On the morning of March 27, 2020, arbitrators Huang Weiqing and Chen Xuebin of Guangzhou Arbitration Commission visited and had a discussion with GZMC on the issue of enforcement of arbitration award. Several court officials of GZMC presented, they were Member of the Party Leadership and Director of Executiion Bureau Song Weili, Deputy Chief Judge Chang Weiping of Commercial Division, Deputy Chief Judge Xu Chunlong of Case-filling Division and Yin Zhonglie and Shu Jian of Executiion Bureau. They made exchange on the enforceability of the arbitration award on matters of real right of ship and discussed the adjudication on the real right of ship and affiliation of ship. SPC is highly attentive to the coordination of case-filling, trial and execution, several articles are released from it to address the enforcement of judgement due to the insufficient relevant stipulations on the enforceability of the arbitration award. Because of the exclusivity and non-publicness of arbitration procedure, the Commission encountered many problems on determination of the ownership of ship and agreement on affiliation of ship, et al. It is a very useful exploration to address such problems through discussion and unify the understanding and practice of it, which shows that GZMC gives full respect and support to the development of arbitration and perform the duty of judicial supervision by operation of law. The settlement of such problems will make a contribution to creating a predicable law-based business environment in the Greater Bay Area.  

On the afternoon of March18, 2020, a lawyer in Guangzhou contacted Zhuhai court of GZMC, claiming  since his Hong Kong client’s Hong Kong-Macao floating ship sank after a collision, he was entrusted to apply for the arrest of a ship prior to litigation to realize maritime liens,  in which circumstance he need to sign the power of attorney face to face at the court. To protect the legitimate right of the  applicant, after reviewing materials and verifying the entry quarantine status of the applicant, the court agreed they come over and sign the power of attorney. Later the applicant claimed he traveled from Hong Kong to Zhuhai in a floating boat and did not touch any suspected or confirmed covid-19 patients. For he did not carry out the epidemic prevention test in the relevant domestic agencies, after negotiated with the community guards, two court officials witnessed the signature of the letter of attorney outside of the community in the rain. They wear masks and keep a proper distance with the visitors and washed hands and disinfected themselves after back to office. In the afternoon of the next day, two court officials went to Xinhui district of Jiangmen city to seize ship in rainy weather. In order to minimize the impact of covid-19 on embarkation, Zhuhai court contacted Xinhui office of Jiangmen Maritime Safety Administration several times and jointly made boarding plan ahead. The two court officials took precautions carefully and read the relevant legal and litigation guidance to the captain after inspecting the ship and registering the epidemic prevention of the crews. From the initial worry and resistance, the captain finally dispelled his misgivings and signed the ship detained document. Without a stop, they drove to send the document to Jiangmen Maritime Safety Administration, they successfully finished the task with a high efficiency. After the war of anti-coronavirus, Zhuhai court has been keeping alert, working hard to make trial without delay and epidemic prevention in control. As the first time to seizure ship after the outbreak of covid-19, CMZC responded to ship arrest application quickly to protect the applicant’s legitimate interests, which had been highly praised by the Hong Kong applicant.    

