Focus of Qingdao-based Peninsula Metropolis Daily: After receiving a cross-border request for assistance, Qingdao Maritime Court initiated a case and seized a vessel within four hours.

　　After receiving a cross-border request for assistance, Qingdao Maritime Court initiated a case and seized a vessel within four hours.

　　The case, involving two companies from different countries, was litigated in a third country.

　　It was resolved through civil rulings and enforcement by Qingdao Maritime Court, ultimately leading to a settlement.

　　Due to a ship repair dispute, two companies from different countries were involved in a lawsuit in South Korea and sought assistance from China. On the afternoon of April 12, with just one hour left before the end of the workday, the Case-filing Tribunal of Qingdao Maritime Court received an unusual call. The caller, a lawyer from Shandong Hi Honor Law Firm, reported that a large Russian vessel, which had docked at Qingdao Port that day, was involved in a case in which the company owning the ship had been sued by The Commonwealth of Dominica in the Seoul Central District Court in South Korea. The lawyer requested that Qingdao Maritime Court temporarily arrest the vessel to apply for the maritime claim preservation.

　　As the vessel was likely to depart Qingdao that evening, Qingdao Maritime Court acted swiftly, in accordance with Chinese laws, and arrested the ship within just four hours of receiving the call. Forty days later, on May 22, the parties reached a settlement, and the Court released the vessel within one hour. This case highlights the international perspective and responsibility of China's maritime judiciary.

　　Two foreign companies engage in a lawsuit in South Korea, one seeks Qingdao Maritime Court for Assistance.

　　On Friday, April 12, at around 4 p.m., the Case-filing Tribunal of Qingdao Maritime Court received a phone call from a lawyer at Shandong Hi Honor Law Firm (hereinafter referred to as “Hi Honor”). The lawyer explained that the firm was handling a cross-border maritime case. The applicant requested that the case be ruled by a Chinese maritime court for allowing the preservation. Given the urgency, the lawyer was making the application by phone as a preliminary step.

　　Cross-border maritime cases have been handled multiple times by Qingdao Maritime Court, but urgent phone applications are relatively rare. Furthermore, the lawyer explained that the case involved a large ocean-going fishing vessel owned by a Russian company, which was currently docked at Qingdao Port. The vessel was highly likely to depart that very night, and if it left port, it would be much more difficult to apply for arrest afterward.

　　“When the judge who got the call heard these details, the judge asked the lawyer for an overview of the incident over the phone,” said Li Peihe, Chief Judge of the Case-filing Tribunal of Qingdao Maritime Court, in an interview with the all-media journalist for Qingdao-based Peninsula Metropolis Daily. The lawyer explained that as early as March 2023, T Company of The Commonwealth of Dominica had repaired a large vessel owned by N Company of Russia at Busan Port in South Korea. A contract was signed between the two parties prior to the repairs. After the work was completed, a supplementary agreement was signed in December 2023 regarding the payment of repair fees. The agreement stipulated that, after deducting a prepayment of $700,000, N Company still owed T Company $5.179 million for the repairs.

　　“After the supplementary agreement, a dispute arose between the two parties in the process of performing the contract,” Li Peihe said. As a result, T Company filed a lawsuit against N Company in March 2024 with the Seoul Central District Court in South Korea. During the course of the case, T Company confirmed through relevant maritime networks that one of N Company's large vessels was heading towards the waters of Qingdao, China and would be unloading cargo at Qingdao Port. T Company immediately commissioned the Korean law firm Kim & Zhang who acted as the attorney for this case, to communicate with China maritime courts with full powers, hoping to apply for the maritime claim preservation in Qingdao.

　　According to Chinese laws, foreign parties involved in litigation in China must instruct a Chinese lawyer. As a result, the Korean lawyer instruct the lawyer from Hi Honor in Qingdao, China.

