17.11.2022

PRESS RELEASE

Truck queues of tens of kilometers at Romania's border with Ukraine block the activity of road carriers. UNTRR calls on the authorities to grant priority to trucks with processed customs documents – TIR

The National Union of Road Hauliers from Romania (UNTRR) is deeply concerned about  the tens of kilometers of truck queues at the Romanian border with Ukraine and the very long waiting times at the border, which block the activity of road carriers and professional drivers:

• More than 40 km queue of trucks on the Ukrainian side at the border crossing point Siret (Romania) – Porubne (Ukraine) – in November 2022: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iROLzkGA8dY&t=68s),
• More than 10 km queue of trucks on the Romanian side - in November 2022: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Evq_H4OUwOI&t=4s.

Since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, very long waiting times have been frequently recorded at the border between Romania and Ukraine, reaching even a week of waiting for crossing the border from one country to another, a fact that affects the flow of goods on commercial routes and the activity of professional drivers. Road transport companies complain that the situation is worsening and professional drivers do not benefit of adequate waiting conditions at all.

UNTRR calls on the Romanian and Ukrainian authorities to grant priority to trucks with processed customs documents - such as TIR, which have electronic TIR-EPD pre-declarations sent in advance through the information system to the customs authorities at the border crossing points. By stimulating the use of TIR system, the time required for customs formalities at border crossing points is reduced to a minimum and thus processing capacity can be significantly increased.

The objective of the Customs Convention on the International Transport of Goods under the Cover of TIR Carnets (TIR Convention) is to facilitate international transit through a simplified Customs transit procedures and over the last 70 years, TIR developed into the only globally applicable international customs transit and guarantee system. As customs control measures are taken in the country of departure and are accepted by all countries of transit and destination, there is no need for physical controls at the border; customs must only inspect the TIR seals. TIR has been shown to cut transport times by up to 80%. Romania and Ukraine are Contracting Parties of the TIR Convention.

TIR system is a reliable solution to facilitate the border crossing between Romania and Ukraine.

By simply stimulating the use of this traditional, safe, and reliable international convention known and applied in the region, the benefits are significant as the time required to process the customs formalities at the border crossing points is reduced to the minimum, facilitating faster border crossings and enabling the customs authorities to increase their processing capacity. By giving priority to trucks under the TIR system, the number of trucks that can pass through Romanian – Ukrainian borders can be increased by 2 to 3 times in 24 h.

In the absence of prioritization of trucks driving under the TIR system, at this moment considerable truck queues are at the border crossing points between Romania and Ukraine.

Road transport industry needs the urgent intervention of both Romanian and Ukrainian authorities to reducing the long waiting times at the Romanian border with Ukraine. The National Union of Road Hauliers from Romania - UNTRR calls for urgent and coordinated measures from the Romanian and Ukrainian authorities to give priority to trucks under the TIR system and the TIR-EPD application in order to reduce the very long waiting times at the border and significantly increase the number of trucks that cross the RO-UA border daily.

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The National Union of Road Hauliers from Romania (UNTRR) is a professional and employer’s organization, non-governmental, independent, and apolitical, founded in 1990 on democratic principles, which promotes and defends the interests of road hauliers on national and international level, with more than 16,000 registered companies since its establishment – companies operating national and international transports of goods and passengers.