  On Feb 11, 2020, at the seventh court of the GZMC, Chen Jianhui, a villager from Lixi town of Yingde city of Guangdong province, after took his Crew Member of Vessel in Inland Waters Certificate and Seaman’s Record Book back, and received 10,000 RMB compensation through WeChat Pay at the spot from Chen Wenke, who had illegally detained his Certificate and the Book for more than four months. He withdrawn the suit at the court and wrote down the letter of thanks. This case started last year. On June, 2019, hired by Chen Wenke as chief engineer on the vessel of “YueShaoGuanhuo 3618”, Chen Jianhui was injured by a propeller at work and was sent to Nanhai Hospital for treatment at the same day. Chen Wenke paid for all his medical expenses and gave compensation for 55,000 RMB. That should be the end of the story, but Chen Wenke detained his Crew Member of Vessel in Inland Waters Certificate and Seaman’s Record Book after the insurance claim settlement procedure on the ground that he had paid an extra salary for 4,000 RMB. One cannot work on board without certificate, so Chen Jianhui came to GZMC to file a case, claiming for the return of the Certificate and the Book and the loss for the unable working period.The case accepted and scheduled to hearing on March 4, 2020 and presiding by judge Xu Yuanping. Judge Xu backed to his hometown Hubei province for the Spring Festival at the mid of the January but quarantined there for the outbreak of the coronavirus. The case is in such an urgent. Although blocked in affected area, but judge Xu never relax his nerve on this case, he made phone call to told his trial team that they should contact Chen Wenke to make clearall the detail of the case on the first day returning to work, explain to him the legal risk of deliberately detaining others certificate and told him that he should return it as soon as possible no matter if there any other dispute with Chen Jianhui. After repeated contacts, Chen Wenke took the advice of the team and delivered the certificate to GZMC. But the amount of compensation required by Chen Jianhuifor retaining the certificate was not settled. On the afternoon of Feb 10, Chen Jianhui told the team that in order to find a job early, he wants to come to GZMC to get his certificate back, and repeated the request on the nest day morning. After learning that, judge Xie Huicheng of the team,considering the risk of infection, asked the team use WeChat and telephone to meditate the dispute. Chief judge Xu, who quarantined in Hubei province, guide the judge assistant through telephone to reviewing the whole case and analysed the possible responsibilities of the two parties. Finally, reconciliation reached, Chen Wenke paid compensation of 10,000 RMBto Chen Jianhui through WeChat Pay, Chen Jianhuiwithdrawn the suit at the spot. The dispute was successfully resolved. Epidemic is merciless, Judgesare merciful. Confronting with the outbreak of the virus, the judges of the Admiralty Division tie their heart with the people. Though being caught in epidemic area, judge Xu’s heart attach to trial. Admiralty Division had developed the thought of “unit as one” and judge assistant Zhang Rong undertaken voluntarily, they all do their best to safeguard people’s life securityand health and protect their legitimate rights and interests.  

On the morning of Jan 1st, 2020, Professor Zeng Jia led a team of four of School of Law Shanghai Maritime University (SMU) visited GZMC for research and exchange, the team included PhDs and postgraduates Yang Yuanshuo and Zhang Lei and so on and it focus on the “study of the legal guarantee for the strategy of marine power in the new era”. Director Song Weili of Executive Board, Director Ni Xuewei and judge assistant Tan Xuewen of Research Office and Deputy Chief Judge Xu Chunlong of Case Filling Division joined the reception and the talks. The team visited the litigation service center, case-filling hall, the technology court, Guangzhou International Shipping Judicial Research Center, executive command center, Law Branch of Guangzhou Library and Guangzhou International Maritime Judicial Base of SPC, after watched the videos of Safeguarding the South China Sea and Me and My Motherland,  after which they better understood the details of work environment and specification, development trend of maritime justice and the building of smart court of GZMC. During the discussion, Professor Zeng introduced the basic information of“study of the legal guarantee for the strategy of marine power in the new era”and made clear of the research purpose. Director Song congratulated to them for the successful application of major projects of the National Social Science Fund, and introduced to them the important measures adopted by GZMC in safeguarding sovereignty, marine interest and promoting the “Belt and Road Initiative” and the implementation of marine power strategy. The team opened discussion with our judges on many issues, including exercise of maritime jurisdiction, implementation of marine-related judicial interpretation, systems of maritime case guiding, one-stop all-around dispute solution mechanism, finding and application of foreign laws, recognition and execution of foreign maritime judgements and arbitration award, jurisdiction over maritime and criminal cases, cases of protection of human rights at sea, the discussion hits fruitful outcomes which not only provides the latest judicial messages and first-hand information for the team to deepen their study but also expanded the cooperation between the two sides.  

On October 28, 2019, the Guangzhou International Maritime Judicial Base of the Supreme People’s Court conducted, the south region research activity on the amendment of Special Maritime Procedure Law successfully held in GZMC. More than 40 people took part in the meeting, including members of the group of the amendment of Special Maritime Procedure Law of SPC, judges from higher peoples’ courts of Guangdong, Fujian, Guangxi and Hainan province, and maritime courts of Guangzhou, Xiamen, Beihai and Haikou, experts and scholars from Sun Yat-Sen University, East China University of Political Science and Law, South China Normal University and Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, maritime lawyers of South areas. Song Weili, Member of Party Leadership Group and Director of Executive Board of GZMC, preside the meeting and Secretary of the Party Leadership Group and President Ye Liudong presented. On behalf of GZMC, President Ye firstly showed his warm welcome to all leaders, experts and scholars from afar, paid respect to those who care about the amendment of Special Maritime Procedure Law all the time, and GZMC would spare no effort to support the research activity. Participants opened discussion on some issues and putted forward their suggestion on revision, including the application of the law, scope of lawsuit of maritime courts, jurisdiction of maritime litigation, maritime claim preservation, maritime injunction, maritime evidence conservation, maritime guarantee, service, trial procedures, procedures for constituting a limitation fund for maritime claims liability, procedures for registering creditors’ rights and repayment of debts, procedures for assertion of maritime liens, maritime enforcement procedures. Finally, Director Song concluded that after a whole day’s discussion, the suggestion on revision from participants were widely collected, some lawyers, judges experts and scholars also delivered their written revisions. After the full discussion, participants felt they had broadened the horizon and enlighten, the meeting was a success for its purpose has achieved.  

