was a lively law lesson as it was closely related to the legality of administrative enforcement, which the executors at the front line care about.

The two judges also held talks and communicated with the fishery administrative enforcement backbones, answered their questions about the enforcement procedure and the application of laws and regulations and won their consistent praise. This communication was a good publicity of the jurisdiction of Guangzhou Maritime Court on maritime administrative cases, fully showed the specialty and fairness of Guangzhou Maritime Court on maritime administrative trial.

 

On the morning of Jan.5th, 2018, Political Commissar Kong Siping, Deputy Director General Sui Guoqing of Zhaoqing Maritime Safety Administration, Director Su Yu, Vice-director Kang Huawei of Law Enforcement Supervision Division, Vice-captain Cheng Yuanlin of Marine Patrol Division, Director Jiang Chao of Gaoyao Maritime Safety Division visited Guangzhou Maritime Court. Tasked by President Ye Liudong, Vice-president Huang Weiqing held talks and communicated with the guests about the issues related to administration by laws under the topic of ‘New Concepts, New Ideas and New Strategies of Xi Jinping’s Thought on the Governance of China’.

Vice-president Huang gave a warm welcome to the guests and briefly introduced the overall working condition of Guangzhou Maritime Court in 2017. He reviewed the good interaction and cooperation in the arrest and registration of vessels with Guangdong Maritime Safety Administration, especially Zhaoqing Maritime Safety Administration.Then Vice-president Huang had full communication and explanation with the guests on the issues found in the judicial practice,including the determination procedures and treatment of ownerless vessels, the identified conditions and evidence collection in the application for ownerless vessels and how to apply for negotiorum gestio of ownerless vessels.

Political Commissar Kong expressed gratitude to Vice-president Huang for the warm reception. He pointed out that, to better serve the strategic layout of the People's Government of Guangdong Province of building up theXijiang River into a golden waterway, Zhaoqing Maritime Safety Administration will further strengthen the work on maritime administrative enforcement and management by strengthening the law enforcement and supervision of ships with "three noes", ships not conform with the certificates, ships excavating sands in the river without license, so as to develop a beautiful Xijiang River under governance by laws.

Director Xiong Shaohui of Maritime Administrative Division, Director Ni Xuewei of Judicial Supervision Division of Guangzhou Maritime Court also attended the talks.

 

On the morning of Dec. 18, 2017, Brenda Hannigan, head of Southampton Law School and Professor of Southampton Institute of Maritime Law, Dr Jenny Jingbo Zhang of Southampton Law School visited Guangzhou Maritime Court and held an academic seminar for academic exchange with judges and judge assistants of Guangzhou Maritime Court.

President YeLiudong, on behalf of Guangzhou Maritime Court, gave a warm welcome to the two, and introduced the basic information of the court. President Ye said, Southampton Law School leads the world(is at the cutting edge) in the field of maritime law research, especially the Southampton Institute of Maritime Law, which covers the research of maritime law(ship collision, oil contamination, limitation of liability, etc.), law of carriage of goods by sea(chartering, bill of lading, etc.), marine insurance act, law of the international sale of goods, international commercial arbitration law, international jurisdiction, law of the sea and etc.. He indicated that this academic seminar will provide the judges and judge assistants some guidance and insight into the latest updates and trends of maritime law research.

Basing on the topic of cross-border group insolvency Professor Brenda Hannigan talked about the methods of Britain’s courts in handling legal affairs in respect of cross-border insolvency. She introduced the 2015 European Act in terms of insolvency liquidation among European Union countries, 1997 UNCITRAL Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency and the effect of these unified regulations in practice.

Dr Jenny Jingbo Zhang started fr om the document of title of bill of lading under English Law, analyzed the carrier’s liability over delivery of goods without original bill of lading under order bill of lading and straight bill of lading, the relationship among letter of guarantee, exception clause, electronic bill of lading and carrier's responsibility of delivery of goods without original bills of lading.

Judges and judge assistants of Guangzhou Maritime Court exchanged in-depth views and had a heated discussion on the interested topics with Professor Brenda Hannigan and Dr Jenny Jingbo Zhang.

President Ye also discussed the potential collaboration with Professor Brenda Hannigan in terms of judge training and joint research projects. Both sides agreed that they should broaden the path for the cultivation of maritime judicial professionals. Southampton Law School will provide support for Guangzhou Maritime Court on the cultivation of maritime judges with international perspectives. Next they will strengthen their interaction and cooperation.

