When the Market Stays Silent, the One Left Alone Pays the Price

Recently, one of my colleagues from Georgia wrote to me: “Watching closely your posts and developments about your case, always thinking, how shipping community can help and why they are silent?” That sentence captures the whole story.

The most painful part of my conflict with Varamar Shipping DMCC and Alexander Varvarenko is no longer even the unpaid commission itself. The most revealing part is the silence of the market.

Yes, this is about my specific case. Yes, this is about an earned brokerage commission that was never paid. Yes, this is about a personal WhatsApp “fine” that Alexander Varvarenko announced instead of payment. Yes, this is about demands for “repentance,” police complaints, and a claim for “moral damages.”

But in a broader sense, this has long ceased to be only my personal issue. It is about what is considered acceptable in our market at all.

Can a company first receive the money, then place the broker in a payment queue, then replace settlement with a personal fine, and then even try to turn the broker into a criminal simply because he informed the market of the facts?

If the answer is yes, then tomorrow any other broker, agent, bunker supplier, port counterparty, or service company may find itself in my place.

That is exactly why I entered this conflict all the way. Not because I had nothing better to do. Not because I enjoy publicity. But because someone had to draw a line and say: this is not acceptable.

What makes all this especially cynical is my own situation. I live and work in Ukraine, a country that has been living under full-scale war for years. Every day in Kyiv and in other cities, people go to sleep not knowing whether they will wake up in the morning. For me, the earned commission is not an abstract commercial dispute. It is a matter of survival, stability, basic fairness, and respect for work.

But judging by the actions of Alexander Varvarenko, none of this appears to matter to him. A Belgian citizen with a Ukrainian surname decided to launch a personal vendetta against a Ukrainian broker who did his job, delivered a commercial result, and received a WhatsApp fine instead of settlement.

And that is where the main question for the market arises. Why does everyone act as if this has nothing to do with them?

History has already shown many times that silence is not neutral. The silence in response to Russia’s aggression against Georgia in 2008, and the silence over the annexation of Crimea in 2014, ultimately helped bring the situation to a full-scale war against Ukraine.

When wrongdoing is not confronted in time, it does not disappear. It grows.

The same logic applies in business. When the market remains silent in response to openly unacceptable conduct, that silence is taken as permission to continue. When nobody reacts, those who abuse their position begin to feel untouchable.

The market could have reacted differently. Colleagues could have formally asked Varamar Shipping DMCC and Alexander Varvarenko one simple question: why is the earned commission still unpaid? Companies could have directly informed Varamar Shipping DMCC that until the commission issue was fully resolved, cooperation would be put on hold. The professional community could at least have shown that it sees what is happening and understands that this is not about “personal emotions,” but about a principled issue of commercial ethics.

But instead, most prefer silence. I do not blame anyone for being cautious. I understand that for many it is easier not to get involved. But let us be honest: silence also has a price. And in the end, that price is always paid by someone left alone — the one who was not afraid to call things by their proper names.

My position remains unchanged. I did not create this conflict. I did my job. I waited far too long for payment. I received not settlement, but a personal fine. And until the obligations owed to me are performed, I consider it both my right and my duty to continue informing the market.

Because this is no longer only about me. It is about what kind of market we want to have: a market of professionals, where obligations are honored, or a market where a counterparty can be humiliated, payment can be blocked, and everyone else is expected to pretend that nothing happened. Everyone can answer that question for themselves.

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