The 31^st World Ports Conference under the theme ‘Collaborate Now, Create Future’. was held from Tuesday 7 to Thursday 9 May 2019 at the Guangzhou Baiyun International Convention Centre, organized by the International Association of Ports and Harbors (IAPH), in collaboration with Guangzhou Port Authority. About 1,000 participants from nearly 50 countries attended the event.

Dr. CHEN Bo, Deputy Secretary-General of China Maritime Arbitration Commission (CMAC) was invited as a panelist at a sub-conference entitled ‘New Forms of Cross-border Trade and Legal Issues of E-commerce’ on 9 May 2019. The sub-conference was moderated by Mr. Frans J.W. van Zoelen, Head Legal Affairs of Port of Rotterdam Authority. Mr. MA Yu, Head of Foreign Investment Institute of Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation (CAIEC), Mr. XU Hai, Head of Solution Division of Amazon Web Service (AWS) China Government-enterprise Business Department, Mr. CHAN Chak Ming, Vice Chairman of Hong Kong Bar Association and Chairman of The Law Society of Hong Kong, and Mr. HAO Fei, Vice Secretary General of Dongguan Sub-commission of Guangzhou Arbitration Commission as esteemed speakers delivered speeches on topics including ‘China's Opening-up and Market Opportunities in the New Era’, ‘How to Boost Cross-border Trade’, ‘New Forms of Cross-border Trade and Legal Issues of E-commerce’,’ Smart Arbitration and Resolution of E-commerce Disputes’. 

In her presentation, Dr. CHEN Bo addressed that the emergence of new technologies and applications has begun to influence significantly the way companies do business. Online dispute resolution (ODR) has shown its advantages on highly efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and global enforcement, in particular for resolving large numbers of small claim disputes arose from cross-border E-commerce. The digital evidence and electronic delivery technologies can reduce procedural defects arose from cross-examination and delivery. Moreover, virtual hearings can lower the arbitral costs for the parties to certain extent. In practice, online arbitration service has brought positive legal and social impacts among Chinese users. Bearing this in mind, CMAC has developed an online-based arbitration system for administering disputes and the CMAC Online Arbitration Rules will be released in near future, as a combination of CMAC’s 60-year-experience in arbitration and the benefits of using blockchain in arbitration. 

Other panelists including Mr. Wang Jing, founding partner of Wang Jing & Co., Mr. LIN Zhengxi, Deputy Commissioner of Guangzhou Customs District and Customs Inspector of the Second Rank, Mr. ZHAO Deming, partner of Global Law Office also shared their valuable insights in the discussion.

Meanwhile, Dr. CHEN Bo led the CMAC delegation to visit the COSCO SHIPPING Bulk Co., LTD.( COSCO Shipping Bulk) and was warmly welcome by Mr. CHEN Xiaoxiong, Vice President of the company, Mr. JIANG Ying, General Manager of Shipping Finance Department and Mr. LIANG Jun, Vice General Manager of the Shipping Finance Department. Mr. CHEN Xiaoxiong introduced the main types of bulk vessels and the dry bulk shipping services of the company, and expressed wishes to deepen the COSCO Shipping Bulk-CMAC collaboration and together to advance the development of Chinese maritime arbitration as well as the shipping industry in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. Dr. CHEN Bo elaborated a range of innovation in CMAC services under the ‘all areas of transportation and logistics’ approach and addressed that CMAC looks forward to a further cooperation with COSCO SHIPPING Bulk with a focus on dispute prevention, management and resolution capability of Chinese shipping enterprises.