Contents
I. Basic Information on Maritime Trial and Enforcement 10
(I) Case Overview 10
1. New Cases 10
2. Concluded Cases 10
3. Pending Cases 10
4. Amounts in Dispute 10
5. Foreign-related Cases 10
6. Cases accepted and concluded by maritime tribunals 10
(II) Case Details 11
1. Maritime Contract Cases 11
2. Maritime Tort Cases 11
3. Maritime Administrative Cases 11
4. Enforcement Cases 11
5. Other Types of Cases 11
II. Main Features of Maritime Trial and Enforcement Cases 12
(I) With the quality and efficiency of trial improved constantly, the Court gave full play to its judicial functions 12
(II) Handling a large proportion of cases relating to the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region, the Court increasingly enhanced its judicial service functions in the region 12
(III) With the proportion of environmental resource cases declined, the Court gradually wielded its judicial protection power 12
III. Performance of Maritime Trial Functions 14
(I) Efforts to support the “Ten Actions” with high-quality services . 14
(II) Efforts to continuously assist and advance the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region 14
(III) Efforts to administer justice for the people 15
(IV) Efforts to deeply implement the maritime excellence strategy.. 15
(V) Efforts to strengthen litigation source management ................... 16
Preamble
In 2023, Tianjin Maritime Court (the “Court”) adhered to Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as its guideline ，fully implemented the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (“CPC”) and the Second Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee， put into practice Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law, deeply comprehended the decisive significance of the “Two Affirmations” ，firmly accomplished the “Two Upholds”, further deepened the awareness of serving the greater good and administering justice for the people, and provided reliable judicial services and strong protection for the high-quality development of Tianjin.
I. Basic Information on Maritime Trial and Enforcement
(I) Case Overview
1. New Cases
In 2023, the Court accepted a total of 2,335 new cases of various types, up by 21.55% on a year-over-year basis, including 1,553 maritime and admiralty cases, 29 maritime administrative cases, 550 enforcement cases, and 103 other cases.
2. Concluded Cases
In 2023, the Court concluded 2,461 cases of various types, up by 31.46% on a year-over-year basis, including 1,633 maritime and admiralty cases, 34 maritime dministrative cases, 581 enforcement cases, and 109 other cases.
3. Pending Cases
Up to December 31, 2023, the Court had 127 pending cases, down by 49.8% on a year-over-year basis, including 114 maritime and admiralty cases, 1 maritime administrative case, 11 enforcement cases, and 1 other case.
4. Amounts in Dispute
In 2023, new cases accepted by the Court totaled RMB 6.755 billion, and concluded cases RMB 5.093 billion. Of the new cases, 17 cases involved an amount in dispute of over RMB 100 million each, 81 cases over RMB 10 million each and 318 cases over RMB 1 million each.
5. Foreign-related Cases
A total of 127 cases (i.e. 5.44% of total new cases) involving foreign, Hong Kong, Macao or Taiwan parties were accepted throughout the year, down by 25.73% on a year-over-year basis. Of them, 124 cases (i.e. 5.04% of total cases concluded) were concluded, down by 24.39% on a year-over-year basis. The amounts in dispute aggregated RMB 715 million, up by 146.55% on a year-over-year basis, involving more than 20 countries and regions such as Japan, the United States, Greece, France, Denmark, and Germany.
6. Cases accepted and concluded by maritime tribunals
In 2023, maritime tribunals in Qinhuangdao, Caofeidian and Huanghua accepted a total of 662 new cases of various types, accounting for 28.35% of the total cases accepted by the Court. The tribunals concluded 727 cases (i.e. 29.54% of total cases concluded), up by 17.26% on a year-over-year basis.
(II) Case Details
1. Maritime Contract Cases
The Court accepted 1,518 new maritime contract cases throughout the year, up by 33.74% on a year-over-year basis. The causes of action (large categories only) are listed in descending order: 804 freight forwarding contract disputes, 281 contract of carriage of goods by sea disputes, 105 marine insurance contract disputes, 55 crew labor contract disputes, 22 voyage charter party disputes, 22 marine development and utilization disputes, 18 marine stores and spare parts supply contract disputes, 11 port operation disputes, and 9 ship repair contract disputes, accounting for 52.96%, 18.51%, 6.92%, 3.62%, 1.45%, 1.45%, 1.19%, 0.72%, and 0.59% of the maritime contract cases respectively.
2. Maritime Tort Cases
The Court accepted 35 new maritime tort cases throughout the year, up by 59.09% on a year-over-year basis.The causes of action are listed in descending order: 20 maritime personal damage liability disputes, 7 ship collision damage liability disputes, 2 mariculture damage liability dispute, 1 maritime property damage liability dispute, and 5 other maritime tort cases, accounting for 57.14%, 20.0%, 5.71%, 2.86%, and 14.29% of the maritime tort cases respectively.
