According to the government-backed queue-monitoring portal KolejkaNaGranicy.pl, wait times for vehicles entering Poland at the Medyka–Shehyni crossing reached 12 hours and 15 minutes at 20:07 CEST on 18 September—the longest delay recorded this month. Outbound traffic towards Ukraine faced a four-hour queue at Budomierz–Hrushiv. Border Guard officials attribute the bottleneck to a combination of heightened security checks following yesterday’s near-border missile incident and a surge in weekend cross-border shopping trips. Ukrainian families are heading to Rzeszów and Przemyśl for back-to-school purchases, while Polish residents are using the weak hryvnia to buy cheaper fuel and groceries across the border. Companies running shuttle services for IT contractors based in Lviv reported cancelling Friday evening transfers and re-booking staff on Sunday flights via Kraków. Freight forwarders note that just-in-time deliveries of auto-parts to factories in Silesia are at risk; several have activated CEMT permits allowing detours through Slovakia. The situation underscores the value of live queue data for mobility planners. Many HR teams still rely on anecdotal driver reports, but the KolejkaNaGranicy API can be integrated into corporate travel apps, enabling real-time rerouting and duty-of-care notifications. Experts recommend building a four-hour buffer into itineraries for the Medyka crossing during the current security climate. Border Guard spokespersons say additional customs booths will open over the weekend, yet caution that any further security alerts could nullify those gains. Firms with staff transiting the crossing should maintain overnight accommodation contingencies in Przemyśl or Lviv as a best-practice measure.
