The Priority Of Compensation For Maritime Claims

In the shipping practice, different maritime claims may arise out of or in relation to ships, carriage of goods by sea and operation at sea. When the maritime claims aris from the same object, the question of priority of these claims will occur. Different sequence will lead to different results of compensation and consequently affect the interests of different parties concerned. Hence, establishing a proper sequence of compensation for maritime claims is the chief task in mediating the conflict of interests of different parties.The current Chinese law does not provide for sufficient provisions regarding this question and consequently different courts make different judgements regarding same or similar cases. Such a result goes against unification of and cause prejudice to the development of the shipping.In this paper, the maritime claims are divided into three categories with the sequence of which as follows: those for the fees paid for the mutual interest of the claimant, those with security interests on a ship and obligatory rights in general. Based upon basic theories and principles of civil law and by reference to the relevant international conventions and foreign legislations, the author expounds the conflicts of sequence of compensation for maritime claims of different categories and those of the same category and put forward suggestions for the modification of China Maritime Code and for the judicial unification in this aspect.