Debate on import laws in Terrex trial could have ‘major implications’ for shipping firms

Hong Kong courts should clarify the extent of a shipping carrier’s responsibility when it comes to transporting strategic commodities, according to lawyers defending the shipmaster and shipping company charged over the nine Singaporean military vehicles temporarily detained in the city last year.

Their concern prompted the District Court to schedule a three-day preliminary hearing starting on December 11 as prosecutors also agreed that there was a need to clarify multiple legal issues before they take pleas and set the case for trial.

Defence counsel Joseph Tse Wah-yuen SC said the unprecedented debate on the subject will have major implications for the city’s maritime services industry when local courts lay down the correct interpretation of the Import and Export Ordinance.

His clients – mainland shipmaster Pan Xuejun, 39, and shipping company APL CO. PTE – were jointly accused of importing strategic commodities without the necessary licence after Hong Kong custom officers impounded nine Terrex armoured troop carriers last November 23, their biggest haul of strategic commodities in two decades.

Prosecutors claim they had imported nine vehicles designed or modified for military use under a sea waybill into Hong Kong without having an import licence issued by the director general of trade and industry, contrary to a stipulation under the ordinance, an offence punishable by an unlimited fine and seven years’ imprisonment.

But Tse argued on Tuesday that the stipulation did not apply to carriers like his clients.