 

 

On the afternoon of Dec. 4, 2017, accompanied by President Ye Liudong, Vice President Huang Weiqing of Guangzhou Maritime Court, Deputy Director Yu Mingyong of the Standing Committee of Guangzhou Municipal People' s Congress, Director Zheng Liecheng of the Committee for Internal and Judicial Affairs, led some of the members and deputies of the Standing Committee of the Municipal People's Congress to visit the Shenzhen Detached Tribunal.

After looking around the working environment, the members and deputies highly appreciated the achievements of digital court and informatization construction of the Shenzhen Detached Tribunal. Then they held talks with the staff of the tribunal. Director Cheng Shengxiang reported the basic information of Shenzhen Detached Tribunal and introduced the formation of the judge team, main characteristic of accepted cases, classic cases tried by the tribunal and research achievements. He put emphasis on the case involving the arrest of vessels of Hanjin Shipping Co., Ltd. and the case of disputes over the right to use sea areas which was handled after multi-party coordination. President Ye Liudong gave a warm welcome to the team and briefly introduced the main work and achievement of Guangzhou Maritime Court in this year and the plan for next year.

After hearing President Ye’s report, Deputy Director Yu Mingyong indicated his full recognition on the achievements and the great judge team of Shenzhen Detached Tribunal. Then he brought forward his opinions and advice on the work of the tribunal.

On the afternoon of Nov. 30th, 2017, President Ye Liudong led his research team of 7, including Dong Qing, the Secretary of Committee for Discipline Inspection and staffs of Maritime Administrative Division, paid a visit to the Oceanic and Fishery Department of Guangdong Province for research and study. His counterpart, Wang Zhongbing, gave a warm welcome and held talks with the team. President Ye briefly introduced the development history, jurisdiction, staff composition and achievements of Guangzhou Maritime Court. The team is trying to learn about the new needs of oceanic administrative organs in law-based administration and maritime litigation so as to solve the new problems arose during the trial of maritime administrative cases. Wang Zhongbing pointed out that the current function transformation of the Oceanic and Fishery Department of Guangdong Province is focusing on five aspects, including marine equipment, marine organism, offshore wind power, combustible ice and marine public services. They are standing in need of stronger communication with Guangzhou Maritime Court. Further more, they put a high value on the research activities of Guangzhou Maritime Court and made adequate preparation for the research. During the talks, responsible officers of related divisions in the Oceanic and Fishery Department not only answered all the questions  fro m Guangzhou Maritime Court, but also fully exchanged views and reached a preliminary consensus with Guangzhou Maritime Court on marine pollution, illegal fishing, illegal cultivation, sea areas management, fishing ports management and application for execution.  

  On Saturday night of Nov. 4th, 2017, judges Song Weili, Song Ruiqiu, Chang Weiping and judge assistant Geng Lijun of Guangzhou Maritime Court were invited to Dongguan Broadcasting Station as special guests to attend the live talk show “Along with the Law”, which is a mainstay legal program of the station. The theme of the program on that day was “Maritime Trial in the Doorway in Dongguan”. Judge Song Weili and her team exchange din-depth views with the hosts Jiang Xiao and An Qi on the theme. They referred to the first case tried in Dongguan Circuit Court to introduce the necessity of setting up Dongguan Circuit Court and the proceedings there, and introduce the basic information of case trial and typical cases of Guangzhou Maritime Court.   During the live broadcast, the listeners were very responsive. They not only constantly sent greetings to the judges and interacted with them on Microblog, but also consulted about the maritime legal problems happening around them. The broadcast received very good responses in the society and achieved the anticipated goal, which is the publicity of Guangzhou Maritime Court providing high quality maritime justice safeguard for the construction of powerful marine province and Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area.      

  On October 30th, 2017, professors and students of Guangzhou Maritime College, a total of 45, attended a court trial heard by the maritime administrative division of Guangzhou Maritime Court. In this case, the plaintiff, as the carrier claims that the defendant, as the consignor caused the goods to be impounded by the local customs to whom they declared the fireworks and crackers as toothpicks and that the defendant is liable for the container demurrage at the destination port. The defendant counterclaims that they already paid the deposit to the plaintiff after the container was impounded, but the plaintiff never told them the condition of the goods at the destination port and that the plaintiff should pay back the deposit. During the trial, the collegial panel sorted the evidences provided by both parties, summarized the uncontroversial facts and points at issue, then guided both parties to further provide evidence and state their cross-examination opinions on the points, which includes “the basis of the plaintiff’s claim for the loss of container demurrage costs” and “whether the amount paid by the defendant is inside the range of deposit”, so as to present the case facts objectively. During the trial, both parties’ views collided and confronted with each other, which greatly attracted the attention of the professors and students of Guangzhou Maritime College and helped the whole trial to obtain favorable effects. After the trial, judges who presided over the trial communicated with the professors and students of Guangzhou Maritime College. The judges not only explained the general process of the court handling cases in detail, but also answer questions raised by students about the laws applied in maritime trial in the aspects of freight forwarding business and carriage of container cargo. The students said that they have better understanding of shipping practice and relative legal affairs after hearing the court trial. Besides, the trial has stimulated their learning enthusiasm for navigation laws.      

