SeaWorks Explains How a New Chinese Law & Ruling May Affect Your Business

As of November 1st China has imposed the Personal Information Protection Law, PIPL in short. This law has a side affect that Chinese ships are not reporting via AIS which shows exactly where ships are and their ETA’s to ports. This could affect the effectiveness for ports, however, suppose your cargo is onboard a ship which does not report via AIS any longer? From sources we have learned that the measures suits Chinese liners and operators who can avoid the reporting system under Chinese Law and call countries which have an embargo or are sanctioned by the UN. Consequently, to safeguard your cargo onboard a Chinese flagged ship, under part-cargo, you should know very well which routing and port the ships will follow since if your cargo has been in a sanctioned country and/or port, you may be held liable by authorities having been involved in illegal operations. This may sound ‘kafkaesk’ but wait till the long arm of, for instance, the USA government reaches out and your business or USDollar remittances are blocked. The burden of proof is on you as Merchant!