* EASTERN EUROPE - Road Haulage Trucks close border to freight traffic
Bulgary/Turkish border -Handy Shipping Guide -10 May 2013: -- Road haulage operators throughout Western Europe have grown used to the ease with which borders can be transited with the development of free trade over the past few decades. It seems that the situation further east however sometimes harks backs to days when driving an international freight vehicle could prove a lot more complex and time consuming experience as one customs point was closed to freight traffic allowing only buses and private cars to cross... The rumbling row between Turkish and Bulgarian authorities over the imbalance between the countries two sets of road carriers was stepped up this week as hundreds of vehicles queued back along the border road to Svilengrad after blocking the Kapitan Andreevo crossing. The Bulgarians claim that Turkish authorities have been making the transit of their vehicles increasingly bureaucratic and drivers have been subjected to unnecessary delays when crossing into Turkey...
Perhaps the most serious charge is the allegation that the Customs chief has written to all border posts instructing them to check for the practice of ‘double passing’ saying the letter states ‘especially Bulgarian vehicles’... The row escalated further when Petko Angelov, deputy chairman of the Bulgarian Association of Road Transport Unions (BASAT) which represents around 60% of the countries hauliers, alleged to local journalists that it was the Turkish Ministry of Transport which instructed the head of Customs in Ankara to distribute the contentious letter and that those who breach the regulations should simply be banned whereas currently there were €100 ‘fines’ in place... Latest reports state that the blockade has been lifted and trucks are once again transiting the border but it is highly unlikely that this is the end of the problem with meetings between the authorities of both countries likely to discuss the situation after the action by hauliers over the past day or so...Labels: border troubles, trucking industry news worldwide
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