Live data published by queue-tracking portal KolejkaNaGranicy at 19:58 CET on 20 October showed an unprecedented 155 hours and 15 minutes wait time for cargo vehicles entering Poland at the Koroszczyn–Kozlovichi crossing. Export queues on the Belarusian side stood at just over 90 minutes, indicating that the bottleneck is firmly on the Polish side. Two factors are driving the gridlock. First, day-long IT maintenance on the Polish Customs Service’s SOC-T cargo declaration platform forced officers to manually process CMR documents for several hours. Second, intensified vehicle checks linked to EU sanctions on Belarusian dual-use goods mean that every truck is undergoing a full scan. Freight forwarders estimate that more than 1,100 trucks were stationary in the queue on Tuesday evening, representing roughly €70 million in goods ranging from car parts to chilled meats. Several Polish logistics firms have begun diverting loads to the Latvia–Belarus crossing at Silene, despite the extra 450 kilometres of road distance, to protect just-in-time delivery contracts. The General Inspectorate of Road Transport said it is working with the Border Guard to open a temporary parking zone near Biała Podlaska capable of holding 600 trucks and providing sanitary facilities. Drivers stuck in the queue are urged to stock extra food and water and to keep tachographs in rest-mode to avoid violations once they finally enter Poland. Shippers with time-sensitive cargo should explore rail alternatives via the Małaszewicze trans-shipment hub or negotiate air-freight uplifts through Warsaw Cargo. Insurance providers may treat the extraordinary delay as a force-majeure event, but policies differ, so companies should check coverage carefully.
Source: KolejkaNaGranicy.pl