   On Oct. 10, Zhuhai Detached Tribunal of Guangzhou Maritime Court tried a case concerning disputes over shipbuilding contracts. A collegial panel consisting of Presiding Judge and President Ye Liudong, Judge Han Haibin and People’s Accessor from Macau Hu Jingguang was formed to conduct the trial. This is the first time for Guangzhou Maritime Court to bring in resident of the Macao Special Administrative Region on case trial as the people’s accessor. This case is concerning disputes over shipbuilding contracts. Before the trial, President Ye gathered all members of collegial panel to study the case and clear the thoughts. During the trial, members of collegial panel not only shared out the work and cooperated with one another, but also conducted the court trial and ascertained the facts of the case according to the legal procedures. Hong Kong and Macau are two international metropolises tightly connected with the world economy. In particular, Hongkong is an important international finance center, trade center and shipping center in addition to being the third-ranking finance center of the world. To give full play to the talents superiority of Hongkong and Macau in international finance, trading and shipping industry and broaden the channel for people’s accessors to participate in the trial of maritime cases, Zhuhai Detached Tribunal brought in Macau resident on case trial base on the research and discussion on the feasibility of Macau residents participating in the case trial, so as to expand the influence to the outside world and better serve the construction of the national maritime justice center.    

  Ten Typical Cases of Guangzhou Maritime Court Serving the “One Country, Two Systems” Policy during 20 Years since Hongkong’s Return to the Motherland     Member of Leading Party Group & Vice President of Guangzhou Maritime Court Huang Weiqing Aug. 4, 2017     Friends from the press, maritime experts, lawyers, all the guests: Good afternoon! Guangzhou Maritime Court was one of the first batch of maritime courts established in 1985 with approval of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, located in Guangdong Province. As the pioneer of China's reform and opening up policies, Guangzhou Maritime Court specialized in handling maritime cases involving foreign or Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan elements. In 1983, to better serve the parties from Hong Kong and Macau and promote the economic development of shipping industry , Guangzhou Maritime Court established the very first detached tribunal in the special economic zones among China’s maritime courts in Shekou District of Shenzhen, so as to handle nearby maritime cases involving Hong Kong elements. 20 years later, in 2014, Promoted by the construction of Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, Guangzhou Maritime Court withdrew the Jiangmen Detached Tribunal and established Zhuhai Detached Tribunal to make litigation convenient for Hong Kong and Macao people. Hong Kong has returned to the motherland for 20 years since July 1, 1997. As always, Guangzhou Maritime Court persists in fully and faithfully implementing the “One Country, Two Systems” Policy. We have handled more than 2,000 maritime cases involving Hong Kong elements and their execution in strict accordance with Maritime Law and the Laws of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. In this way, we not only help maintain the shipping traffic order and protect the Hong Kong’s marine environmental resource, but also safeguard and promote the construction of building Hong Kong into an international shipping hub and make a great contribution on maintaining the prosperity and stability of Hong Kong. During this period, a great deal of typical cases with reference value have sprung up. Today, on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to the motherland, we release ten typical cases concerning disputes over delivery under contract of carriage of goods by sea, including Ranbaxy Laboratories Co., Ltd(Hong Kong) v. Hong Kong Zhonghao Group Co., Ltd. Trial of these cases all accurately applied the international shipping rules and the Laws of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, what’s more, some even fill the gap in law with typicality and representativeness to some extent. Next please allow me to declare these ten typical Cases of Guangzhou Maritime Court serving the “One Country, Two Systems” Policy during 20 years since Hong Kong’s return to the motherland. 