Seafarers in Odesa appeal to NACP over corruption at state-owned enterprise

Seafarers from Odesa complained to the NACP about the inflated tariffs of the Odesa-based Morrichservice for issuing certificates abroad. The bulk of the amount is made up of mandatory organizational services, without which it is impossible to issue a document.

This was reported by Teplodar.biz.ua.

The Ukrainian Union of Seafarers NGO appealed to the Head of the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption (NAPC), Viktor Pavlushchyk, to check possible violations of anti-corruption, antimonopoly and administrative legislation in the work of the State Enterprise "Service Center for Maritime and River Transport" (SE "Morrichservice") during the issuance of the Seafarer's Identity Card Abroad (SIC).

In their appeal, the seafarers drew attention to the state-owned enterprise's excessively high tariffs for issuing the SIC outside Ukraine. According to their data, the cost of organizational and technical services of SE "Morrichservice" is 20-40 times higher than the direct administrative costs of issuing the document.

For example, the cost of issuing a permit within 20 working days is UAH 1,183 for administrative services and UAH 25,260 for organizational and technical support for trial testing, for a total of UAH 26,433. For 7 working days, administrative services cost UAH 1,788 and organizational and technical testing costs UAH 42,000, for a total of UAH 43,788. Thus, the bulk of the amount is made up of organizational and technical services, without which the actual issuance of a PERM abroad is impossible. For seafarers, these payments are mandatory, not an additional service.

The Ukrainian Union of Seafarers did not find any documents in open sources confirming the legality of the tariffs and the procedure for their calculation. According to the seafarers, this creates a non-transparent and potentially corrupt situation in which the actual cost of accessing the administrative service significantly exceeds the legal limits of the fee, consumers do not receive full information about the components of the payment, and the legality of setting tariffs is questionable.

According to the Cabinet of Ministers' Resolutions No. 730 of June 18, 2025 and No. 441 of June 26, 2015, the issuance of a POM is an administrative procedure, not a commercial service. SE Morrichservice performs auxiliary organizational functions and does not provide independent paid services.

Nevertheless, the company's official website presents the issuance of a residence permit in Warsaw as a single service with a fixed cost of UAH 25,260 (20 days) and UAH 42,000 (7 days). For citizens, this looks like a mandatory payment, not a set of separate, voluntary services.

Earlier in Odesa region, two women were exposed who forged maritime documents and arranged for clients to join the crews of ships bound for foreign ports. This scheme allowed men of military age to leave Ukraine without hindrance.

Анна Бальчінос