2018 年 1 月 6 日 20 时，上海人保承保的“CF CRYSTAL”轮 (船上满载高粱约6.4万吨，货值约2000万美金，从美国运往东莞) 在长江口以东约160 海里处与巴拿马籍油船“SANCHI”轮与发生碰撞。事故造成油船“SANCHI” 轮全船失火、爆炸并最终沉没。"CF CRYSTAL"轮船头破损、起火，船员弃船。初步估计该事故各方总损失将达数 50 亿元。
上海人保委托我所林翠珠、杨运福、魏铭忠律师处理该案。由于香港法院的海事赔偿责任限额数倍于我国内地法院，“SANCHI”轮船东很可能会到香港法院抢先起诉，因此我所接案后，立即以最快速度代表“CF CRYSTAL”轮船东向上海海事法院申请海事赔偿责任限制基金并起诉“SANCHI”轮船东。后来“SANCHI”轮船东果然于同日在香港法院起诉并向上海海事法院提出管辖权异议。目前，上海海事法院和上海高院均已裁定驳回管辖权异议，准许设立“CF CRYSTAL”轮海事赔偿责任限制基金。该案我方现已在上海海事法院成功设立了“CF CRYSTAL"轮海事赔偿责任限制基金，取得了阶段性的重大胜利。目前正在上海海事法院进一步审理我方诉“SANCHI”轮船东的船舶碰撞损害责任纠纷案。
该案是 2018 年发生的全球最大最具影响力的海事案件。该案涉及到香港高等法院和我国内地上海事法院平行诉讼，颇具典型意义。
On 6 January 2018, MV “CF CRYSTAL” underwrote by PICC Shanghai (laden with sorghum about 64,000 tons, cargo value of about $20 million and were shipped from the United States to Dongguan) collided with Panamanian tanker "SANCHI" at waters of 160 nautical miles to the east of Yangtze Estuary. The accident caused the tanker “SANCHI” on fire, exploded, and eventually sank. While MV “CF CRYSTAL”was broken at the bow, caught fire, and the crew abandoned ship. It is initially estimated that the total losses of the parties involved in the accident was amount to 5 billion yuan.
PICC Shanghai entrusted our lawyers Judy C Z Lin, Colin Y F Yang and Wei Mingzhong to handle the case. Since the Hong Kong Court's maritime liability limit is several times than that of courts in China's mainland, the owner of “SANCHI” is likely to file a lawsuit in Hong Kong, so our firm applied to Shanghai maritime court for limitation Fund for maritime claims soonest as possible after we took over the case. As expected, the shipowner of “CF CRYSTAL” filed a law suit in Hong Kong on the same day and raise a jurisdictional objection against Shanghai Maritime Court.
At present, both the Shanghai Maritime Court and the Shanghai High People’s Court have ruled to reject the jurisdictional objection and allow the establishment of the limitation fund. In this case, we have successfully established the limitation fund for maritime claims in Shanghai Maritime Court, and achieved a major victory. At present, Shanghai Maritime Court is proceeding the case.
The case was the largest and most influential maritime case in the world in 2018. The case involved parallel litigation between the High Court of Hong Kong and the maritime court in mainland China, which is quite typical.