Moldovan transporters ask that the authorities urgently take measures to streamline traffic on the Moldovan-Ukrainian border.
The International Association of Road Hauliers (AITA) and the Union of Transporters and Road Workers (UTD) of Moldova appealed to the country's leadership, drawing attention to the need for urgent intervention and determination of solutions to organize adequate timing of transport movement across the border. The letter says that since the beginning of the war, the waiting time at customs has increased from about 48 hours to 4-5 days. This situation creates obstacles for international freight transportation and does not allow maintaining the balance of working and rest time of drivers; creates additional costs for transport companies. In addition, the export of perishable products from Moldova is under threat. In their appeal to the President, Prime Minister and Minister of Infrastructure and Regional Development, the transport associations ask to discuss this issue with the Romanian authorities in order to identify immediate solutions to optimize the traffic for international road freight transport in the context of crossing the Moldovan-Romanian border. Earlier the Customs Service (CS) reported that since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, the number of vehicles at the Moldovan-Romanian border has increased 2.5 times and the number of processed declarations has increased by over 70% compared to the same period last year. In order to reduce the time of stay at border customs posts the CS recommended economic operators to get the authorized exporter status, and carriers of goods with TIR carnet (book of international road transport) to use TIR-EPD (TIR Electronic PRE-Declaration) system. Also, the agency initiated negotiations with the Romanian competent authorities in order to determine the possibilities of regulating the traffic of vehicles at the border. At the same time, based on a decision of the Commission for Emergency Situations, the CS has identified special posts for the passage through the Moldovan-Romanian border of vehicles without cargo. The ministry said special customs checkpoints and customs clearance procedures are to be set depending on the category of goods and types of transport, and perishable goods carriers were to be given priority clearance. // 01.06.2022 - InfoMarket
