Polish hauliers will block several border crossings with Ukraine from next week in protest to what they say is the free rein of Ukrainian hauliers in Poland, which is damaging their business, on Thursday, the 2nd of November, one of the organisers of the protests told Reuters.
Protesters in Poland plan to start action on the 6th of November. The protest is a reaction to economic problems in Europe and the European Union’s (EU) 2022 easing of regulations for Ukrainian transport companies.
Protesters plan to disrupt truck traffic at three border crossings,
allowing only one truck per hour to cross.
According to the protest statement seen by Reuters, certain exemptions for Ukrainian military transports and livestock transports will be maintained.
The protesters’ demands include the reinstatement of restrictions on the entry of Ukrainian-registered trucks into Poland and a ban on transport companies with capital outside, according to the report.
“Ukrainian transport companies […] are entering without restrictions and carrying out transports operations they have no right to carry out,” said Jacek Sokol, co-organiser of the protest and deputy head of the Committee for the Protection of Transporters and Transport Employers, to Reuters.
Sokol pointed out that the protest would affect traffic in both directions at the border crossings in Dorohuska and Hrebenne-Rawa-Ruska, as well as outbound traffic through Korczów. According to Sokol, Ukrainian transport companies received 160 000-180 000 permits per year for specific transports requiring entry or transit through Poland, but not for transport within the country and now
“these companies do what they want. There is an uncontrolled influx, just like with grain.”
Local media quoted Serhiy Derkach, Ukraine’s Deputy Minister of Infrastructure, as saying that the protest was just an opportunity to disrupt Ukraine’s competing truck carriers, which account for 85% of those crossing the Ukraine-Poland border to import or export goods into Ukraine.
According to the Ukrainian Ministry of Infrastructure, the number of trucks crossing the border with Poland has doubled to 40 000-50 000 per month at eight border crossings since the start of the war, while the Ukrainian transport fleet carrying the majority of goods.
Karol Rychlicki, owner of a small Polish haulage company and head of a driver association in the eastern Polish city of Siedlce, told Reuters that the upcoming protest was linked to the difficult situation of Polish transport companies, which are losing markets in the east, particularly in Ukraine and Belarus, due to Russian counter-sanctions after the 2022 invasion.
He said that the protesters had already submitted their demands to the government in July, but only received a reply at the end of October, which did not satisfy them and prompted the planned protest.
Read also: US introduces new sanctions against Russia over the war in Ukraine
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