After the closure of the Polish checkpoint “Kuznitsa Belostotskaya” (on the Belarusian territory it borders on the checkpoint “Bruzgi”), the situation at other border checkpoints between Belarus and the European Union has become much more complicated. This is especially true for the movement of freight transport.
Belarusian side blames neighbors for queues
Now, heavy vehicles can cross the Belarusian-Polish border only through two border crossings. According to the State Border Committee (BSC) of Belarus, on the morning of December 3, about 400 trucks had accumulated at the checkpoint “Berestovitsa”, and half a thousand in “Kozlovichi”. And on the morning of December 6 – already, respectively, about 500 and almost a thousand trucks.
Checkpoint “Kozlovichi”
The Belarusian border department says that the Polish side fulfills only 70% of the agreements on the registration of heavy trucks, which is why there is a congestion of cars in other directions. The State Border Committee has about the same claims to its Lithuanian colleagues: about 2.7 thousand trucks are now stuck in the queue at five crossings with this country.
At the same time, the CPC notes that even after passing all the control services on the Belarusian side, drivers have to wait more than four hours to enter Lithuania and Poland. The Latvian side lets the trucks in without delay, but there is a lot of traffic too due to the redistribution of the flow of trucks after the closure of the Bruzgi – Kuznitsa Belostotskaya border crossing.
“At the customs they say:” We are working as usual “
As the DW correspondent was convinced, the queue of trucks to the Kozlovichi checkpoint, which is located near Brest, stretched for almost 15 kilometers. Experienced truck drivers admit that such a distance is not critical, if not for one nuance: the convoy moves no more than three kilometers per day.
The driver of the Ukrainian heavy truck Sergei admits that he got used to it when it took him from nine to twelve hours to pass the Belarusian-Polish border, but now the situation is much more serious. “I made my last flight two weeks ago to the European Union through the Lithuanian border and then stayed for four days. Now I decided to come to Kozlovichi, but I’ll probably spend the same amount of time,” Sergey complains. He does not want to guess about the reasons for the appearance of such queues: “Nobody really tells us anything: we know that the Poles closed one crossing, but this is hardly the only reason we have to stand at the border for so long.”
Drivers spend more than 12 hours in line at the border
The Ukrainian driver is complemented by Belarusian Viktor, who works for a Polish transport company: “If someone is impatient to call the customs office with complaints, the answer is always:“ We are working as usual. ”Is this normal?” Most of all, drivers are upset that idle time at the border affects the unloading and loading schedule, for the failure of which there are penalties. “Some companies take these costs on themselves, but sometimes the truckers themselves have to pay for everything,” Viktor explained.
Good news is not expected by the New Year
As the drivers say, for those who transport perishable goods, there is a special pass (it costs several thousand euros a year) and the ability to book time to visit the checkpoint, but now this does not always help to quickly cross the border.
During the night, the queue advances only three kilometers
“When you stand for several days on the sidelines, and a dozen trucks overtake you at once and everything supposedly with passes, it comes to conflicts: many have their nerves at the limit,” says Alexander, a driver from Kaliningrad. He himself decided to try for the first time to enter the European Union through the Belarusian-Polish border, since there is even more truck queue on the Lithuanian direction. “I hoped that I would get to Europe faster, although now I’m not sure about that: I entered the queue on December 2 at eight in the evening, and moved only three kilometers during the night,” the Russian driver does not hide his chagrin.
He also predicts that with the approaching Christmas and New Year holidays, when the cargo traffic usually grows, the situation will only get worse: “Maybe something will change, but so far, from conversations with colleagues, I conclude that this year there is no need to expect good news “.
Cross-border service is poor
Truckers have the opportunity to compare the level of service at different checkpoints on different sides of the border. “When I was driving through Privalka (a Belarusian-Lithuanian crossing near Grodno), I experienced a shock,” recalls the Ukrainian Sergey. there were no basic living conditions. “
According to him, the Belarusian border guards threatened to call the riot police at the drivers’ requests to let them go to the toilet, although there is no alternative on the highway at the entrance to the border checkpoint. The same applies to food: truckers are rescued either by food cooked at home and taken on the flight, or enterprising locals who bring homemade meals to the queue. “From the Lithuanian side, at least you get into the drive, and there you already have at least some conveniences (you can take a shower, have lunch in a cafe) until the time comes to register the cargo,” notes the trucker.
He estimates the situation at the entrance to the Kozlovichi better, but in general, standing for many hours in the border lines does not add optimism. “What is there to hide: we have to drive on the highway and break the sleep regime, and sacrifice a lot to compensate for these downtime. We have created a situation that pushes law violations and has a bad effect on road safety,” Sergey summed up, with to which his fellow drivers are in solidarity.
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