There is already a 7-month-long queue of trucks at the border between Ukraine and Poland

The situation on the Ukrainian-Polish border, where Polish truckers have been on strike since November 6th, continues to deteriorate.

According to “Ukrtransbezpeka” (Ukrainian Transport Security), as of November 7th, only one border crossing point, “Yagodyn-Dorokhush,” practically came to a halt. Only 33 trucks passed through in a day, while there were 5,267 vehicles waiting in line. This means that with the current rate, one would have to wait in line for nearly 160 days. For comparison, on the morning of November 6th (before the strike began), this border crossing processed 433 vehicles in a day with a queue of 6,234 trucks. This represents a decrease in Yagodyn’s capacity of more than 13 times.

At the “Krakovec-Korchova” crossing, 318 trucks crossed on November 7th with a queue of 1,830 vehicles.

At the “Rava-Ruska-Khrebeni” crossing, 263 vehicles were allowed through with a queue of 2,054 vehicles. These figures were almost the same as before the strike started.

However, the situation changed on November 8th. According to “Ukrtransbezpeka,” as of the morning of November 9th, during the previous day, only 23 trucks passed through “Yagodyn-Dorokhush,” which is 10 less than on November 7th and nearly 20 times less than before the strike. Moreover, the queue has grown to over 5,000 trucks. If the current system remains in place, truckers would have to wait a record 217 days or more than 7 months, which is virtually impossible.

The situation has also significantly worsened at the “Rava-Ruska-Khrebeni” crossing. On November 6th, 263 trucks passed through, while on November 8th, only 33 did.

“It’s clear that in such a situation, no transporters will be willing to go anywhere. They won’t even consider booking because I can’t even imagine the exorbitant tariffs they’d have to charge,” said Viktor Berestenko, the head of the Association of International Forwarders and the owner of a transportation company.

The situation at the “Krakovec-Korchova” crossing is somewhat better. On November 8th, 285 trucks passed through, which is only slightly less than the day before.

“The situation is better at Krakovec because humanitarian aid can pass through, which the Poles allow, and, most importantly, there is a receiving point where trucks carrying priority cargo can enter. For example, at Dorokhush, humanitarian aid physically cannot cross the border because the queue starts as far back as Chełm, and trucks simply cannot reach the crossing point,” said Vladimir Balin, the head of the Association of International Transporters.

According to his information, the strike could end as early as tonight.

“Polish transporters are currently in negotiations with the Polish Ministry of Infrastructure. They demand that it be referred to the European Commission regarding the liberalization of transportation for Ukraine. As for the issues related to requirements for Ukrainian authorities (such as allowing Polish transporters into the ‘Shlyakh’ system), Polish officials will need to address them directly with our government. And during the negotiations, it seems like Polish transporters were planning to end the strike. At least, we are very hopeful for this because the border is practically at a standstill, and no one can work under these conditions,” Balin explained.

It should be noted that there is no confirmation of this information from the Polish side at the moment.