Nikita
Fomychov

Across two separate periods of acute freight market disruption in the Middle East, major shipping lines unilaterally imposed emergency surcharges — including on freight rates already fixed under confirmed bookings with cargo in transit. The first event arose from escalating security conditions in the Red Sea and the Strait of Hormuz, prompting carriers to apply emergency war risk surcharges of $2,000 and above per shipment. The second event followed the onset of Houthi attacks on commercial vessels in the Bab al-Mandab Strait, triggering a further wave of unilateral surcharge imposition across affected trade lanes. In both cases, rather than accepting the charges as presented, I initiated structured negotiations directly with the relevant carriers — presenting our contractual position, the nature of confirmed bookings already in place, our volume relationship, and the documented routing constraints. Through persistent and methodical communication, meaningful reductions were secured in each instance, with an average discount of 64% across both events. These negotiations significantly limited the company's financial exposure during two of the most volatile freight market periods in recent years.

Upon joining the logistics function, the company operated exclusively through a single carrier — Maersk — across all destinations, creating significant rate dependency and operational risk. As one of my first strategic initiatives, I established direct working relationships with CMA CGM, MSC, AKKON, COSCO, and additional freight forwarding companies, building a diversified carrier portfolio across more than 100 active trade directions. For each destination, I conduct regular rate benchmarking across all available carriers, negotiating competitive terms and seeking best-in-market conditions not only for our company but targeting the most competitive rates available in Ukraine for our commodity flows. This multi-carrier approach has eliminated single-carrier dependency, reduced operational risk, and created meaningful freight arbitrage opportunities for our traders. Freight forwarding partners were also engaged to further diversify exposure and provide routing flexibility during peak demand periods. Cumulatively, this freight strategy transformation has generated savings in excess of $150,000 while directly supporting the company's commercial growth.

Every demurrage invoice received for bulk vessel operations undergoes a thorough independent review — including cross-referencing the Statement of Facts, NOR, port logs, charter party clauses, and applicable exceptions (bad weather, SSHEX EIU, etc.). The majority of invoices reviewed contain errors: incorrect laytime commencement, excluded periods not applied, or miscalculated rates. By building formal counter-calculations and supporting argument letters for each dispute, I have consistently reduced demurrage liabilities. Cumulatively, this systematic approach has saved the company in excess of $80,000 across my career to date.

Container booking invoices are routinely issued with errors — incorrect freight rates, unapplied discounts, duplicate charges, or wrong container counts. I introduced and personally led a mandatory invoice verification process for all container bookings, auditing each document against confirmed booking confirmations, tariff sheets, and carrier agreements. Once the process was embedded, I transitioned to a supervisory role — setting standards, training the team, and performing quality control checks to ensure accuracy was maintained. This structured approach has recovered over $50,000 in billing discrepancies across my career, preventing overcharges that would otherwise have gone undetected.

When consignees raise quality disagreements upon discharge, each case is treated as a full internal investigation. The process involves direct communication with the appointed surveyor, a review of all loading and inspection documentation, an assessment of any transit conditions that may have affected cargo quality (including heavy weather events or unusual vessel movements), and follow-up with the carrier where relevant. The buyer's claim is then addressed with a formal response referencing the contract terms, applicable GAFTA or FOSFA rules, and all gathered evidence. This structured approach consistently protects the company's contractual position and maintains professional relationships with buyers throughout the resolution process.

At TITUL-IT, the agency I co-founded in Odesa, we built long-term digital partnerships with some of the region's most recognizable brands — including City-Center, Arcadia City, Sky Mall (Kyiv), Hotel De Paris, Aquapark Hawaii, Chayka Restaurant, Titul Taxi, and others. Across 3+ years of continuous collaboration, we delivered full-cycle digital marketing: targeted advertising on Facebook and Instagram with structured audience segmentation and creative testing; Google Ads campaigns across search, display, and shopping; traffic acquisition via push notification networks (including Push.House) to extend reach beyond standard paid channels; custom website development on Vue.js, React, WordPress, and Tilda with HTML and CSS page layouts; creative production in Photoshop and Canva for social media, digital ads, and outdoor placements; and end-to-end Instagram account management including content strategy, publishing, and audience growth. The sustained duration of these partnerships — well beyond typical project engagements — reflects the consistent performance and trust we built with each brand over time.