Recently, Haikou Maritime Court resolved a crew service contract dispute with a series of flexible approaches such as postponing adjudication, encouraging defendant to seek buyer and providing legal consultancy, by which it procured a successful resale of ship in a short period and helped the seafarers reclaim the unpaid salaries up to 430,000 yuan.
On 2 January 2019, 13 seafarers applied for pre-action preservation to secure payment of their unpaid salaries, and the Court arrested the bulk carrier “Ji Li Lai *” within 20 hours with high efficiency. The handling judge even went to serve the ship arrest ruling and enforcement assistance notice to Fuzhou Maritime Safety Administration lest the shipowner might assign the ship in private. Upon the arrest of the ship, the shipowner said since his company was in financial distress and he could not afford 430,000 yuan to pay the crew salaries, but he promised to settle payment before the Spring Festival. However, the shipowner broke his promise and did not provide any form of security at all.
The judge had to pacify the agitated seafarers and recommended them to file a lawsuit. Given that after the Spring Festival most of the seafarers might leave home to seek for employment and would not be able to attend hearing in person, the judge suggested that they might turn to legal aid and entrust a lawyer to act for them in court. Haikou Maritime Court heard the case on 9 April 2019. The shipowner, as the defendant, confirmed the salaries due to the 13 seafarers and agreed to pay the litigation costs and preservation fees prepaid by the seafarers. The defendant pleaded the court to withhold the judgment since he had found a buyer and would make a deal soon.
When handling the case, Haikou Maritime Court had acted upon quick response and conducted pre-litigation arrest of the ship, docketed the case and arranged for hearing in a timely manner. However, if “Ji Li Lai *” was put on auction sale according to law, it might take more than three months for the lengthy procedures such as value evaluation, announcement of auction sales, and registration of creditors’ rights. If so, the crew might not be able to get paid in an earlier time. The judge also learnt that apart from the wage arrears to the 13 seafarers, the shipowner was in debt to other creditors. According to the market quotations and the status of “Ji Li Lai *”, the proceeds from the sales of the ship were sufficient to cover all the debts to other creditors. After careful reasoning, the judge encouraged the shipowner to seek for buyer and to sell the ship in the soonest possible time, so as to repay all the other debts.
On April 17, the potential buyer came to Boao tribunal to enquire about the ship under arrest. The handling judge briefed the case status and explained that the buyer might transfer the sum of the unpaid wages due to the 13 seafarers plus other payable expenses to the account of the court on behalf of the shipowner, as long as they had agreed on the transfer of the ship. After receiving the amount, the maritime court would release the ship instantly and deliver the relevant legal instruments to the maritime administration of the place where the ship was registered, so that the shipowner and buyer could timely register the change of ownership. The buyer agreed to sign a transfer agreement with the shipowner and paid the delayed wages to the 13 seafarers through the account of the Court. The judge contacted the crew’s attorney and the 13 seafarers immediately, and the seafarers agreed to withdraw lawsuit after receiving the payment. On April 18, upon the receipt of the payment from the buyer, the handling judge notified the crew’s attorney to withdraw the lawsuit. The court made a ruling to approve the withdrawal and rescind the arrest ruling and warrant of arrest on “Ji Li Lai *”. On April 19, the Court served the legal instruments concerning the release of “Ji Li Lai *” to Qinglan port authority and Fuzhou MSA. Finally, the court transferred the wage payments and the prepaid amounts to the 13 seafarers.