The North Bund Maritime Dispute Prevention and Resolution Center, a functional institution dedicated to providing comprehensive commercial dispute resolution services for the maritime industry, was officially established at the Shanghai International Arbitration Center on March 28.
By the end of 2023, Hongkou released the "Three-Year Action Plan for the North Bund International Legal Services Port (2024-2026)," aiming to fully advance the construction of the North Bund International Legal Services Port.
Leveraging the maritime industry's characteristics in the district, Hongkou is striving to become a global hub for resolving maritime disputes, with the maritime and legal sectors deeply integrated in the North Bund. The establishment of the center emerges against this backdrop.
The center relies on a comprehensive and specialized commercial dispute resolution mechanism, integrating "professional mediation organizations + maritime arbitration court + maritime court."
It will feature four major functional areas: optimized dispute resolution services, judicial safeguard functions, a high-end research think tank, and a platform for exchange and discussion.
It aims to implement a bifurcation model combining "dispute resolution services + prevention" with "mediation + arbitration + litigation" for commercial disputes.
This initiative will provide businesses with faster dispute resolution methods, reduce the costs of dispute resolution, enhance the efficiency of dispute resolution, and help make North Bund an international preferred location for resolving maritime disputes.
The initiative led by the Hongkou District Justice Bureau represents another significant step in constructing the North Bund International Legal Services Port.
It will help establish a good reputation in the international maritime industry, attract more international business and investment, and promote the aggregation of upstream and downstream business forms of the high-quality legal services ecosystem.
Following the ceremony, multiple units, including the Hongkou District Justice Bureau, Hongkou District Procuratorate, Hongkou District Shipping Office, North Bund Multimodal Commercial Mediation Center, and others, signed strategic cooperation agreements.
Shanghai International Port Group, representing enterprises, issued a call to action, urging maritime businesses to adopt commercial mediation as a primary method of dispute resolution. It recommended the North Bund International Legal Services Port as the preferred location for resolving commercial disputes.
Hongkou has accelerated the construction of a core area for high-end maritime service functions, focusing on innovative maritime arbitration services, promoting connections between maritime arbitration institutions and enterprises in shipping, insurance, and loss adjusting, and building a maritime business community.
The Hongkou government said it is committed to creating an international, orderly, and professional international commercial dispute resolution legal services ecosystem.