3. Maritime Administrative Cases
The Court accepted 29 new maritime administrative cases throughout the year, up by 52.63% on a year-over-year basis, including 23 non-litigation administrative reviews, 2 administrative penalties, 1 non-performance of administrative licensing duties, 1 maritime administrative management, 1 administrative conduct and reconsideration, and 1 administrative compensation.
4. Enforcement Cases
The Court accepted 550 new enforcement cases throughout the year, down by 2.14% on a year-over-year basis. Of them, 495 were first-time enforcement cases, down by 4.07%, and 52 were enforcement objection cases, up by 13.04%.
5. Other Types of Cases
The Court accepted 203 cases of other types, up by 7.35% on a year-over-year basis, including 100 new non-litigation preservation cases, 20 debt registration cases, 6 death declarations, 49 payment orders, 18 disputes over confirmation of claims, and 10 other cases.
II. Main Features of Maritime Trial and Enforcement Cases
(I) With the quality and efficiency of trial improved constantly, the Court gave full play to its judicial functions
Concentrating on quality, efficiency, and effectiveness, the Court implemented the requirements of modernized adjudication management, and kept improving the quality and efficiency of trial and enforcement, while the number of accepted cases was on the increase. The rate of amendment, or remand for retrial, of first-instance judgments/rulings was 0.3%, and the average actual procedure time was 58.36 days. The appeal rate was 8.09%, the rate of application for retrial 0.27%, the rate of amendment, or remand for retrial, of effective judgments/rulings 0, and the rate of successful enforcement 58.88%. The Court gave full play to its functions of providing judicial services and protection.
(II) Handling a large proportion of cases relating to the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region, the Court increasingly enhanced its judicial service functions in the region
In 2023, the Court accepted 1,954 cases (i.e. 83.68% of total new cases) relating to parties and/or facts in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region; and the Court concluded 2,066 cases (i.e. 83.95% of total cases concluded) relating to the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region. Case types included freight forwarding contract disputes, contract of carriage of goods by sea disputes, fishery production disputes, and marine environmental damage disputes. The Court, by virtue of its dual advantages of expertise in maritime justice and cross-region jurisdiction, further exerted judicial dynamism, making a contribution to the shipping order and the healthy development of industrial chains in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region.
(III) With the proportion of environmental resource cases declined, the Court gradually wielded its judicial protection power
In 2023, the Court accepted 25 environmental resource cases, down by 28.57% on a year-over-year basis. This was the 5th year in the downtrend. In recent years, the Court has fully practiced the “Two Mountains” theory, advanced cross-region judicial cooperation and collaborative governance of the entire waters, heard mariculture pollution, shipping pollution, port pollution and other types of marine environmental
pollution cases with its expertise and advantages in cross-region jurisdiction. The
Court has been deeply integrated into the collaborative governance of environmental resources.
III. Performance of Maritime Trial Functions
(I) Efforts to support the “Ten Actions” with high-quality services
Based on its maritime judicial functions and maritime trial practice, the Court issued the Tianjin Maritime Court Task List to Serve and Support the “Ten Actions” of CPC Tianjin Municipal Party Committee and Tianjin Municipal Government, including 21 measures in 8 aspects, such as continuously advancing the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region, actively promoting the integrated development of port, industry and city, and assisting high-quality development of Binhai New Area.The Court kept working logs, defined responsibilities of internal departments, timely followed and supervised progress, to make sure every measure was properly taken. Bearing in mind that handling cases was the very method of governance, the Court heard freight forwarding contract disputes, contract of carriage of goods by sea disputes and marine insurance contract disputes legally and efficiently. It is worth noting that the Court helped settle 9 marine development and utilization disputes, whose amounts in dispute aggregated almost RMB 600 million. A Judge Chamber was opened in Tianjin Port to provide whole process maritime judicial services for port enterprises, a measure to offer judicial assistance in completing the “Last Kilometer” in the economic development of Tianjin Port.For providing legal support to maritime financial innovation, the Court reached a cooperation framework agreement with the Management Committee of Dongjiang Free Trade Port Zone of Tianjin, and jointly held the Sixth China Senior Forum on Marine Finance and Law, in which domestic top experts at maritime and admiralty law and business elites met and exchanged views. All these efforts facilitated the effective connection of the parties concerned and the industrial development. In order to create a favorable legal environment, the Court launched the publicity campaign entitled “Judicial Service Support to Binhai New Area” jointly with Tianjin Third Intermediate People’s Court, Tianjin Binhai New Area People’s Court and Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area.
