Recently, Haikou Maritime Court auctioned off a foreign yacht, which was under a bareboat charter, at a 22.02 million premium and delivered the ship to the buyer. The successful auction sale not only protected the legitimate rights and interests of the creditors, but also provided legal protection to facilitate duty collections and the flow of goods under customs supervision.

During the enforcement of a contract dispute over the lease of yacht berth, the court put the yacht up on auction through Taobao.com. The yacht, owned by the Li (the Party subject to enforcement), was berthing at Sanya Marina. After 292 rounds of competitive bidding, the ship was finally sold at 33.02 million yuan, marking a 200% premium, or 22.02 million, over the evaluation price at 11 million yuan.

The Panama-flagged yacht was accepted at Sanya, Hainan in 2012 through a bareboat charter. As the lease expired, however, the ship was not retained by the charterer or returned to the owner, but was sitting idle at Sanya Marina under the customs supervision. During her detention at the marina, the yacht was seized by the judicial authority as a property involved in a criminal case. To ensure smooth operation of the auction sale and formalities that followed, the handling judge had worked to make an enforcement plan during the enforcement procedures. Talks were initiated with relevant authorities like Haikou Customs, Sanya Customs, and Sanya MSA, to discuss issues that might arise from the judicial disposal of an imported ship under a bareboat charter. Extensive research was also carried out to look into critical matters, such as the special provisions of law on judicial auction of imported yacht, the restrictions on the subject qualification of the buyer who intended to purchase an imported yacht, the procedures for application of certificates for a sold vessel, tariff rates, and payment procedures.

Based on the distinctive economic development pattern in the area under its jurisdiction, Haikou Maritime Court will strengthen the enforcement of cases where cruise and/or yacht is involved, and provide high-quality maritime judicial services to boost the development of the industry and create a better business environment for cruise and yacht operation, further contributing to the construction of Hainan Free Trade Port.