On September 29, the Qingdao Maritime Court received a letter of appreciation from a Hong Kong shipping company, which spoke highly of a pre-action ship arrest case recently concluded by the court.
In this case, the Qingdao Maritime Court took less than 24 hours from formal acceptance to case resolution, with only 4 hours between boarding the ship to implement the arrest and releasing the arrest. This not only legally protected the legitimate rights and interests of the applicant, a Hong Kong shipping company, but also minimized the losses caused to the respondent, a Hong Kong shipping company.
On the morning of September 22, a lawyer with an anxious expression came to the case filing and litigation service hall of the Qingdao Maritime Court. He stated that he was representing a case involving a time charter party dispute. The respondent’s unreasonable deviation during the voyage had caused the applicant a loss of approximately US$200,000, and negotiations regarding the compensation for the loss had failed.
To protect its legitimate rights and interests, the applicant applied to the court for pre-action preservation of a maritime claim, requesting the arrest of the ship involved in the case, which was bareboat chartered by the respondent. The lawyer said the ship was scheduled to dock at Qingdao Port on the evening of September 22 and depart at noon the next day, making time extremely tight. If arrest measures were not taken promptly before the ship’s departure, it could likely cause irreparable losses to the applicant, and the subsequent resolution of the case dispute would also be fraught with uncertainty.
After understanding the case details, the presiding judge Xue Wenshan carefully reviewed the preservation application materials, immediately organized a collegiate panel for deliberation. Based on the panel’s opinion, he repeatedly communicated with the applicant’s代理律师, clearly梳理 key aspects such as authorization procedures, counter-security, and core legal issues involved in the case. He guided the applicant to correct and complete the flawed and incomplete preservation application materials caused by the time crunch within a very short period, ensuring the legality, compliance, completeness, and effectiveness of the relevant materials.
Given the urgency of the situation, especially regarding the amount and method of the counter-security, the applicant did not have time to provide security through an insurance company guarantee. After communication with the applicant’s lawyer, the collegiate panel agreed that the applicant could first provide cash security, which could be replaced later after the insurance company issued a guarantee, in order to minimize the cost for the applicant to provide counter-security. That afternoon, a judge’s assistant from the case filing division guided the applicant’s lawyer to provide cash security through the national court “One Network” system and began drafting legal documents in advance, checking each document one by one.
On the morning of September 23, after verifying that the applicant had remitted the security deposit to the court’s account, the case filing division promptly prepared the civil ruling, order for ship arrest, and other legal documents. At this point, only a few hours remained before the ship’s scheduled departure time. Knowing that “time is the lifeline” in maritime preservation, Xue Wenshan urgently went to the maritime safety administration and the border inspection station to serve the legal documents, notifying them not to handle departure procedures for the involved ship. Around 2:00 PM that afternoon, court officers boarded the ship to implement the arrest, served the relevant legal documents to the captain, and patiently explained the basic facts of the case, the legal basis for the arrest, and the conditions for subsequent release of the ship to the ship’s crew and agents in detail. This gained the ship’s understanding and cooperation with the arrest action, effectively avoiding unnecessary misunderstandings and conflicts between the two parties and laying a good foundation for the subsequent dispute resolution.
After successfully arresting the ship, Xue Wenshan proactively built a communication bridge and organized negotiations between the two parties. The clear case facts, combined with patient and meticulous legal explanations, led the respondent to provide security to the court within just 3 hours. The applicant also expressed acceptance and satisfaction with this security and immediately submitted an application to the court for release of the ship arrest. Around 6:00 PM on September 23, the order for release of ship arrest and relevant notices assisting in the release were successively served to the captain and relevant departments such as the maritime safety administration and border inspection.
From the ship arrest to its release, the Qingdao Maritime Court consistently adhered to the concept of “Putting Myself in the Litigation,” equally protecting the legitimate rights and interests of both parties. It addressed the uncertainty of the ship’s departure with professional, efficient, and people-oriented judicial precision. The rapid adjudication, coordinated联动, interlocking steps, and seamless connection allowed maritime justice to truly promote the substantive resolution of the dispute itself.
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