228 million! Turned “Three Difficulties” into “Three Wins”, Helping to Guarantee National Energy Security.

　　Recently, State Power Investment Corporation Shandong Energy Development Co., Ltd. sent a silk banner and a letter of thanks to Qingdao Maritime Court.

　　“This case can be successfully settled, the state-owned assets did not suffer losses, thanks to Qingdao Maritime Court, if not for the judge's precise control of the timing of the settlement and the settlement conditions, this impasse to be resolved will be difficult!” The person in charge of State Power Investment Corporation Haiyang Offshore Wind Power Co., Ltd. said.

　　This offshore wind power project contract dispute involved China, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong and other countries and regions,whose subject amount was up to 260 million yuan.From filing the case on August 18 to the plaintiff receiving 228 million settlement payment, it only took four months.

　　First Difficulty: There was a problem in determining the “nationality” of the ship.

　　The plaintiff signed an offshore wind power construction agreement with the defendant and paid 200 million yuan deposit for locking the ship, but the locked ship did not enter the field on schedule, until the end of the project, the defendant had not fulfilled the agreement nor return the deposit for locking the ship. The plaintiff applied to Qingdao Maritime Court for arrest after learning that the defendant’s fan installation platform ship, the“CHANGDE”,  anchored at the offshore anchorage of Quzhen Dock in Daishan County, Zhejiang Province.

　　After the preliminary review of the materials, the presiding judge Liu Xiaona rushed to the offshore anchorage of Quzhen dock to arrest the “CHANGDE”. In the process of arrest, Liu Xiaona found thatthere was a lag in the ship information provided by the plaintiff. “We immediately asked the plaintiff to submit additional information about the ship, and after further examination, we found that the situation of the ship was not so simple.” Liu Xiaona said.

　　Due to the bareboat charter to the Chinese charterer, the flag state of the ship was changed from Singapore to China, and the name of the ship was changed from "TERAS SUNRISE" to "CHANGDE", but the Chinese nationality of the ship was canceled on 31 December 2022 and the name "CHANG DE" ceased to exist. “After the cancellation of Chinese nationality and before the restoration of the registration in the original flag state, the ship ‘CHANG DE’ may temporarily be in the state of no port of registry, no flag state and no ship name, and the registration status of the ship in the original flag state of Singapore was likely to change soon, you need to obtain the ship's registration information in the original flag state as soon as possible.” After discovering this situation, Liu Xiaona notified the plaintiff at the first time.

　　The plaintiff commissioned a foreign lawyer to investigate and confirmed that the day before the investigation, the ship had just permanently restored Singapore nationality and resumed the use of its original English name “TERAS SUNRISE”.

　　Based on the latest information obtained, Qingdao Maritime Court immediately supplemented the relevant materials and went to Zhejiang to board the ship for the second time, and the arrest of the ship was finally settled.

　　Second Difficulty: There was a problem in realizing the plaintiff’s right.

　　Offshore wind power is an important new marine industry with huge development potential, and the offshore wind power resources available globally are more than 71,000 GW. As a fan installation platform, the “TERAS SUNRISE” has a relatively vigorous market demand in the global scope. After the ship was arrested according to law, Liu Xiaona learned that the defendant Singapore single ship company had begun to negotiate with a listed company in Japan about the sale of the ship since a year ago, and had signed a preliminary agreement, but had not yet completed the ownership change procedures. At this time, Liu Xiaona was keenly aware of the existence of significant risks.

　　"TERAS SUNRISE" has been restored to Singapore nationality, once the defendant privatelysigned a sale agreement with the Japanese company. After then, they has been completed transfer the ownershipof the ship at Singapore authorities. They will not be able to achieve the proper legal effect of ship arrest, the subsequent judgement can not be enforced. The plaintiff's claim is difficult to realize. To this end, on the one hand, Liu Xiaona sought way to serve instruments of assistance to the Singaporean authorities in the relevant international conventions, and on the other hand, she took the initiative to communicate with the Japanese buyer. So as to, she make the Japanese buyer become a person who knew that the ship was already for arrest and actively organized the hearing procedure. Then, she invited the Japanese buyer to participate in the hearing and promoted the parties to negotiate and reach a settlement.

　　Third Difficulty: there were dilemmas in negotiating modes

　　After the hearing, Qingdao Maritime Court to lead a negotiation. The plaintiff, the defendant Singapore ship company, and the Japanese buyer reached a preliminary settlement intention. The Japanese party directly to pay a part of the purchase price of the ship in order to meet the plaintiff's full amount of the claim.

　　However, there were many differences among the three partiesin the way of implementation. Due to the huge amount of money and involvedthe different demands of the parties. It was difficult to find a fund supervisory organization recognized by all three parties as a platform for transferring the relevant money. The negotiation among the parties was once again at an impasse.

　　At this time, Liu Xiaona took the initiative to use Qingdao Maritime Court as a credit platform to realize the transfer of settlement payments.All three parties acknowledged the credibility of the Qingdao Maritime Court, so this proposal won a high degree of approval from all three parties.

　　After the force of the civil mediationdocument, the Japanese buyer promptly transferred the 228 million reconciliationpayment to the account of Qingdao Maritime Court. On the same day, the court paid the money to the plaintiff. Then the plaintiff's losses were successfully recovered. Thus, the “three dilemmas” became “three wins”. The case involving three parties was successfully resolved.

　　Active justice to help the development of the national new marine energy industry

　　“The case involves a huge amount of money. If not handled properly, it may lead to the obstruction of the operation of the enterprises, the loss of state-owned assets and the restriction of the development of the offshore wind power industry. Facing the three difficulties in the case, we need to take the initiative and rise to the challenge. In order to turn the ‘three dilemmas’ into ‘three wins’ for the continued optimization of the business environment, services to safeguard the development of the national marine new energy industry and to hand over a qualified answer sheet.”Liu Xiaona said.

　　The efficient handling of this foreign-related case is a demonstration of the international credibility and influence of China's maritime justice. Qingdao Maritime Court with “the greatness of the country” in its mind. It has always been able to justice through the whole process of maritime trial. To take active role, active as the Party and the country closely around the development needs, give full play to the role of maritime trial functions.The case promote the process of energy transition to protect the national energy security for the development of the marine economy into the maritime judicial momentum.