The row has arisen from an accident in 2011 off Taiwan, when a coast guard vessel sustained damage in a clash with Yang Ming's 5,512-teu YM Cypress (built 2001), the Taipei Times reported.

Taiwan Fire & Marine Insurance filed a suit that year seeking compensation from Yang Ming in Kaohsiung, but also lodged a petition in 2012 to seize the vessel at a maritime court in China's Guangzhou.

Yang