Queues at the Ukrainian-Polish border stretched for 60 km

For several days, carriers have been protesting at the border crossing in Dorohusk, Poland. The protest may spread to other checkpoints on the border with Ukraine: in Hrebenne and Korczowa. The reason for the blockade is the many kilometers long queues of trucks on the Ukrainian side of the border.

As the Polish publication rzeszow.wyborcza.pl writes, in Dorohusk, truck drivers blocked the passage to the border crossing. 

Every hour, one car was allowed to enter and one car was allowed to leave Poland. Carriers are protesting against the increase in waiting time for inspection on the Ukrainian side of the border. In Dorohusk, more than 2.6 thousand people were waiting for passage to Poland. Trucks are in a queue of almost 60 kilometers. Drivers emphasize that the conditions in which they are located are terrible: there are no toilets, you can’t buy food, they wait for several days. Polish drivers also complain. 400 trucks were waiting to leave Poland.

Carriers want Ukrainians to restore the possibility of travel for unloaded trucks returning from Ukraine in an empty lane. This would significantly reduce the waiting time for registration. They also call for phytosanitary and veterinary inspections to be carried out around the clock.

Thus, Polish carriers want to put pressure on the Polish authorities to start negotiations with the Ukrainian side, which would lead to changes in customs clearance. Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki announced that he would hold a conversation with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmygal at the end of the week.

Łukasz Białas, the head of the Carriers’ Protest Committee in Zamość, Poland, said that the protest could last even until October. Protesters talk about the spread of the protest to the border crossings of Hrebenne and Korczowa. 

On Wednesday morning, traffic in Korczowa was regular. According to the press secretary of the Bieszczady Border Guard Department, Lieutenant Piotr Zakelarz, 50 trucks were waiting to leave Poland, and ten times more were waiting to enter Poland from the Ukrainian side.

The Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers claims that the problem should be solved by establishing round-the-clock phytosanitary and veterinary control, which, in particular, is what Polish carriers demand. Deputy Minister of Infrastructure Mustafa Nayem said that before the full-scale war, up to 80 trucks a day passed the control, and in recent days their number has decreased to between 12 and 25 cars. “If there are objective reasons for such a slowdown, then we are ready to do everything in our power to speed up the process and increase 1 the capacity of the checkpoint. But at the same time, we expect the same progress from all services on the Polish side,” the official emphasized.  

According to him, Ukraine offered to move this registration outside the checkpoint, provide its specialists, organize inspections on the Ukrainian side and agree to the option of colleagues from Poland. Despite this, there was no progress and fewer and fewer cars were checked every day. 

On September 6, he wrote on Facebook: “A preliminary agreement has been reached on the opening of another checkpoint, which will be temporarily used for the departure of empty freight transport. Additional information on the location of the checkpoint and the launch dates will be provided after the technical details are agreed. We very much hope for an improvement in the situation with the phytosanitary and veterinary services, with which negotiations are being conducted at all levels.”

Earlier, the founder and head of the transport and forwarding company ETS, Oleksandr Miniailo, noted that the term for passing the Ukrainian-Polish border for a number of reasons is 8-11 days, which affects the efficiency of the business.

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