Court plans to foster 100 maritime judicial experts

To enhance talent education, a Chinese maritime court plans to cultivate 100 maritime judicial experts by 2033.

The plan, released by the Ningbo Maritime Court in East China's Zhejiang province on Monday, aims to meet the central leadership's requirement on taking a coordinated approach to promoting the rule of law at home and in matters involving foreign parties.

The court said the judicial experts should be diligent, meet high-level maritime adjudication capability, and possess an open-minded judicial philosophy of handling foreign-related cases.

Meanwhile, the experts also need to play a leading role in serving maritime talent related to foreign affairs as well as helping maritime workers, it added.

To reach the goal, Nie Zong, vice-president of the court, said it has established a team and provided 20 measures to support the expert cultivation.

For example, it has regularly exchanged judges with academies, such as Ningbo University and Dalian Maritime University in Liaoning province, to strengthen the judicial education involving foreign matters, according to him.

"We've also enhanced judicial research and practice in ports, thanks to the cooperation with Zhejiang Seaport," he said.

In addition, the court has organized law salons involving foreign affairs, encouraging younger judges to participate more in international exchanges and rules making.

With the rapid growth of Chinese companies investing overseas, the court said it has seen an increasing number of foreign-related maritime disputes over the past few years.

To efficiently deal with the surging cases, it set up a maritime dispute resolution center in Ningbo in July. The method of resolution - whether through mediation, arbitration or litigation - depends on litigants.

Data provided by the court showed on Monday that the center has dealt with 206 foreign-related maritime cases, of which, 123 have been successfully solved through mediation.