UZ lost 16 court cases to one of the terminals in the Mykolaiv port
28.11.2024 - 15:21
The port terminal of the Mykolaiv seaport won the cases on the claims of JSC “Ukrzaliznytsia” about the collection of fees for the use of wagons and the storage of cargo in wagons.
This is reported by “Yurydychna Gazeta”.
The dispute between the port terminal of the international agricultural corporation and JSC “Ukrzaliznytsia” arose as a result of the actual termination of the work of the only business entity that had the exclusive right to operate the railway access tracks of the port station “Mykolaiv-Vantazhny”. The conflict occurred in the fall of 2019.
It is noted that the port terminal actually became a hostage to the conflict between JSC “Ukrzaliznytsia” and the intermediary company and was completely deprived of the opportunity to process wagons. This led to the accumulation of 16 trains with dozens of wagons in each at the station “Mykolaiv-Vantazhny” and on the approaches to it.
However, JSC Ukrzaliznytsia decided to collect the fee for the idleness of the wagons and the storage of cargo in them from the port terminal as the final recipient. Therefore, in 2020, 16 lawsuits were filed against the port operator for a total amount of over 17 million hryvnias.
The consideration of the cases lasted almost four years, and only now did the Commercial Court of Mykolaiv Region agree with the position of the Ilyashev & Partners team, which represented the terminal. The court sided with the port terminal, rejecting the claims of JSC Ukrzaliznytsia in full.
JSC Ukrzaliznytsia refused to further challenge the court decisions in the appeal procedure, which actually confirmed the legality and validity of each of the 16 decisions.
“These are precedent-setting decisions, because there is no relevant judicial practice in Ukraine in similar disputes. These court decisions are also indicative for foreign investors. “Guarantees for the protection of the rights of private investors, in particular in disputes with state monopolies, are an important component of Ukraine’s investment attractiveness, especially during wartime,” noted Serhiy Nedilko, head of the Odessa office of Ilyashev & Partners.
