UPFBiH Demands Urgent Action: Speed Up Freight Transport Through Croatia

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - The Association of Employers of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina demands urgent intervention from the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Council of Ministers of BiH, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of BiH, and all crisis headquarters towards the competent authorities of the Republic of Croatia and the European Union to open a larger number of border crossings to this country for freight transport, as well as to speed up passage through border crossings, define routes for freight transport, and designate locations for rest breaks and refueling, which is already being implemented in most European countries.

"In the past two days, the UPFBiH has received dozens of complaints from our members involved in transport, as well as others, about the problems they are experiencing with border crossings to Croatia designated for freight transport, and the enormous, kilometer-long queues at the Gradiška and Šamac border crossings. According to the information we have, the problem arose when the Republic of Croatia introduced so-called convoys. Drivers with trucks are waiting for more than three days to enter Croatia, and when they enter Croatian territory, they again wait for the formation of convoys for transit through Croatia. All this time they have to stay in the truck and do not have basic conditions for normal life, and especially the problem is that there are no toilets set up. Some of them are on the bridge the entire time, so they are completely blocked. According to the drivers, they were held in unhygienic conditions, without any explanation. They had a strict ban on leaving the vehicle, and for every attempt to leave the vehicle, they were threatened with fines," the UPFBiH states.

They also state that transport companies from BiH that provide transport services throughout Europe emphasize that in the rest of Europe, transport is carried out with little or no delays.

"Vehicles going to Slovenia, Italy, and Western Europe go to the Gradiška border crossing, while vehicles going to Hungary, Poland, etc. must go to the Šamac border crossing. This is a decision by the competent Croatian institutions about which no one in BiH has been officially informed, so many carriers who did not have this information incurred additional costs for rerouting vehicles from one border crossing to another," say the UPFBiH.

Due to all of the above, some carriers who managed to do so have returned their trucks to BiH and are waiting for this problem to be resolved. If it is not resolved, the carriers emphasize, they are considering completely ceasing to offer transport services, closing their companies, and laying off drivers. Due to all of the above, the UPFBiH appeals to the competent BiH institutions to resolve the issue of opening additional border crossings for freight traffic to Croatia as soon as possible and to maximally speed up the passage of trucks through the Gradiška and Šamac border crossings, while maximally respecting all protection measures in force in Croatia and BiH.