Country's courts build reputation in maritime disputes

More foreign companies prefer to have marine disputes resolved in Chinese courts nowadays as the judiciary's reputation grows with the increasing number of maritime cases in which it has provided equal protection to overseas litigants, China's top court said.

With the development of the international shipping market and the global economic crisis, disputes over marine freight, watercraft rentals, vessel collisions, ship construction and ocean pollution have multiplied, according to China's Maritime Adjudication, a white book of marine trial records over the past 30 years in Chinese and English.

On the dockets of 10 Chinese maritime tribunals - most of them in coastal cities, such as Shanghai and Qingdao in Shandong province - were 21,548 marine disputes last year, up from only 18 when the first six marine courts were opened in 1984, said the white book, issued by the Supreme People's Court on Tuesday.