On 3 July 2026, a joint seminar on maritime arbitration was held in Guangzhou by the Guangzhou Arbitration Commission and the Hong Kong Maritime Arbitration Group.
The seminar was attended by 100 people, with 150 applications submitted on the first day of the seminar's announcement.
Daria Zhdan-Pushkina, arbitrator, mediator, and member of the HKMAG and the LMAA, was the only participant from Russia and one of several foreign participants.
During the seminar, speakers discussed the latest developments in arbitration in China:
- amendments to the 2026 Arbitration Law, in particular the now-recognized possibility of conducting ad hoc arbitration in China's free economic zones;
- amendments to the Chinese Maritime Code, which affect the liability of anyone loading or unloading cargo in Chinese ports;
- the advantages and challenges of commercial arbitration in China and Hong Kong.
As of 2025, the Guangzhou Arbitration Commission had heard approximately 30,000 disputes, of which approximately 4,500 were resolved through mediation. Meanwhile, colleagues note that the majority of maritime disputes are still heard in London.
A Chinese judge talled that the vast majority of arbitral awards are upheld by the court even when the parties attempt to appeal them. China is striving to support arbitration.
The Hong Kong Maritime Arbitration Group operates under terms that are completely analogous to the London Maritime Arbitrators Association Terms; in Hong Kong, arbitration is supported both at the stage of enforcement of arbitral awards and at the stage of issuing anti-suit injunctions.
Among the challenges facing the development of arbitration in mainland China, participants identified the following:
- the need to clarify China's procedural rules for foreign arbitration users; - the limited use of English by arbitrators; - the need to improve China's legal system and build consumer confidence in it.
In the end of the seminar, participants discussed mediation and encouraged everyone to consider this dispute resolution method for small claims and cross-border disputes.