Europe is closing border crossings “along the entire perimeter,” disrupting freight transit through Russia and Belarus. Poland and Latvia have each left one crossing open for Russian truck carriers, while Lithuania has left two.
Surprisingly, the designed capacity of the remaining open crossings is comparable to the volume of traffic that passed through the closed crossings.
Trend of closures
Finland closed all its crossings—at least until mid-April—according to Vadim Zakharenko, Deputy Chairman of the AEB Committee on Customs and Transport and head of IRU’s Eurasian representation, speaking at the TransRussia trade show. As of February 1, Estonia also closed another crossing on its route. The largest share of traffic now goes through Lithuania’s crossings—up to 80%, the expert notes.
“Deliveries from Finland have not stopped. Trucks have simply rerouted through Estonia’s crossings,” he continues.
Truck carriers can now cross the Russia–EU border at only four remaining points. Although those crossings can, in theory, process over 4,200 loaded trucks per day, additional border controls on both sides have cut capacity by at least half.
“As a result, only about 25% of trucks ready to cross the border actually do so,” the expert says.
Market participants say the biggest bottleneck over the past year has been transshipment and trailer re-hitching: either loading cargo onto a different heavy truck or swapping trailers. Last year, about 500,000 such operations took place at specially designated sites in Belarus—around 1,400 per day—comparable to 2022 levels, Zakharenko adds.
Rising costs of road transport
The border crossings still operating between Estonia and Latvia are under heavy strain, and some are overwhelmed. This has led to queues of loaded and empty trucks; border delays now reach four days, the expert notes. Depending on the contract, each day of waiting costs a carrier up to €400. Costs are rising further: in late January, Belarus introduced a fee for entry into designated staging areas; Russian carriers now also pay an additional 1,400 rubles.
“Earlier this year, international truckers faced another surprise at the Russia–Belarus border: drivers and vehicles were blocked on one side or the other,” he continues.
The expert refers to a ban on foreign drivers crossing the union state’s borders. Two weeks later, this was resolved by designating a fixed checkpoint through which foreign drivers may cross—but only drivers from the CIS, Iran, Turkey, and China. Moreover, that checkpoint was not included among crossings permitted to handle sanctioned goods in transit, Zakharenko explains.
“Some carriers encountered major difficulties transporting perishables through the customs zone without knowing how to proceed. This makes it impossible to plan their business operations,” the expert concludes.