Terrible news for business. Thousands of trucks are waiting on the border with Ukraine

– The waiting time to cross the border is already very long and is still increasing due to seasonal factors and repairs at some crossings, Sergei Derkach, Deputy Minister of Development of Society, Territories and Infrastructure

told the Ukrainian media.

– Indeed, the number of vehicles standing in queues at the western borders is increasing. But we see it online because we have an electronic waiting list. Therefore, vehicles wanting to cross the border are not physically on the roads. However, the bad news is that the queues are there - and they are getting longer. This causes serious problems in the operations of companies - the Ukrainian media quotes Sergei Derkach as saying. He admitted that a similar phenomenon also occurred in previous years, although not to the same extent. He also added that the ongoing border work will help improve the local infrastructure in the future.

According to the Ukrainian minister, maintenance works are currently underway at the Jagodin-Dorohousk border crossing on the border with Poland. And since the scale on the Polish side of the border is currently out of order, the number of vehicles that can be checked in there per day is now about 400 instead of 680. The Porubnoje-Siret crossing on the Romanian border is also undergoing renovation. – This forced us to reduce the number of vehicles served there to 200, from over 300, so the waiting time automatically increased from three to five days – added Sergei Derkach.

In turn, since October 6, the Orlovka-Isaccea crossing has been closed, from which approximately 1,500 vehicles were redirected to other crossings, which also extended the waiting lists. Many vehicles from this point chose the Starokozache-Tudora crossing on the border with Moldova or other border crossings. And there the queues got longer.

Sergei Derkach said he expected the queues to decrease only in December. – You will see that after December 24, due to the holidays, we will not have trucks at the borders at all. For example, in August, traffic was interrupted through the newly opened border crossing with Poland in Niżankowicze-Malhowice, through which only empty trucks can pass. This means that we had periods when there was no vehicle for hours. But now there are thousands of them there, he said.

Virtual queues on the Ukrainian border

The number of vehicles in queues on Ukraine's western borders is growing, as evidenced by an electronic waiting list monitored by the authorities. These are vehicles that want to get to neighboring countries but are not physically on the roads. Long queues are a serious problem for companies.

Similar phenomenon had occurred in previous years, but the scale of difficulties was smaller. The Ukrainian authorities draw attention to the benefits that will result from the work. The reconstruction is intended to improve the local infrastructure.