　　Racing against time: Arresting the vessel before departure

　　“We had previously worked with the Korean law firm Kim & Zhang,” Liu Huanying, a lawyer from Hi Honor, told the journalist. After receiving the request for assistance from the Korean law firm, the lawyer quickly sent the relevant case materials via email. Given that the case involved companies from two countries in a lawsuit in South Korea and a request for assistance from a Chinese lawyer, they engaged in multiple rounds of communication with the Korean lawyers.

　　“T Company discovered that N Company's vessel was about to arrive at Qingdao Port in China, and promptly informed the Korean lawyer,” Liu Huanying said. “During this period, we exchanged emails with the Korean lawyer as many as seven or eight times, assessing the risks and feasibility of the case.”

　　In China, “applying for maritime claim preservation” essentially meant temporarily arresting N Company’s vessel at Qingdao Port. While the lawyers from both China and South Korea were urgently assessing the feasibility of the case, T Company suddenly informed them that the vessel was likely to depart Qingdao Port on the evening of April 12. As a result, just one hour before the end of the workday on the afternoon of April 12, the Hi Honor lawyer urgently contacted Qingdao Maritime Court by phone.

　　Upon receiving the urgent phone call, the Case-filing Tribunal recognized the importance of the case and the urgency of the situation.

　　“If we didn't issue a civil ruling on the case that evening, the order to arrest the vessel would not be delivered in time, and just a few hours later, the vessel would have departed,”Li Peihe explained.

　　After hanging up the phone, the Case-filing Tribunal requested that the lawyer immediately bring the case materials to the Court. At the same time, they contacted Qingdao Maritime Safety Administration to explain the case's significance. Li Peihe, along with several other judges, worked overnight to prepare the judicial documents and the “no departure formalities” for the vessel.

　　That day, Qingdao Maritime Court’s Case-filing Tribunal was lit up late into the night. The Assistance Arrest Notice of the Qingdao Maritime Court of the People’s Republic of China with the official seal was promptly delivered to Qingdao Maritime Safety Administration, along with the Civil Ruling of the Qingdao Maritime Court of the People’s Republic of China and The Order on the Arrest of the Vessel of the Qingdao Maritime Court of the People’s Republic of China. In just four hours, from receiving the initial phone call to executing the arrest of the vessel, the Court had completed the entire process.

　　Vessel released within one hour after settlement

　　“The foreign vessel being arrested in this case was based on Special Maritime Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China and complied with current Chinese laws,” Li Peihe explained. “After the vessel was arrested, we closely monitored the progress of the case.”

　　“After all, every day the vessel remains under arrest, the shipowner incurs daily losses. Therefore, the Court hoped for a swift settlement between the parties,” Li Peihe added.

　　On May 21, the 39th day since the vessel was arrested, a message arrived from South Korea: after several rounds of negotiations, the lawyers representing both parties were about to reach a settlement agreement. This meant that as soon as Qingdao Maritime Court received the Application for Release of Arrested Vessel from the applicant's lawyer, the vessel could be released and set sail at any time.

　　“The news that the vessel would be released was what we had been hoping for,” said Liu Huanying. “The efficient enforcement and fairness and justice of the Court played a crucial role in this cross-border case, achieving a lot with minimal effort.”

　　To ensure the vessel could be released as soon as the application was received, Li Peihe and the case-handling judge stayed at the Court until late on the 21st. However, the settlement agreement between the parties was not signed until the 22nd. On the morning of the 22nd, after receiving the application for releasing the arrest of the vessel submitted by the law firm, the Court swiftly issued the Order to Release Arrested Vessel and the Notice of Release of Seized Vessel, which were immediately delivered to the Maritime Safety Administration.

　　“From the submission of the release application to the vessel’s release, the Court took less than one hour,” said Liu Huanying.

　　Thus, this special case, which involved companies from two countries and a lawsuit in a third country's court, was resolved through civil rulings and enforcement by Qingdao Maritime Court, ultimately leading to a settlement. In their letter of gratitude, T Company and the Korean lawyers highly praised the international perspective and responsibility of China Qingdao maritime judiciary. They expressed their intention to recommend Qingdao Maritime Court as a preferred venue for resolving international maritime disputes in the future.