The truck hasn’t died yet – Kommersant

The State Duma proposed to ban Polish carriers from entering Russia with any cargo other than medical, humanitarian and postal. The deputies also offer to sell fuel to them, and then to all carriers from unfriendly countries, for 90-95 rubles. per liter: for this, according to the Belarusian model, mobile gas stations will be installed at customs terminals, beyond which Polish carriers will not be allowed. Additional fees, which the State Duma’s profile committee estimates at 17–20 billion rubles, are proposed to be directed to the construction of roads. Market participants believe that Russian carriers will not benefit from this measure: the niche of the Poles will be occupied by other Europeans.

On May 23, the State Duma unanimously voted in favor of taking measures against Polish road carriers. The deputies approved an appeal to the government, in which they propose to amend the legislation: Polish road carriers will be prohibited from operating on the territory of the Russian Federation, their trucks will only be allowed to customs terminals for re-transfer and reloading, and they will also be banned from refueling at Russian prices, instead introducing tariffs for EU price level. During the meeting, State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said that Poland would lose €8.5 billion in revenue as a result.

Now European carriers are already required to reload goods into Russian trucks or recoupling semi-trailers at customs terminals at the border. However, there are about 40 product groups to which these restrictions do not apply. The relevant rules were introduced on October 10, 2022 and are valid until June 30, however, in April, the secretariat of First Deputy Prime Minister Andrey Belousov reported that an extension of the deadline until the end of the year was being discussed, as well as a reduction in the list of goods that are not subject to the ban on transportation (it may significantly reduce see “Kommersant” dated March 1).

As Yevgeny Moskvichev, head of the State Duma Committee on Transport and Development of Transport Infrastructure, explained to Kommersant, it is proposed to ban Polish carriers from entering the territory of the Russian Federation with any cargo other than medical, humanitarian and postal.

He also explained that it is proposed to introduce the sale of fuel at European prices according to the Belarusian model, when mobile refueling complexes are installed directly at customs terminals. The Belarusian colleagues set the price 10% lower than the European one, it is also proposed to do the same in Russia, which will give the final cost of fuel for European carriers about 90–95 rubles. per litre. According to him, at the first stage, this model is proposed to be applied to Polish carriers, and then extended to all carriers of unfriendly countries. As explained in the State Duma Committee on Transport, the sale of fuel at European prices can bring about 17-20 billion rubles to the budget. in year. The collected funds, says Mr. Moskvichev, are proposed to be directed to the construction of municipal roads.

According to Evgeny Dyatlov, head of the procurement department for international transportation of FM Logistic in Russia, a total ban on transit through the territory of the Russian Federation for European transport companies can have a significant impact. “Polish carriers carry a small part of goods from a limited list of goods allowed for direct transit through the Russian Federation,” he notes. “They enter the territory of the EAEU mainly through a checkpoint on the border between Poland and the Republic of Belarus.” He believes that the implementation of the proposed measure will not give an additional market to Russian carriers: “Polish carriers will be easily replaced by carriers from Latvia, Lithuania and other European countries.”

The president of the customs and logistics broker KBT, Yulia Shlenskaya, expects the Poles to respond in the same way.

“This will create some additional difficulties for all parties and increase the cost of transportation,” she says. “At the same time, market participants have long been accustomed to working with transfers and reloads. And these sanctions should not have a very big impact.” Yuliya Sula, head of the partner network development of the VIG Trans car assembly service, agrees that this initiative will not have a significant impact on the flow of goods: the place of Polish carriers will be taken by carriers from other European countries and not only. It is unlikely that this will provide additional traffic to Russian carriers, since Russians can only carry out transportation from the reloading / overpassing zone, she believes. “Also, do not forget that a fairly large fleet of vehicles with Polish registration has formed, but de facto the owners of these trucks are Russian and Belarusian companies that were forced to massively re-register vehicles last year, after the fifth package of EU sanctions,” she recalls. .

Natalya Skorlygina