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Tasman Sea spill case also known Tianjin Oceanic Bureau v. Infinity Shipping and the London Protection and Indemnity Club

Country/Territory
China
Type of court
National - higher court
Date
Dec 25, 2004
Source
UNEP, InforMEA
Court name
Tianjin Maritime Court
Seat of court
Tianjin
Judge
Wu Liqun; Xu Fubin; Dong Lijuan
Reference number
No. 184 (2003), First Instance, Tianjin Maritime Court [ (2003) 津海法事初字第184号]
Language
Chinese
Subject
Fisheries, Sea
Keyword
Hazardous substances Marine pollution (ship-based sources) Marine pollution (dumping at sea) Biodiversity Marine resources management
Abstract

This case concerns the collision between a tanker sailing under a Maltese flag and a Chinese ship triggering an oil spill that lead to an important pollution and damages in the ecosystem of the Bohai Gulf.

The plaintiffs are administrations such as the Tianjin Oceanic Administration, the Tianjin Fisheries and Harbours Office and fishermen associations. They sued the owner of the tanker and its insurer for the ecological damages and the economic loss caused by the oil split.

The Tianjin Maritime Court ruled that under the terms of the 1992 International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage, the two defendants had to pay compensation to the defendant for the marine environmental capacity and of fisheries resources.

(Contribution: Case provided by Professor Tianbao QIN, Tang HE, and Han GAO, Research Institute of Environmental Law, Wuhan University, China)

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