The delegation of Hong Kong Seamen’s Union visited GZMC on October 12, 2019. Then subsequently came the discussion, which President Ye Liudong and Vice President Wang Yufei, and Members of the Party Leadership Dongqing and Song Weili, mid-level leaders, members of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao maritime judicial cooperation research group participated. After visiting the second-floor lobby of the Nanzhou court building, litigation service center, Guangzhou International Shipping Judicial Research Center, ten-floor executive command center, Law Branch of Guangzhou Library and watched the publicity film, the delegation joined the discussion at the Guangzhou International Maritime Judicial Base of SPC. President Ye introduced the trial, execution, informatization, building of the team and showed the expectations of enhancing communication and understanding to promote development. Participants of our court made clear introduction and illustration on the issues raised by the delegation, including cultivation mechanism of maritime judges, judge quato system, collegial system, bill of lading remarks, the responsibility period of the carrier and appellate mechanism of maritime cases. The members of the delegation also actively consulted on other relative issues, and our judges also made professional explanations for them. Both parties also discussed heatedly on other issues of concerns. In the end, both exchanged souvenirs.    

Maritime Accident Research Chamber (MARC), the first research institute to study maritime accidents happening in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau, had its opening ceremony on 26/9/2019 in Zhuhai. By the cooperation of investigation and research of these three areas, it is believed maritime administration in GBA will be improved, and development of the community of shared future in water transport safety will be boosted.   Cofounded by Zhuhai MSA (Maritime Safety Administration) and GZMC, MARC aims at providing services for local economy and assistance to development of GBA on the basis of deepening communication by way of studying the investigation, dealing with, judgment, application of law of maritime accidents in GBA. It is based in Zhuhai MSA and is headed by Wu Guining, head of Zhuhai Court of GZMC, and Tang Wan, commissar of Zhuhai MSA. Its purpose is to carry out maritime accident research, training and communication, publicity of law, consultancy under the guidance of GZMC and Guangdong MSA. Assistance of professors, lawyer and judges will be included to give MARC a cutting edge throughout the county.   According to Yang Wen, Vice Director of Guangdong MSA, the establishment of MARC will prove a brand new platform for communication on maritime accident research in GBA,and it will play an important role in deepening communication between maritime administrations and maritime courts, prospective study, training and development, high quality development enhancement and service to the development of GBA.   As is pointed out by Ye Liudong, President of GZMC, the establishment of MARC will improve both investigation and maritime judgment, services will be done to harbour and shipping enterprises, and the international competitiveness of harbours in Pearl River Delta will be boosted.   A memorandum of cooperation had been signed by President Ye and Cheng Jinchao, Director of Zhuhai MSA in the opening ceremony, and a symposium was held afterwards.  

