Statistics
Foreword to the Review
This issue of the journal “Maritime Law” 4/2021 covers the calendar period from July to September 2021. As it was before, we summarise the quarterly statistics of “maritime” cases, considered by commercial courts, as a foreword. The most significant disputes are reviewed and commented on in the journal.
Disputes heard in the courts of first instance
In the Archive of commercial courts judgments (ras.arbitr.ru) on the request of the keywords “MSC RF” (Merchant Shipping Code of the Russian Federation), “captain of a seaport”, “maritime lien”, “maritime agency”, and “pilotage”, there are 106 “maritime” cases in the courts of first instance for the period under review.
| Appellate court | Categories of cases |
|---|---|
| The 5th Commercial Court of Appeal (hereinafter – CCA) | 8 cases in total: – on breach of a time charter agreement (2); – on breach of a salvage agreement (1); – on the existence of the authority of a vessel’s master (1); – on liability for vessels collision (1); – on breach of a carriage agreement (what is more, legal relations are complicated by the insolvency of the carrier) (1); – on recovery of payment for the repair of a vessel (1); – on recovery of debt under a carriage of goods (1). |
| The 6th CCA | 1 case in total: – on recovery of demurrage (1). |
| The 9th CCA | 3 cases in total: – on breach of a freight forwarding agreement (1); – on maritime lien in the bankruptcy (1); – on payment of insurance compensation (1). |
| The 13th CCA | 1 case in total: – on recovery of debt under a sea towing agreement (1). |
| The 15th CCA | 2 cases in total: – on payment of insurance compensation (1); – on recovery of debt under a sea towing agreement (1). |
59 cases of these 106 are related to public law and included setting non-regulatory acts of state bodies aside and imposing liability for administrative or customs violations. In most cases, non-regulatory acts of public authorities on the correction of breaches of legislation regarding the operation of seaports, as well as acts on the issuance of licenses and on refusal to register the vessel were challenged.
Commercial courts of the subjects of the Russian Federation heard 47 cases on private maritime law. Among them, the most common disputes are ones over recovery of debts under time-charter and carriage of goods agreements, as well as recovery of unjustified enrichment and demurrage. In addition, commercial courts heard the disputes over the recovery of unjustified enrichment connected with vessels berthing without a contract; over the payment of insurance compensation in connection with cargo or vessel damage, and illness of crew member; over the breaches of the bareboat charter; over the breaches associated with pilotage.
Disputes heard in the courts of appeal
Appellate commercial courts heard 54 cases, in which the MSC RF was mentioned, for the period under review. However, only in 26 of these cases, the MSC RF was used as a source of maritime law and not just as an example in the cases not related to shipping. 8 disputes of these 26 cases are connected to public law, and 18 ones to private law.
Disputes in the public law sphere are related to customs regulation or administrative liability. Commercial courts tend to impose administrative liability for illegal crossing of maritime borders as it was in the previous quarter.
As regards private maritime law, parties dispute mainly over the breach of time-charter agreements, the recovery of unjustified enrichment and demurrage. The majority of the disputes were heard by The Fifth Commercial Court of Appeal (8 cases).
| Cassation court | Categories of cases |
|---|---|
| The Commercial Court of the East Siberian District | 1 case in total: – on recovery of debt under a carriage agreement (1). |
| The Commercial Court of the Far Eastern District | 6 cases in total: – on breach of a time charter agreement (2); – on breach of a bareboat charter agreement (1); – on breach of an obligation to pay for the vessel berthing during bunkering (1); – on annulment of the part of a carriage agreement under Art. 169 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation (1); – on payment of insurance compensation for the illness of a crew member (1). |
| The Commercial Court of the West Siberian District | 1 case in total: – on breach of an agency agreement (1). |
| The Commercial Court of the Moscow District | 1 case in total: – on breach of a freight forwarding agreement (1). |
| The Commercial Court of the Northwestern District | 2 cases in total: – on recovery of dead freight (1); – on breach of a time charter agreement (1). |
There is a visual table on p. 14 above with the allocation of disputes under maritime private law among different commercial courts of appeal.
Disputes heard in the cassation instance (district courts)
Commercial district courts heard 18 cases, in which MSC RF was mentioned, for the calendar period from July to September 2021. Only 14 of those are related to maritime law. In other disputes, the MSC RF was mentioned only as an example of specific regulation (most often in connection with the period of limitation).
2 disputes of these 14 maritime cases cover problems of public law, namely, customs violations committed by a private person in one case, and by a public body in the other.
In the other 12 judicial acts, private law relations were the subject of the dispute. However, one of these private law cases was not included in the table below since it was not actually considered by the court because the claim for recovery of debt was filed outside the bankruptcy proceedings.
Therefore, for the period under review, the courts of cassation instance heard 11 cases in the private maritime law field and 2 cases under the public law. Most of the disputes were heard by The Commercial Court of the Far Eastern District (6 cases).
Conclusion
As can be seen from the above, in the third quarter of 2021, commercial courts heard 146 maritime disputes. 77 of those were in the private law sphere and 69 – in the public one. Courts of first instance heard 47 disputes under the private law and 59 – under the public law; commercial courts of appeal heard 18 disputes in the private law sphere and 8 – in the public one; cassation courts heard 12 disputes under the private law and 2 – under the public law. The prevailing number of disputes, as in the periods previously reviewed, are related to the recovery of unjustified enrichment and demurrage, as well as to liability for breach of time charter and carriage of goods agreements.