The Black Sea Shipping Company Lost a Lawsuit Over Two Million

The state-owned shipping company "Black Sea Shipping Company" lost a lawsuit against the private firm "Vtoris," from which it had sought to collect more than two million hryvnias in debt. The claim was dismissed in its entirety due to improperly drafted lease agreements and the lack of a clear calculation of the amount owed.

This is stated in the decision of the Commercial Court of Odesa Oblast. 

The court found that the parties had in fact entered into sham transactions, disguising the lease of state property as storage agreements. Due to the lack of an official appraisal of the premises and the loss of some documents, the plaintiff was unable to provide a proper calculation of the rent on which the debt was to be based. The request for the forced eviction from the premises was also rejected because the state-owned enterprise did not provide an accurate inventory of the property, and items belonging to third parties were found on the premises.

According to the case file, the state-owned enterprise provided the firm with an open area, a storage bay, and premises for storing recyclable materials as early as 2017–2018. After the agreements expired, the enterprise did not vacate the premises and continued to use them without payment. In court, ChMP sought to recover 2,016,972 hryvnias in principal debt plus penalties, as well as to compel the defendant to remove the property.

The state-owned shipping company “Black Sea Shipping Company” is a Ukrainian water transport enterprise that has been in bankruptcy proceedings since 2003, and has been in a state of official dissolution under the management of the State Property Fund of Ukraine since June 2026. 

Established on the basis of a company founded in 1833, the enterprise operated a fleet of 295 mainline vessels and over 1,000 auxiliary vessels during the Soviet era. After 1991, the enterprise came under Ukrainian jurisdiction with a debt of $170 million. The ChMP fleet was completely divested and sold off during the 1990s. Today, the company does not own any vessels and is in the process of final liquidation.
 

Юлія Калабайда