The Belt and Road Initiative provides judicial protection for more than 30 countries along the route

On December 24, the reporter learned from the press conference held by the Tianjin Maritime Court that since 2019, the Tianjin Maritime Court has accepted a total of 425 cases related to the "Belt and Road" and concluded 405 cases, involving 600 million yuan, involving more than 30 countries along the "Belt and Road" in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas. The related cases mainly include maritime transport contract disputes, Marine pollution damage liability disputes, freight forwarding contract disputes and crew labor contract disputes.

In a voyage charter contract dispute case, a steel pipe company on the Egyptian pile pipe project steel pipe Marine transportation and port operation, lashing and strengthening matters for bidding. After the bidding procedure, the steel pipe company issued a notice of acceptance to a logistics company, but the two sides did not sign a written contract. Soon, 68 steel pipes with a total of 2868.499 tons were loaded on ships at Qinhuangdao Port and sailed to Port Said, Egypt, the port of discharge. The port is located on the Mediterranean coast at the northern end of the Suez Canal, and the port area is bounded by the mouth of the Suez Canal and divided into two parts: the East port and the West port. After the ship left, the steel pipe company requested that the goods be unloaded at the port of Seddon. The steel pipe company requires unloading at the Port of Said East in Egypt, which bears the port charges higher than the general cargo terminal of Port Said, and provides suitable unloading spadings by itself.

Soon the ship arrived at Port Said. Due to a shortage of berths at Seidung, the ship arrived at the Seidung unloading anchorage and discharged her cargo. The above discharge incurred barge rentals of US $90,000, floating crane charges of US $36,000, and barge harbor charges of US $23,264.64. The Suez Canal fee is $10,278.05. As the steel pipe company refused to pay the fee, the logistics company sued the Tianjin Maritime Court. The Tianjin Maritime Court ruled that the defendant steel management Company should pay to the plaintiff a logistics Group Co., Ltd. the sea freight of 344,219.88 US dollars, the tying fee of 119,9656.53 yuan, the port miscellaneous fee of 774,341.92 yuan, the ship demurrage fee of 129,500 US dollars, The total amount is USD 473,719.88, RMB 893,998.45 and the corresponding interest.

This case is a maritime dispute arising from the participation of a domestic enterprise in the "Belt and Road" construction project, and there is a large dispute between the parties on the nature of the contract. Combining the main contents of the contract involved, the court finally determined that the nature of the contract was a voyage charter party under the contract of carriage of goods by sea by analyzing the difference between the freight forwarding contract and the contract of carriage of goods by sea. The verdict of this case is conducive to regulating domestic enterprises' participation in maritime transport activities in the "Belt and Road" construction projects, and has a positive guiding role in promoting the export-oriented development of enterprises.