To deal with the change of areal caseload distribution and to facilitate the parties to litigation of cases, Guangzhou Maritime Court adjusted the distribution of dispatched tribunals. Recently it has withdrawn the Dispatched Tribunal of Jiangmen and added a new dispatched tribunal in Zhuhai, namely the Dispatched Tribunal of Zhuhai, which has been accepting and hearing cases since 29^th, September.

    The Dispatched Tribunal of Zhuhai is located in No.339, Qinglv Middle Road, Zhuhai City.

    On September 2, 2014, the Supreme People’s Court held a seminar with the theme of “playing the role of maritime judiciary, serving and protecting national maritime strategy” and with a view to celebrating the 30^th anniversary of China Maritime trial. The Vice-Chairperson of the National People's Congress (NPC) Wan E’xiang and the President of the Supreme People’s Court Zhou Qiang attended the seminar and gave speeches.

    The vice chairperson of the NPC Wan E’xiang pointed out that over the past 30 years of reform, development and stability of the maritime courts of our state has improved rapidly and established a set of maritime judicial systems whose jurisdiction can cross administrative regions. Featuring the “five high-levelness”, namely, high level of judicial protection system, high quality of judges, high level of jurisdiction, high level of trial specialization and high level of recognition at home and abroad, the maritime trial team have fairly and effectively handled a lot of maritime cases in accordance with laws and provided strong judicial protection for the national reform and opening up, shipping trade and scientific development of maritime economy. We need to speed up cultivation of international maritime judicial talents and focus on developing their comprehensive capabilities of maintaining national maritime sovereignty, handling major international maritime matters and participating in formulation of international maritime conventions and rules in order to ensure that the maritime trial team can not only handle cases in a fair and highly efficient way, but also step forward bravely to protect major interests of our state under key circumstances.

    The president of the Supreme People’s Court Zhou Qiang emphasizes that we need to vigorously implement the strategy of high-quality maritime trials and further strength international credibility of maritime trials. We need to adhere to those value orientations that are widely accepted at home and abroad and conducive to the development of international shipping trade and correctly use those international treaties joined by our state as well as laws of our state in order to effectively maintain international shipping and trade order. We need to stick to the principle of open, fair and highly-efficient trial, make efforts to improve the quality of trials and judgment documents and handle the relationship between equal protection of lawful rights and interests of domestic and foreign parties and promotion of development of foreign trade and shipping undertakings in accordance with laws and fairly handle foreign-related maritime cases in order to build a good image of China’s judiciary. We should also make good use of internet ideas to put forward innovation of maritime and judicial system and mechanism, promote application of information technology in an all-round way and make efforts to realize modernization of maritime trials as well as demonstrate China’s modern judicial civilization to the whole world.

    The feature film 30 years of China Maritime Trials was played during the seminar. Such a film has reviewed the 30-year history of China Maritime Trials and summarized the achievements and experiences over the past 30 years.

    The President of Guangzhou Maritime Court Zhong Jianping, acting as the sole representative of the ten maritime courts across the state, delivered a keynote speech titled “strict performance of the power and authority entitled by constitution and laws and fair trials of foreign-related maritime cases in order to build a good image of our national judiciary”.

    The Vice President of the Supreme People’s Court He Rong, Professional Justice Committee Liu Guixiang, Deputy Director of Legislative Affairs Office of the State Council Yuan Shuhong, former Vice President of the Supreme People’s Court Li Guoguang attended the meeting. Besides, persons in charge from relevant authorities such as the Law Committee of the Standing Committee of NPC, Ministry of Environmental Protection, Ministry of Communications, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Commerce and State Oceanography Bureau, experts and scholars from related colleges and universities and Industry Associations, representatives from shipping and insurance enterprises, special supervisors and advisory representatives from the Supreme People’s Court, persons in charge of related departments from the Supreme People’s Court, those from some High People’s Courts and the ten maritime courts across the state joined the meeting as well.

    On the morning of July 11th 2014, the fourth civil division of the Supreme People’s Court held an internal panel discussion meeting with respect to the Rules on Several Issues concerning Trials of Disputes over Damages arising from Pollution to Marine Resources and Eco-environment (draft) at Guangzhou Maritime Court with the presence and guidance of Mr. Luo Dongchuan, the presiding judge of the fourth civil division of Supreme People’s Court, and Mr. Wang Yanjun, the deputy chief judge. Around twenty representatives from the Higher People’s Court and Maritime Courts concerned attended this internal panel discussion meeting.

