Statistics
Statistics and General Overview*
The first issue of Maritime Law Journal in 2024 covers the period from January to March 2024. We keep summarising the statistics of maritime cases heard by arbitral tribunals.
Cases heard in the District Courts (courts of cassation)
In the first quarter of 2024, 15 maritime cases were heard in the District Courts. 12 of them dealt with private law matters and 3 with public law matters. In the area of private law, the courts, as in previous periods, dealt mainly with cases concerning debt recovery under various contracts. Most of such disputes are not of special interest as they do not contain any legal problem. In public law cases, the subject of two disputes was a violation of customs declaration rules, and the subject of the third was a violation of requirements for water bodies protection, which manifested in the failure to remove a vessel wrecked.
Below is a table showing the distribution of cases between the courts of cassation instance.
| District Courts | Categories of Cases |
|---|---|
| The Commercial Court of the Far Eastern District | 4 cases in total: − on liability for violation of customs declaration rules (2); − on liability for violation of requirements for protection of water bodies; − on recovery under the ice-breaking contract. |
| The Commercial Court of the Moscow District | 3 cases in total: − on recovery under the contract of freight forwarding; − on recovery under the contract of carriage of goods by sea; − on recovery under the time-charter agreement. |
| The Commercial Court of the Northwestern District | 5 cases in total: − on recovery under the contract of carriage of goods by sea (3); − on recovery under the maritime agency contract (2). |
| The Commercial Court of the North Caucasus District | 3 cases in total: − on recovery under the salvage contract; − on recovery under the contract of freight forwarding; − on recovery under the contract of carriage of goods by sea. |
Cases heard in the Courts of Appeal
In 2024, 60 maritime cases were heard by commercial courts of appeal. 29 cases were related to public law matters and 31 to private law. In the period under review, many cases related to public law matters. This is due to the existence of similar cases in connection with the prosecution of the same legal entity for multiple crossings of the state border in violation of the established rules.
Below is a table showing the distribution of cases among the Courts of Appeal.
| Courts of Appeal | Categories of cases |
|---|---|
| The 1st CCA | 1 case in total: − on recovery under the insurance contract; |
| The 5th CCA | 29 cases in total: − on prosecution for violation of the rules of crossing the state border (24); − on recovery under the contract of carriage of goods by sea (2); − on recovery of losses in connection with administrative liability; − on compensation for damage caused to a water body; − on recovery under the contract of freight forwarding. |
| The 6th CCA | 1 case in total: − on recovery under the charter agreement. |
| The 8th CCA | 2 cases in total: − on recovery under a contract of carriage of goods by sea; − on recovery under the charter agreement. |
| The 9th CCA | 12 cases in total: − on recovery under a contract of carriage of goods by sea (3); − on recovery under a contract of freight forwarding (3); − on bringing to responsibility for violation of customs declaration rules (3); − on recovery under the ice-breaking contract; − on recovery under the charter contract; − on recovery under the marine insurance policy. |
| The 12th CCA | 1 case in total: − for recovery under the contract of carriage of goods by sea. |
| The 13th CCA | 4 cases in total: − on revision of the decision to leave the statement of claim without consideration due to violation of the jurisdiction clause; − on recovery under the contract of carriage of goods by sea; − on liability for violation of customs declaration rules; − on recovery under the contract of freight forwarding. |
| The 14th CCA | 3 cases in total: − on invalidation of the maritime accident investigation report; − on recovery under the contract of carriage of goods by sea (2); |
| The 15th CCA | 3 cases in total: − on compensation for damage caused to a water body (2); − on recovery under the contract of freight forwarding. |
| The 17th CCA | 3 cases in total: − on recovery under the contract of freight forwarding (3). |
| The 18th CCA | 1 case in total: − on recovery under the contract of carriage of goods by sea. |
Cases considered by the Courts of first instance
93 maritime cases were heard in the courts of first instance. 69 of them relate to matters of private law and 24 to matters of public law. In private law, a significant number of disputes were considered regarding the non-performance of various contracts (carriage of goods, freight forwarding, agency, time charter, bareboat charter, etc.), as well as the arrest of ships. In public law disputes, the largest number of cases was devoted to illegal crossing of the state border and customs offences. Several disputes related to the violation of vessel operation rules and passing control points.
A total of 168 maritime cases were heard by commercial courts during the first quarter of 2024. Of these, 112 dealt with maritime private law matters and 56 with public law matters.
* Review prepared by Bulat Karimov and Alexey Charchenko.