New changes to China’s Maritime Code likely to affect Guyana

China’s new maritime code passed in 2025 will take effect on 1 May 2026. There has been rampant speculation on the effect of the provisions of this code. The code aside from modernizing Chinese maritime architecture to ensure digitization, requires that any goods been loaded or discharged at Chinese ports, the most popular of which are Guangzhou and Shenzhen, that any dispute that arise at the ports in relation to the contracts for the carriage of these goods are now mandatorily governed by Chinese maritime code.

There can be no doubt that this will have an impact on Guyanese business, time will tell how much of an impact it will have. As a point of reference Guyana’s import bill from China in 2025 was recorded at 1.35 Trillion USD, which is equivalent to 83 Trillion GYD. Put into physical terms it would take over 56 billion $5,000 GYD notes to satisfy the figure quoted.

How will the mandatory application of the Chinese maritime code and disputes that arise being dealt with by the Chinese Courts affect commerce between Guyanese business and Chinese ports? At this time it is too early to tell. But settling shipping disputes in Chinese Courts will have some effect. At the moment the traditional venue to have shipping disputes is London and the English Courts. This is what you will find in standard form contracts and Bills of Lading (BL) in the shipping industry.

Guyanese businesses need to be aware of this change and query the issue with their shippers and freight forwarders as it comes into effect in just over a week.