    This meeting focuses on discussing and justifying on issues related to the jurisdiction, claimer, compensation scope, loss ascertainment, appraisal on environmental pollution and the enforcement of the damages for public interest litigation arising due to marine pollution.

    On 18 June 2014, court hearing regarding the case of dispute over administrative coercive measures and administrative damages filed by Raoping Honghua Aquatic Production Co., Ltd, against People’s Government of Raoping Town, with Chaozhou Yatai Port Co., Ltd. as a third party, was presided over by this Court.

    The Plaintiff, Raoping Honghua Aquatic Production Co., Ltd., claims an economic loss of 760 million RMB against the Defendant on the ground that the Defendant demolishes his factory buildings and other buildings coercively together with the Third Party involved in this case. After three trails by Chaozhou Intermediate People’s Court and Guangdong Higher People’s Court, this Court is appointed by Guangdong Higher People’s Court to entertain this case. More than one hundred students from the Party School of CPC Guangdong Province Committee attended the court hearing under the arrangement of Guangdong Higher People’s Court.

    The case of dispute over damages for pollution filed by the Administration of Ocean and Fisheries against Kenos Shipping Co., Ltd. and Korea Shipping Association closed by mediation recently.

    In March 2013, the Korean vessel M/V Kenos Athena sank in the Shanwei waters of Guangdong Province. Subsequently the plaintiffs, MSA and the Administration of Ocean and Fisheries, brought actions against the owners and insurer of M/V Kenos Athena. In January 2014, the case filed by MSA closed by mediation.

        On 17 April, Shenzhen Tribunal of Guangzhou Maritime Court arrested, as requested by Zhejiang Pangxin Electric Power and Energy Co., Ltd. in an application for ship arrest, M/V “Gallant John” which is of Cypriot nationality and has a gross tonnage of 36,493MT. The handling judge explained the applicable Chinese laws to the Master in fluent English.

        On 25 April 2014, Mr. Zhong Jianping, president of Guangzhou Maritime Court, led a team of more than 60 judicial officers to CSSC Guangzhou Longxue Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. for visiting M/V “Xiang Rui Kou”, a semi-submersible ship designed for special cargo carriage. During the visit, the officers watched a video showing loading and discharging operations of the semi-submersible ship, and listened to explanations by experts about the semi-submersible ship and its trading processes. They lastly boarded M/V “Xiang Rui Kou” to have a look at the internal structure of her bridge.

On April 4, Guangzhou Maritime Court released the Report on Maritime Trials 2013. It analyzes the general information and sorts of cases heard by Guangzhou Maritime Court since 2013, the trend of maritime disputes and market risks, and also puts forward relevant judicial proposals.

      A total of more than 40 people, who are judges from Guangzhou Maritime Court, experts and scholars in the field of maritime law and journalists, attended to the press conference.

        At the end of February 2014, the case of dispute over damages for pollution filed by Shanwei MSA against the owners and insurer of M/V Kenos Athena closed by mediation after six mediation meeting at the request of the both parities.

        The Korean vessel M/V Kenos Athena loaded with approximately 7,000 tons of sulfuric acid and 140 tons of bunker sank in the Shanwei waters of Guangdong Province in March，2013. Subsequently Shanwei MSA brought action against the owners and insurer of M/V Kenos Athena, requesting the payment of over RMB 140,000,000, including clean-up and pollution control costs, wreck marking costs, emergency response and salvage expenses.

        On 27 January 2014, Shenzhen Tribunal of Guangzhou Maritime Court received a letter of appreciation from DSV Ocean Transport A/S and its associate company Shanghai DSV Air & Sea Co., Ltd. As written in the letter, the two companies were deeply impressed by our efficiency and impartial attitude towards domestic and foreign litigants. They also stated that “the successful mediation of the dispute has enabled DSV A/S to continue to exit and operate, and freed our associate company Shanghai DSV Air & Sea Co., Ltd. from the troubles of litigation so that it can continue to expand business in China. This case is very important to us, and the resolution gives us and our affiliates the confidence to continue business in China.”

        Basic facts of the case: the claimant Newland Electronic (Hong Kong) commissioned the defendants, DSV Ocean Transport A/S and Shanghai DSV Air & Sea Co., Ltd., to transport three containers of LCD TV sets from Yantian, Shenzhen, China to Vigo Port, Spain. The defendants delivered the goods at the port of destination without the presentation of the bill of lading. Subsequently, the claimant brought an action to Guangzhou Maritime Court against the defendants for loss of goods in the sum of RMB4,390,000. Through two days of mediation, the parties reached a settlement at court and the dispute was fully solved on 20 November 2013 after the defendants agreed to compensate RMB2,800,000 to the claimant.