Between 1998 and 2008, a total of 718 accidents occurred in Chinese waters involving oil leakage, totalling 11,749 tons, according to a news story published on 13 April in the National Law newspaper. Maritime courts handled more than 300 lawsuits relating to the spills, totalling Rmb3bn in litigation costs.

However, the number of spills is an improvement on the previous 10 years (1988-1997), when 1,856 incidents took place, involving 37,000 tons of oil.