The Spring Festival is drawing near. Recently, Haikou Maritime Court arrested a bulk carrier “Ji Li Lai *” at Qinglan terminal by acting upon the principle of “fast filing and fast enforcement” for crew service contract disputes to protect the legitimate rights and interests of crew.

At 0900hrs on the morning of 21 January 2019, 13 seafarers hurried to Boao tribunal of Haikou Maritime Court, claiming that they were serving the bulk carrier “Ji Li Lai *” and the shipowner had delayed salary payment for several months with a sum up to 500,000 yuan and even forced some crew members to disembark on January 18. Hearing that the shipowner planned to sell the ship, the crew became quite anxious, worrying that they would not get paid before the Spring Festival. So, they requested the court to arrest the ship as soon as possible. The judge who received the seafarers heard their complaints patiently.

The handling judge and his colleagues worked jointly to docket the case. It was not until 2200hrs late at night that the preparation of 237 instruments for the 26 preservation and enforcement cases for the 13 seafarers were completed. The handling judge then hurried back to Haikou to apply for a warrant of arrest.

In early morning of the next day, the case handlers lost no time to print, stamp and complete the approval formalities for the legal instruments at Haikou head office. After that, they drove to Wenchang to enforce the preservation at Qinglan port. They arrived at the terminal at noon, but they spent no time on lunch but chartered a small boat to approach the bulk carrier regardless of the rough seas. They had to climb up the vessel through an old rope ladder. Since the Master was one of the claimants, he was unwilling to embark the ship for fear of retaliation. But he eventually decided to board the ship under the judge’s encouragement. However, when he set foot on the ship, he was so frightened and hurried to leave upon the news that the shipowner was coming. The judge patiently encouraged him and reaffirmed the importance of safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of all the crew members. The Master realized his key role and duty in the ship arrest operation, and finally took the ship arrest records and assisted the case handlers to post the warrant of arrest in the bridge.

After arresting the ship, the judge explained the ship arrest operation to the shipowner, and informed the owner of his rights and obligations. The shipowner said his company was running at heavy loss due to the rough ship market, so he decided to sell the ship “Ji Li Lai *” to repay debts, including the crew salaries due. He worried that the ship arrest would impair the sales of the ship. To ease the shipowner’s concern, the judge explained that the owner could continue to seek buyers and the court would only initiate the auction sale evaluation on the ship if no deal was made within 30 days, during which the shipowner might continue to seek a buyer. The shipowner said he understood the arrest operations and was willing to give cooperation. He agreed to raise funds and to pay the crew salaries as soon as possible. The judge then patiently explained to the crew that the ship had been arrested and they had the priority to get paid from the proceeds of the sales of the ship. The judge also hoped the crew would understand the difficulty of the shipowner and wait patiently until the ship was sold or auctioned off. The crew expressed their understanding and promised not to take any coercive actions against the shipowner, and some of the crew remaining onboard said they would stay and take care of the ship. At last, the case handlers proceeded to serve instruments to Qinglan Maritime Safety Administration and other assisting organs. “Ji Li Lai *” was finally arrested after 30 hours of endeavors.