1. Case concerning disputes over delivery under carriage of goods by sea of Ranbaxy Laboratories Co., Ltd(Hongkong) against Hongkong Zhonghao Group Co., Ltd In this case, the court entered the (1997) GHFSZ No.149 civil judgment，which accurately applied the international shipping rules and safeguarded Hong Kong's status as the trade and shipping center in accordance with law. 2. Case concerning disputes over delivery of goods without an original bill of lading of Qirong Trading Co., Ltd against Anhui Ocean Shipping Co., Ltd In this case, the court entered the (1997) GHFSZ No.74 civil judgment, which improved the judicial rules on delivery of goods without bill of lading and stabilized Hong Kong’s trade order in accordance with law. 3. Case concerning disputes over delivery of goods without an original bill of lading of Jiangsu Guanyun County International Trade Company against CMA CGM SA In this case, the court entered the (1999) GHFSZ No.41 civil judgment, which accurately defined the scope of carrier’s liability and safeguarded the legitimate rights of Hong Kong’s enterprises in accordance with law. 4. Case concerning disputes over ship mortgage loan contracts of Panbillion Fiance Co., Ltd against Carlie International Shipping (Panama) S.A. In this case, the court entered the (2000) GHFSZ No.79 civil judgment, which applied the Laws of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and maintained the order of Hong Kong’s  international financial market in accordance with law. 5. Case of application for affirming the arbitral clauses on the bill of lading null and void by P & O Nedlloyd Co., Ltd and  P & O Nedlloyd (HK) Co., Ltd In this case, the court entered the (2000) GHFSZ No.37 civil ruling, which accurately applied the provisions of New York Convention and confirmed the effect of arbitration clause involving Hong Kong elements in accordance with law. 6. Case concerning disputes over contracts of labor services provided by the crew of Guangzhou COSCO Shipping Co., Ltd against Pallister Group Co., Ltd In this case, the court entered the (2002) GHFCZ No.228 civil judgment, which distributed the proceeds of the auction sale of Orient Princess Vessel in accordance with law and duly handled the major sensitive case involving Hong Kong elements. 7. Cases on disputes over cargo damage and shortage under contracts of carriage of goods by sea of Guangzhou Branch of The People's Insurance Company of China Limited against COSCO(Hong Kong) Shipping Co., Ltd In this case, the court entered the (2002) GHFCZ No.302 civil judgment, which accurately applied the provisions of maritime law and promoted the development of Hong Kong’s marine insurance market. 8. Case concerning disputes over claims for damages arising out of collisions of vessels of Guangzhou Haichang Oil Shipping Company against Li Shiba In this case, the court entered the (2005) GHFCZ No.268 civil judgment, which accurately applied the International Regulations for the Prevention of Collisions at Sea and safeguarded Hong Kong’s shipping traffic order in accordance with law. 9. Case concerning disputes under marine salvage contracts of Nanhai Rescue Bureau of the Ministry of Transport against Archangelos Investments E.N.E, Shanghai Representative Office of Hong Kong Andaousen Co., Ltd. In this case, the court entered the (2012) GHFCZ No.898 civil judgment, which clarified the nature of marine salvage contract. Live broadcast in the trial of second instance by the Supreme People's Court presented the judicial justice of China. 10. Case concerning disputes over liability for damage arising out of vessel-induced pollution of Zhuhai Maritime Safety Administration of PRC against Hong Kong Xiatian Shipping Co., Ltd. In this case, the court entered the (2015) GHFZZ No.466 civil mediation, which effectively solved the case concerning vessel-induced pollution involving Hong Kong elements and promoted the marine environmental resource conservation in accordance with law.   All the guests: At this historic moment of 20th anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to the motherland, we should not only summarize the past, but also have our eyes on the future. The State Council have approved for the planning and construction of the city cluster in Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, which is creating 13% GDP with less than 1% area of the whole country as one of the most vigorous and open-ended economic entity in the world. Guangzhou Maritime Court is exactly located in the important position among the city cluster. We believe, with the accomplishment of the infrastructure construction of Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge and Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link, the mutual advancement and win-win cooperation in finance, economy and trade, shipping industry between Guangdong Province and Hong Kong will be further promoted. Hence, Guangzhou Maritime Court will further enhance the judicial ability of serving and safeguarding the strategy of “One Belt, One Road” Policy and the construction of Guangdong Pilot Free Trade Zone and building Guangzhou into an international shipping hub, try and execute maritime cases involving Hong Kong elements with high efficiency and justice in accordance with law, strive to be the pioneer in the construction of international maritime judicial center, continue to make contribution to maintain long-time prosperity and stability in Hong Kong, so as to safeguard the practice of the "One country, Two systems" Policy in Hong Kong. Thank you all!