Having considered the appeal of Lithuanian and Polish carriers, President of Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenko has made a decision today on the possibility of cargo vehicles with Lithuanian registration to leave the Belarusian territory. Almost immediately after the media reported on the news, several dozen drivers gathered at a special site near the Belarusian Benyakoni checkpoint on the border with Lithuania.
As noted by Dmitry Parfenov, who heads the Benyakoni customs post at the Grodno Regional Customs, people are actively interested in the financial issue, as tariffs for parking services for the trucks with Lithuanian registration in Belarus have been significantly reduced, and they are also clarifying the necessary details for leaving the territory of the republic. There are a total of 274 vehicles in special parking lots at the checkpoint, and they can leave Belarus within a few days, since the Benyakoni capacity is 250 cars per day.
“Further crossing of the border by heavy trucks depends on the Lithuanian side. The State Customs Committee of Belarus has sent a proposal to the Lithuanian Customs Service today to increase the flow of trucks, and we hope to get a positive response,” Mr. Parfenov said.
Lithuanian car drivers look at the situation realistically: Lithuania has always had problems with the rapid crossing of the state border. “There will definitely be a collapse in the first few days. The Lithuanian side will not work faster to let the trucks in, as it has always worked slowly. I think there will be total chaos, but we used to stay up to 10-15 hours in a queue – so we have got accustomed, actually. We hope for the best,” driver Denis said.
Drivers from Lithuanian companies are very happy with the decision of the Belarusian leader, because – after placing vehicles in the special parking lots – many of them were forced to go on unpaid leave. Not everyone wanted to change jobs, but it was difficult to live without money.
“Thank God, the President has resolved this issue!” driver Aleksandr Golovach thanked Aleksandr Lukashenko. “It’s not great to stay idle for several months, and we will be able to at last do our job properly. We were really looking forward to this moment with a worry. We even thought about changing our place of employment, but everything is fine now – and it’s the key point.”
Both drivers and carriers suffered from the inaction of the Lithuanian authorities. Some companies had to temporarily leave 5-6 vehicles in Belarus, which brought losses instead of huge revenues. Driver Aleksei explained, “My company will pay 26,000 Euros for four cars. Can you imagine? I doubt they’ll get their money back. Lithuania, not going into dialogue with Belarus about its trucks, has lost all logistics. Goods are going through Poland and Latvia. What has it achieved?”
Carriers in Lithuania have lost not only a lot of money, but also human resources: after all, not all drivers wanted to wait for six months without any money paid. Moreover, the Lithuanian policy towards foreigners is becoming increasingly categorical: as noted by Vitaly Davidyan, a driver from Lithuania, [Lithuanian] companies do not extend residence permits to their employees and refuse in visa-related issues. “I’ve heard a lot of sad stories from carriers. When the authorities do not pay attention to their people, when they are not interested in all this, then it’s simply monstrous,” he said. “People are suffering! It’s good that the situation has been resolved, and people have a chance to start doing business again. There is still a question of capacity and queues at the borders. Will the country want to let its own people in quickly?”