Wang Shumei of SPC came to Zhanjiang Court on her research visit on the afternoon of September 11, 2019, where she was shown around the offices and the history chamber. She also listened as head of Zhanjiang Court gave a report. According to Wang, great importance is attached to Zhanjiang Court and a lot has been done. She came up with some expectations. First, the work of maritime trial should be done on a political and international basis. In the context of the strategy of building a maritime power, maritime trial should function in its full play, maritime jurisdiction should be actively exercised, and influence of our maritime courts should be expanded. Second, management of division staff and judicial process management of local divisions should be strengthened so as to continuously improve case handling skills and case quality. Professional communication between the headquarter and local divisions should be enhanced, and when it comes to further study in higher courts and SPC, staff of local divisions should be given priority. Third, local divisions of maritime courts should have active parts in service and safeguard to local social and economic development. Visits to local government and enterprises of shipping and harbor industry should be paid to learn what the local needs in terms of maritime justice. Fourthly, the court should pay more attention to the maritime classical cases cultivation. Adhere to the unification of the effect of politics, legal and society to handling the classical cases. Fourth, exemplary maritime cases should be "fostered". No effort is too great when it comes to working on exemplary cases where political, legal and societal effects harmonize. Fifth, all work should be concentrated on the people and the work of justice for the people should be carried on properly. It was required by SPC that cross region case filing be realized before August 30 at all maritime courts, while on that day we already made it happen for 3 cases, for which credit should be given. All staff of local divisions should put into action the belief of justice for the people in every part of our work. On behalf of the Party Group of GZMC, Vice President Wang Yufei thanked Chief Judge Wang for taking time out to visit Zhanjiang court, he said that the requirements of Chief Judge Wang are the encouragement and expectation for all officers of the court and the guidelines for the trial of GZMC. He said that officers of Zhanjiang court should make it into implementation accordingly and strive to make new progress.        

On the morning of September 6, Guangdong Maritime Trial Communication and Coordination Conference of 2019 was successfully held at the 11th floor of Nanzhou court building of GZMC. More than 60 people attended the conference, they were Deputy Chief Judge Rao Qing of Civil Adjudication Tribunal NO.4 of Guangdong Higher People’s Court, Secretary of the Party Leadership Group and President Ye Liudong, Members of the Party Leadership, judges and judge assistants of GZMC and maritime trial team of Higher People’s Court. Participants opened a heated discussion on ten knotty issues which collected and selected by the maritime trial center of GZMC, some of which were “Whether the typhoon-induced inwelling is belonged to force majeure concerning the given goods damage in the port during warranty period of the carrier, and the exemption clauses are applicable to the carrier as stipulated in Maritime Law”, “The return of delivery package charge”, “Carriers release goods with the L/G instead of an original B/L”, “Cases, concerning injuries and deaths caused by ship collision at sea, are applicable to Tort Liability Law because both the two ships are below tonnage standard of Maritime Law. Should the two ship owners take joint liability or shared liability under such circumstance”, “In domestic waterway freight transport, if the actual carriercaused damage of goods, should carriers get the compensation for the damage on the premise of compensating the loss tothe actual carriers”, “Disputes involving cruises”. Finally, they reached some consensus and formed the majority and minority opinions on some issues. Rao reported maritime case trial in 2018 of Higher People’s Court in the conference, from which we can see that maritime cases of first instance were with good quality and maintaining a lower retrial rate, which means the communication and coordination mechanism of maritime trial established by the two courts has achieved remarkableoutcomes in unifying the adjudication determination and improving the quality and efficiency of trial in provincial maritime. Ye said that during the conference, judges of the two courts were actively discussed, expressed opinions, sparked contend, enlighten of wisdom and helped each other to get improvement, which is beneficial to the formation of judicial consensus and the unification of adjudication determination. It is significant and honorable to do well in maritime trial. He hopes that maritime judges would focus on the general thought of quality strategy of GZMC, further transform their concepts and the mode of thinking and make new efforts to promote maritime trial into a new level.  

