Chinese court resolves Strait of Hormuz collision dispute between foreign vessels

BEIJING -- A Chinese maritime court has successfully mediated a dispute that had arisen from a collision between two foreign vessels near the Strait of Hormuz, China's Supreme People's Court said on Monday.

The case, involving claims reaching 180 million yuan (about $26.5 million), was handled by the Guangzhou Maritime Court (GMC) in South China's Guangdong province under the guidance of the SPC. It involved the Antigua-and-Barbuda-flagged "Adalynn" and the Liberia-flagged "Front Eagle", both owned and operated by foreign enterprises, according to an SPC statement.

The two ships collided in June 2025, in waters near the Strait of Hormuz. While "Front Eagle" was undergoing repairs in Guangdong's Shenzhen, the owner of "Adalynn" applied to the GMC for an order to arrest the vessel.

Both foreign parties agreed to have the GMC hear the case and selected Chinese law as the governing law for resolving the substantive issues in dispute.

The GMC organized four pretrial meetings between October 2025 and July 2026 and held a public hearing on July 14, 2026, the statement said, adding that it also introduced maritime technical investigators to help ascertain facts regarding the collision, as no official authority had conducted an investigation into the accident and no official conclusions were available.

Through the fact-finding process, the court reconstructed the course of the collision, which helped clearly determine the parties' respective liabilities, according to Wu Guining, the presiding judge of the case.

Through the court's mediation, the relevant parties reached a settlement, and the court organized the liability fund distribution in late July.

Bilov Viacheslav, representative of the shipowner of the "Adalynn," said the company decided to submit the dispute to a Chinese court because of their trust in the impartiality and fairness of the country's legal and judicial systems, a choice that was ultimately proven right.

He also said that he was impressed by the efficiency of the Chinese court and professionalism of Chinese maritime experts.