The cargo border is crowded again! But truckers are not targeting Europe.
On the eve of the weekend, Belarus took measures in response to the EU's ban on the movement of Belarusian and Russian carriers through the EU. From midnight on April 16, European carriers were banned from moving across the EAEU customs border. Restrictions on transportation did not affect those vehicles that carry mail and live animals. Trucks that managed to enter before April 16 have a week to go back.
However, this did not mean that the flow of goods across the border decreased. Just the order will be different. European carriers are now allowed to cross the border with Belarus and reach the designated places where Belarusian and Russian companies will pick up, reload or reload cargo. The State Customs Committee has identified 14 such points at the border. Two of them are tied to the Brest "Kozlovichi": transport and logistics centers "Brest-Beltamozhservice" (45A Leytenanta Ryabtseva St.) and "Brest-Beltamozhservis-2" (next to PE "Kozlovichi"). In the future, the State Customs Committee, in agreement with the Ministry of Transport, will be able to determine other places for quarrels, if necessary.
Last weekend, our western neighbors celebrated the bright holiday of Catholic Easter, so the activity of freight was not too high. But since Monday the movement has gone. The Vechirky correspondent went to Kozlovichi and the adjacent transport and logistics center to find out what it looked like.
At the entrance to the border crossing - again queues in two rows. So far - not very long, the "tail" did not get Kleinikov, we saw more. But, interestingly, the cars are not at the border. They just drive there fast. Most trucks - with European, Belarusian and Russian license plates - are waiting in line at the TLC. Some people unload goods here, some people take them away - and this process is very active. It is clear that for the carriers themselves, it is still a novelty: here is another scheme of paperwork, and not yet fully polished scheme "one unloaded - the other took away." Sometimes all lanes are blocked in the direction of Kozlovychi - the traffic police inspector has to join the case and clear the road. Drivers - Belarusians, Russians and Poles - actively communicate with each other. It is obvious that they do not like this scheme of loading and unloading - it used to be easier when the load is always in your semi-trailer. But the mood is better than a week ago. When the European Union announced sanctions, it seemed possible to lose one's job.
We are together with the head of the Brest customs Serhiy Yakuta delves into the new specifics of transportation.
- From April 16, vehicles registered in the European Union and engaged in international cargo transportation can travel to Belarus through certain checkpoints to designated places for cargo operations for switching, transshipment or transshipment. In total, there are 14 such places in Belarus, eight of which are customs control zones in transport and logistics centers, and six are waiting zones, Serhiy Mykolayovych notes. - In the TLC we have organized all the necessary measures for reloading, transshipment or switching vehicles. It looks like this. For example, a Polish carrier shipped foreign goods to the address of a Belarusian recipient in the Minsk region. When placing goods under the customs transit procedure at the Kozlovichi checkpoint, he is invited to drive to the nearest TLC for cargo operations. The vehicle arrives at the TLC. The recipient of the goods can immediately carry out customs clearance of these goods, ie. submit an import declaration, pay all necessary payments and release the goods for free circulation in Belarus. It is also possible for the Polish carrier not to return home empty, to load our Belarusian export cargo or to pick up our Belarusian semi-trailer with cargo and deliver it to European recipients.
Freight operations, according to Sergei Yakuta, remain at the discretion of the carriers themselves. Who is more convenient to carry out interception, ie. change the tractor of the European carrier to the Belarusian or Russian, they just leave the semi-trailer in the TLC, and the cargo does not leave it. The overload, accordingly, assumes that an empty truck will arrive at the border - and Belmitservice employees will transport all the contents of the truck from the adjacent territory to it. Transshipment also involves reloading goods, but with the issuance of new supporting documents (for example, from rail to road). "Everything here depends on how our business will work," said the head of the Brest customs. - Switching loads is definitely the fastest way. But the decision remains with the carriers themselves. "
Judging by the first day of really active activity in the TLC, all options for moving goods are in demand so far. Belmitservice employees have enough work to do, and drivers are getting used to the new realities. This is a kaleidoscope of events in just a week…