Ever since the promulgation of the Measures of Haikou Maritime Court on Facilitating Easy Access to Justice for the Cases Involving Seafarers and Fishermen, the Yangpu Tribunal of Haikou Maritime Court has implemented these measures earnestly and continuously created new convenient methods to serve the people. During the fishing season when seafarers were busy at work and barely had time to take part in litigation proceedings, the judges, who handled seven cases over crew service contract disputes, guided the seafarers to apply for an order of payment to demand their unpaid wages. The judges also spared the seafarers the trouble to appear in court in person by relying on IT applications. All these measures, seemed trivial though, allow the people easy access to efficient maritime judicial services.

Institutional arrangements to facilitate easy access to justice

Taking into account of the characteristics of the occupations of seafarers and fishermen, Yangpu Tribunal has formulated 12 measures to provide convenient services to meet the needs of the people, which include, inter alia, the assignment of liaison persons at major ports, terminals and fishing villages, who are responsible for providing various services like maritime litigation consultancy, litigation guidance, and assistance in reaching out to judges. Maritime judicial services tailored to meet diversified needs, which offer guidance and litigation services and enable quick-access refund through phone and email plus the Internet, are building a fast track for the filing, trial, and enforcement of cases involving seafarers and fishermen. Recently, the judges, who were handling seven cases over crew service contract disputes, successfully docketed the cases within one hour, issued legal documents within three hours and served the documents within 12 hours through telephone and the Internet in the absence of the parties.

Flexible procedures to hasten wage arrears

August and September marked the busiest fishing season of the year. It was high time for seafarers to work in the middle of the ocean, and this had become the major concern of the court to have the seven seafarers taking part in the court hearing without appearance in person. After hearing the complaints of the seafarers patiently and understanding the basic facts of cases, instead of docketing the cases to commence litigation procedure, the handling judges sought application of the procedure for hastening debt recovery (i.e. an order of payment), which was a much more efficient and convenient procedure. They dug out the contact details and addresses of the shipowners, inquired them about the wage arrears, and fix the evidence. After ascertaining that the facts were evident and the relationship between the creditors and debtors was clear, the judges explained the merits of the hastening procedure to the seafarers and guided them to resolve disputes through non-litigation procedures. From case filing to enforcement of legal documents, the court took only 18 days of endeavors to settle the disputes, and all the procedures were carried out through phone calls and the Internet, which spared the trouble of seafarers to appear in court and thus won high remarks from the seafarers.

Coordinated actions to bridge “the last kilometer” between justice and the people

Compulsory enforcement is the “last kilometer” to ensure the fairness and justice of law. To turn the payment order on the written judgments into monetary payments receivable by the seafarers and help them secure their legitimate rights and interests, the court and the fishing boat administration authority set up a mechanism to withhold fuel subsidies to be granted to the shipowners and transfer the same to those to be indemnified. Once it learnt from the fishing boat administration authority that there would be a fuel subsidy granted to the shipowners, the court grasped the opportunity immediately and withheld equivalent amounts owe to the claimants.

The application of hastening procedure in the handling of crew labor disputes is a good attempt of Haikou Maritime Court at improving the methods of doing solid work for the people in its pursuit of the concept of “active justice” that encourages empathy for the people. It is also an active response to the needs of the people for maritime justice in the new era and adds new elements to maritime judicial services.