Beijing Gaopeng(Tianjin)Law Firm,on behalf of the People's Property and Casualty Insurance Corporation of China Qinhuangdao Branch(the defendant,hereinafter referred to as"PICC Qinhuangdao Branch"),has obtained the support of courts at all levels in the first and second trials of the case of dispute over the ship insurance contract between it and Qinhuangdao Heshun Shipping Co.,Ltd.(the plaintiff,hereinafter referred to as"Heshun Company"),as well as the retrial process of the Supreme People's Court,All the plaintiff's claims were dismissed.The agent in this case is lawyer Wang Peng,a partner of Gaopeng Tianjin Branch,and lawyer Shang Weiwei.

Highlights of the case:Heshun Company,as a carrier,established a ship insurance contract relationship with PICC Qinhuangdao Branch,and later disputes arose between the two parties over insurance claims for accidents involving ships that hit rocks.The focus of the dispute in the case is whether the reef collision was caused by the unseaworthiness of the ship,which is an exclusion liability agreed upon in the insurance contract.In response to the focus of the dispute,the court found that the ship of Heshun Company was not seaworthy,and that there was a causal relationship between the ship's seaworthiness and the occurrence of the reef accident.Although Heshun Company holds airworthiness certificates and departure visas,the court believes that the above documents are preliminary evidence rather than final proof of the ship's seaworthiness,and holding a valid ship inspection certificate cannot naturally be considered a ship's seaworthiness.The seaworthiness of a ship should also be equipped with necessary equipment,and the electronic charts provided by the ship should be updated in a timely manner.At the same time,the provision of paper charts is also a mandatory requirement.According to the investigation and the evidence provided by the parties concerned,Heshun Company did not provide the paper chart required for the route,and the electronic chart it used was not updated in a timely manner,failing to display the"new reef"label at the accident location,resulting in a reef strike accident for the ship.Therefore,the court found that there was a direct causal relationship between the unseaworthiness of the ship and the occurrence of the reef accident.Finally,the court of second instance upheld the original judgment,determined that the losses caused by the reef accident were excluded from the insurance provisions,and rejected all claims of the company.Heshun Company filed a retrial application with the Supreme People's Court,and after review and determination by the court,it rejected the retrial application of Round Shun Company.

(This article is translated by software translator for reference only.)