Thousands of lorries have been stranded on the Poland-Ukraine border since early November due to the weeks-long border protest by Polish truckers against the European Union's preferential treatment of Ukrainian drivers.
The protesters had continued to block the border with Ukraine on four fronts, leaving around 3,300 trucks queuing up on the Polish side waiting to enter Ukraine as of Friday morning. Up to 1,200 vehicles have been in line at the Shehyni checkpoint, while some 850 trucks are waiting at the Rava-Ruska checkpoint.
Starting on Nov. 6, Polish truckers began to block the Dorohusk, Hrebenne and Korczowa crossing points and other freight ports on the border with Ukraine, and they only let a few Ukrainian trucks go through every hour, demanding the EU to resume the implementation of permit system of Ukrainian transport vehicles, and at the same time treat fairly the waiting time of trucks on the Ukrainian side waiting to return to Poland.
The blockade has left a large number of trucks stranded at multiple border crossings. The line of vehicles at the ports of Dorohusk and Medyka was once as long as 80 kilometres, and the transit time increased from a dozen hours to about two weeks.
Ukrainian driver Yaroslav said he had previously been stuck on the Polish side of the border for two weeks in severely cold weather, without toilets, bathing facilities, and even warm food, as there are no shops near the crossing.
"There are no shops near the checkpoint. The nearest is 5 or 7 kilometres away and even 10 kilometres away. It depends on where the vehicle is parked," he said.
Those drivers who don't want to wait any longer can only choose to find another way to Ukraine.
"I waited at the [Polish] border for eight days. Then I could only take a detour through [Slovakia's] Uzhhorod border station, which is about 300 to 400 kilometres away [from the Poland-Ukraine border]," said Ukrainian trucker Andriy.
On the Ukrainian side of the border, although the congestion is not as serious as that on the Polish side, there are also long queues of vehicles.
Ukrainian authorities, with the support of the European Commission, have coordinated with the Polish Ministry of Infrastructure, but given that the import and export of goods in Ukraine are currently mainly transported by road, the number of trucks heading to the border with Poland continues to increase.
"The problem is that not everywhere has toilets. We are trying to install bio-toilets, but they don't work well. And we're almost running out of food," said Ukrainian driver Natalya.
Ukraine's state railway company announced on Thursday evening that it had begun transporting trucks heading towards Poland into the country by train, and the trucks stranded in Poland will similarly return to Ukraine.
An official with the company said that after the train successfully crosses the border, the company will launch the truck transport plan en masse to send the Ukrainian lorries stuck at the Polish border back by rail.
The main appeal of the Polish drivers is the EU's unfair treatment of Ukrainian transport companies. Due to the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the bloc began to relax restrictions on Ukrainian transportation companies in 2022, allowing Ukrainian drivers to freely enter and exit the EU countries without a permit and stay in the EU for 50 days.
This move has led to Ukrainian freight trucks piling into the EU market to occupy the share of Poland, Slovakia and other countries. Data show that before the conflict, 37 per cent of the freight between Poland and Ukraine was transported by Polish carriers and 63 per cent by Ukrainian carriers. But now, Poland holds only 8 per cent of the market, while Ukraine grabs 92 per cent.
The protesters are also very dissatisfied with Ukraine's online queue system for trucks at the border. Polish Deputy Minister of Infrastructure Rafal Weber said Monday that the system forces Polish trucks to wait 12 to 14 days before returning, which is a completely unfair competition.
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