A new judicial training base aimed at expanding judges' maritime legal knowledge was unveiled in Dalian, Liaoning province, on Thursday.

Jointly established by the Supreme People's Court and Dalian Maritime University, the base saw 38 judges from maritime courts in Guangzhou, Ningbo, Beihai, Qingdao, and Dalian attend the first class.

They will complete a nine-day course aboard.

"Strengthening maritime justice training is an important step toward implementing the excellent marine litigation strategy and building China into an international maritime justice center," said Liu Guixiang, a member of the Supreme People's Court judicial committee.

According to Liu, the base's establishment is in the spirit of the speech President Xi Jinping gave earlier while inspecting China University of Political Science and Law, which called for greater cooperation between universities and the rest of society.

Founded in 1909, Dalian Maritime University is one of China's largest maritime universities, with a reputation for maritime law research. It is already home to a marine judicial protection research base of the Supreme People's Court.

"The new base could facilitate communication between maritime courts and the university in training, scientific research and internships," said Liu.

Currently, there are about 10 maritime courts in China and the demand for maritime judges is increasing rapidly, according to Sun Yuqing, the university's president.

Working with maritime law require judges to have a wide breadth of knowledge and experience in areas ranging from ship structure to shipping lanes.

In recent years, more young law graduates have gone to work in maritime courts upon graduation, increasing the need for maritime law training.

"When they attend the training course, judges can explain any problems they have encountered and communicate with the teachers and their classmates to find solutions," said Sun.