Shanghai International Shipping Center's soft power continues to improve

On October 21, reporters learned from the "Justice and Arbitration" sub-forum at the 2026 North Bund International Shipping Forum that, with the enhancement and upgrading of Shanghai's international shipping construction, two core indicators—number of shipping arbitration cases and amount in dispute—achieved significant progress in the past five years. In 2025, the number of shipping arbitration cases and dispute amounts accepted in Shanghai increased by 38.5% and 3.9% year-on-year, respectively, continuously enhancing the soft power of the international shipping center represented by shipping arbitration.

On March 1 this year, the newly revised Arbitration Law came into effect, establishing a temporary arbitration system for the first time and improving arrangements such as foreign-related arbitration and online arbitration; on May 1, the newly revised Maritime Law came into effect, making significant breakthroughs in unifying international and domestic maritime rules and granting legal validity to electronic transport records. These two important pieces of legislation, based on domestic shipping arbitration practices and aligned with international rules, lay the institutional foundation for the modernization and internationalization of maritime arbitration and also raise new issues requiring in-depth research.

Against the backdrop of the implementation of the new laws, the "Justice and Arbitration" sub-forum, themed "Navigating Challenges with Intelligence and Law—The Rule of Law in Shipping and Dispute Resolution in the AI Era," focused on hot topics such as maritime justice and arbitration practices, intelligent and digital empowerment, and collaborative governance. It explored solutions for resolving maritime judicial disputes in the new context, charted new courses for maritime judicial governance, and worked collectively to safeguard the high-quality development of foreign-related justice and arbitration.