(II) Efforts to continuously assist and advance the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region
The advantage of cross-region jurisdiction of the three tribunals in Hebei province was strengthened, and the construction of a cross-region maritime litigation service system was further improved. Caofeidian Tribunal has been upgraded with two premium online integrated courtrooms in place. These measures made it easier for the local residents and enterprises to have access to the Court.The Court took circuit trial as a handle on its judicial services. It visited and communicated with almost 20 government agencies, enterprises, andinstitutions in Xiong ’ an New Area, settling disputes between enterprises, explaining legislation and answering questions. These measures turned out to be fruitful. By timely analyzing new problems and situations in trials, the Court issued 10 judicial suggestions to relevant organizations in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region, thus significantly promoting administration in accordance with law, industrial standardization and management of enterprise risks. This had the effect of “One Case Heard, One Area Regulated” . One judicial suggestion was ranked as one of the “Ten Outstanding Judicial Suggestions of Tianjin Courts” .The enforcement cooperation agreement of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region was actively implemented. The Court accepted an enforcement case from a Qinhuangdao court involving the judicial auction of a criminal gang-related ship. On the new inquiry platform of China Maritime Trial, the Court fixed a price efficiently and made a judicial auction with zero evaluation cost.One enforcement case was ranked as a classic case of judicial service support to the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region by the Supreme People’s Court of People’s Republic of China (the “PRC”).
(III) Efforts to administer justice for the people
The Court placed great emphasis on the promotion of online litigation services, reducing the time cost of litigation for market entities. In 2023, the Court accepted 517 cases online, completed electronic service of 2,586 legal instruments and reviewed 156 case files online. This measure significantly improved litigation service level.The Court kept finding solutions to the difficulties in enforcement cases. The Court reached an enforcement cooperation agreement with Dalian Maritime Court and Qingdao Maritime Court, and established an Integrated Maritime Enforcement Mechanism in the Bohai Rim Region together with 9 other courts in Tianjin, Hebei, and Shandong. These mesaures produced the “ Same-city Effect” in the cross-region enforcement of maritime cases.The Court signed a cooperation memo with China Shipowners Mutual Assurance Association to establish a “pre-guarantee mechanism for ship arrests”, preventing actual ship detentions and accelerating resolution of maritime disputes.The Court, together with Tianjin Federation of Industry and Commerce, hosted legal publicity campaigns for serving private enterprises. More than 20 private entrepreneurs came to the Court, attending hearings as audience, familiarizing themselves with modern litigation services, and experiencing legal culture first-hand. This measure assisted private enterprises in the innovative development in a legal market environment.
(IV) Efforts to deeply implement the maritime excellence strategy
The Court properly resolved the first international shipping claim in Tianjin involving an anti-suit injunction issued by a foreign court, effectively maintaining the jurisdiction of Chinese courts. By virtue of judicial dynamism, the Court facilitated reconciliation between the domestic enterprise and its foreign counterpart, which manifested international credibility of Chinese courts. This case was published in People’s Daily and Briefing of the Supreme People’s Court of the PRC.In the first concluded public interest litigation case initiated by the competent procuratorial organ in respect of the marine environment in Tianjin-Hebei waters, the Court legally applied the fundamental institutions of the Civil Procedure Law of the PRC and the special provisions of the Marine Environmental Protection Law of the PRC. By thorough argumentation and analyses of crucial legal problems such as the qualification of the prosecution, hazards of the sunk ship, necessity of salvage, and liability of the salvage company, the Court effectively protected the public interests in the marine environment in Tianjin-Hebei waters.This case was selected as one of the Ten Cases of Advancing the Process of Rule of Law in the New Era in 2023 and the Prosecutorial Typical Cases of Public Interest Litigation for Marine Natural Resources and Ecological Environment jointly published by the Supreme People’s Court of the PRC and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate of the PRC. This case was reported by CCTV news, Procuratorate Daily, Tianjin Daily, and other media platforms.
(V) Efforts to strengthen litigation source management
The Court persisted in taking precautions. The Court set up a “ Shared Courtroom” in Tianjin International Shipping Service Cluster Area, actively participating in the primary-level governance in the area and serving all types of shipping enterprises onsite.The “Shared Courtroom” mediated several cases involving enterprises in the area and held many judicial service activities, providing premium and convenient judicial services and protection for the high-quality and healthy development of Tianjin shipping industry. A cooperation and joint action mechanism among the maritime courts, local courts in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region, judicial administrative departments, and industry associations has been strengthened. This mechanism provided timely and effective alternative dispute resolutions for ship crew, fishermen and farmers, consolidating the foundation of governance by CPC.The Court strengthened litigation source management in administrative disputes, and held moot court hearings for “substantial resolution of administrative disputes by litigation source management” . In conjunction with relevant administrative departments, the Court promoted Fengqiao Joint Service Action on the theme of “Vanguard of Tianjin Port, Escort of Offshore Oil Enterprises” . The Court unified the concepts and standards of law enforcement and justice, exercised supervision in accordance with law, and participated in collaborative governance. This measure advanced the high-level construction of law-based government.