Guangzhou Maritime Court Auction Announcement (2019) Y72Z No.384-391   By the Enforcement Ruling of (2019) Y72Z No.384-391, this Court ruled to auction M/V “BRAMCO1” owned by BRAMCOW. L.L. It’s hereby announced as follows:   1.      Article on auction: M/V “BRAMCO1”. The vessel is now berthing at the quay of COSCO Shipping Heavy Industry (Guangdong) Co., Ltd.Other details of the vessel will be set out in the description of the article on auction. For the survey and assessment report of the vessel, please download related documents attached in the description of the article on auction.   2.      Auction method: this Court formed a committee for the auction of the subject vessel by online bidding through Taobao Judicial Auction website. Bidders may first login the website of Guangzhou MaritimeCourt and click “Judicial Auction” for the access to the auction platform.   3.      Bidder’s qualification: citizen, legal person and other organization with full capacity of civil conduct may participate into the auction.   Bidders, who do not run an account on Taobao Judicial Auction website, may entrust a proxy (a natural person of full capacity of civil conduct), who has an account on the said website, to make the bidding. In such case, a Letter of Authorization signed or stamped by the principal shall be submitted to this Court 3 working days before the commencement of the auction. After winning the bidding, the buyer or its proxy shall sign the Sales Confirmation on Auction of Vessel and go through the formalities for delivery of the article on auction before this Court. In case of a lack of completed authorization by the principal, the bidding shall be deemed as individual act of the proxy.   Bidders, who do not satisfy the requirements for the auction, shall bear corresponding legal responsibilities.   4.      Auction time schedule: from 10am on 8 October 2019 till 10am on 9 October 2019. The auction sets a function of delayed bidding. Before the closure of the auction, if there is a bidder making a bid at every last 5 minutes, the auction will automatically be extended for 5 minutes.   5.      Bidding rules: the starting price is RMB23,100,000. The deposit for the bidding is RMB2,000,000 or USD300,000 (deposit in USD may be remitted to the USD account of this Court 10 days before the commencement of the auction with the bank slip sent by fax to +86（20）80929025). The bid increment is RMB100,000. If there is no less than one bidder and the bidding price it offers is higher than the starting price, it wins the bidding.   The Taobao system will, before the commencement of the auction, freeze the funds in the bidder’s account as the deposit, which will automatically be released without any interests within 24 hours if the bidder does not win the bidding. For bidder who wins the bidding, the frozen deposit will automatically be transferred to the account designated by the Court and the balance of the bidding price shall be paid within 10 working days after winning the bidding into the account designated by the court (beneficiary: Guangzhou Maritime Court; bank: Agricultural Bank of China Guangzhou Xinjiao Sub-branch; RMB account No.: 44048201040020917; USD account No.: 44048214040000136. Balance of the bidding price paid in USD would be calculated at the closing exchange rate of RMB against USD on the dateon which the bidder wins the bidding.) In case the auction fails, the bidder’s deposit will automatically be released within 24 hours without any interests.   Bidders shall, before making bidding, peruse the Auction Announcementpublished by this Court.   6.      Time and method for auction consultation and vessel inspection: auction consultation and vessel inspection could be applied as of the day of this Announcement. You may, 10 days prior to the commencement of auction, send a text message in a form of “vessel inspection-last name-phone number” to 189 2225 5730. Fixed time and location for vessel inspection would be notified separately. Alternatively, you may proceed to the quay of COSCO Shipping Heavy Industry (Guangdong) Co., Ltd. for vessel inspection on your own.   7.      The vessel is auctioned on an “as is” basis, and this Court will not assume any guarantee liability if it has any defects. As special notes, bidders are suggested to personally inspect the vessel on site. Bidders who fail to do so shall be deemed to have confirmed the physical conditions of the vessel and shall bear related liability in this respect. The vessel will be delivered at the abovementioned berthing location on an “as is” basis. The cost of bunkers remaining onboard shall be separately paid by the successful biddercalculated at the market price, i.e. the cost of the bunkers remaining onboard isnot included in this auction price.   8.      The successful bidder can handle the procedures for the transfer of ownership by presenting the legal instruments rendered by this Court to the competent ship registration department. Taxes, fees and other possible costs arising therefrom shall be for the successful bidder’s account. (note: as it’s a foreign vessel on auction, the bidders shall consult with the competent department about the procedures for the transfer of ownership and taxes/fees which are different from handling a domestic vessel).   9.      Interested parties to the subject vessel (including the parties to the case, guarantor and parties who have the right of first refusal) may participate in the bidding. Those who do not participate in the bidding are suggested paying attention on this auction. If the parties who have the right of first refusal fail to participate in the bidding, it shall be deemed a waiver of the right of first refusal by such parties.   10.  All creditors to the vessel on auction shall, within 60 days after the third day of the publication of the auction announcement for the first auction of the subject vessel, apply before this Court for registration of their claims. Failure in making such an application within the said prescribed time period shall be deemed as a waiver by the creditors in recovery from the proceeds in the auction of the ship.   11.  Contacts: Tel. (for claims registration): 020-89441831,34063863 Tel. (for vessel inspection): 020-80929136,18922255730, 18038231032,13602726118 Tel. (for online auction): 020-34063680, 89104345 Tel. (supervision): 020-34063810, 89024639 For Taobao technical support: 4008222870 Address of this Court: No.863, Nanzhou Road, Haizhu District, Guangzhou Website: http://www.gzhsfy.gov.cn Email: pm@gzhsfy.gov.cn     4 September 2019