Cargo Begins to Be Delayed: Carriers in Belarus Face New Inspection Tactics

Tighter inspections have been carried out, loads are delayed day by day

Romas Austinskas, president of Linava, told the “Monetary Affairs” program that by looking at the border traffic statistics, one can see that the number of passing cars is increasing, but the modified inspection strategy is worrying.

“Up to 240 cars were lost per day on 18-19, then there were 300 cars on 19-20, we already have 400 cars lost from Sunday to Monday. Looking at the statistics, things are looking up, but we have information that many cars, especially those with Lithuanian registration, are sent to the Minsk internal customs for further inspection, where we have no comment and why it is done anyway.

In fact, they probably changed their strategy and tactics a bit. Those cars pass faster from the border and send them to internal customs. It takes time to go to internal customs, again a queue, a wait that is not usually defined in this state. “There are no recurring things here with Belarus, this is the first case that has been done,” said R. Austinskas.

According to him, the inspection at that customs office usually ends with the unloading of the merchandise and then the reloading. And it takes a long time, the goods are not received on time.

“There is always a planned time when you will leave the loading place and be at the recipient. Usually it is possible to predict in hours how this will happen, and to this day the error is already appearing in days. Imagine goods that They are palletized, they are not scary at all, there are no transport requirements, but if we are talking about loads that travel in temperature mode and the moment they are unloaded, there is a possibility that those loads will be damaged. This is where you will start the real problem, which will have consequences. There will be a lot of inner anger. In the end, the carriers will be to blame because the carrier will have cargo that will no longer be delivered under the commitment. At best, you will lose a customer, at worst In most cases, you will probably have to pay for the freight, for the losses This is a loss.

Yes, in terms of violating convention, we probably wouldn’t find a legal hook to hold it down, as it would be obvious that it was legally fixed, but the car itself was stopped, the merchandise unloaded from the truck, inspected and reloaded. The carrier must pay for all this work. These services cost between 150 and 200 euros, more time, at 12 noon. and more can happen. I have information on where my transport partners have been at the Minsk border crossing for three days since Friday, ”said R. Austinskas.

Recipients of Russian products are already complaining

The Lithuanian commercial attaché for Belarus, Julius Glebov, assured in the program that so far there is no official information that the borders will be closed. No more speeches due to specific expected dates.

He noted that these actions by Belarus at the border are already having an impact.

“The recipients of the Russian goods complain, namely the procedure applied by the Belarusian customs. In fact, they express dissatisfaction with the delay in the delivery of the goods, in some cases they have already calculated that the delivery of the goods it is delayed up to five days due to the fact that the goods are transported through Belarus.

In fact, when it comes to alternatives, transporting goods across the Polish-Belarusian border creates an additional distance of 400 kilometers, which again can affect delivery time and price. Another interesting factor is that they estimate that around two-thirds of all goods delivered by road to Russia are transported through Belarus and around a third of the total amount is transported from warehouses in Lithuania. In other words, the logistics are so economically structured that delivery warehouses for Russia are usually located in Lithuania. If it is transported on other routes, it becomes economically inefficient “, – said J. Glebov.

He added that he is constantly talking to Lithuanian companies in Belarus or working together with Belarus, but so far no one is reorienting their activities.

“But I think Plan B is ready for all businesses,” he added.

It will be more difficult for some carriers to survive

Marius Dubnikovas, a financial analyst, emphasized in the program that Lithuanian carriers face not only a financial but also a reputational problem.

“Lithuanian carriers have an excellent reputation in the world. Such things irritate suppliers of goods and damage their reputation. Even that should be included in those potential losses, because it comes at a price,” he said.

He added that carrying cargo on other roads would increase the price.

“It just came to our knowledge then. Naturally, the length of the chain, the second thing: the time interval, how many kilometers increases, because not only the money increases but also the time. That responds to the costs in the sense that we need have more trucks to secure that chain to deliver goods and things like that.In this place, of course, that cost would arise.

Trade is complicated, travel is complicated, it cannot really be said that everything will be passed on to the consumer, because naturally the carriers will also have to sacrifice part of their costs, which they will not be able to pass on and will have to pay. This means that the profitability of these chains will be lower or, in some cases, it will not be profitable, “said M. Dubnikov.

Mr. Austinsk also argued that the situation was difficult and that changing the itinerary was not easy.

“Change of address. For example, driving through Latvia, immediately invading the Russian Federation, there are not infinite possibilities or the infrastructure is also limited. In fact, if twice as many cars are not lost, all the cargo from Belarus is removed. The path will not appear soon in this place, ”he said.

The Linava president also added that the majority of Lithuanian carriers should survive. Those who focus only on the Belarusian market will face difficulties.

Transporters will probably survive in Lithuania, because it is not the main flow and main component of transporters, but there are some companies that have been working in this direction for many years, and they work today and work every day, and it will be very difficult to redirect towards Europe . Each company has its own addresses, its own clients. Trust is one of the most important things in business, “said R. Austisnkas.

Dubnikov also said that the biggest risk was for carriers that transport a large part of the cargo to Belarus. It will not be easy for them to reorient themselves. But other companies will also have problems.

“Companies that do not have as much burden to Belarus will certainly be able to survive and face additional problems, which are not lacking anyway, as trade volumes in Europe are gradually declining and there is less and less water for everyone. There may be such problems. here, but I want to be optimistic enough, because when all the numbers are formed, the trade volume shows that individual sectors can certainly suffer (carriers, Lithuanian railways, ports), but for the Lithuanian economy as a whole it is not the risk It could drastically change the standard of living of a large proportion of people, ”he said, adding that the current challenge for companies is to diversify and be prepared for even a few possible scenarios.

The economic situation in Belarus is much more complicated

According to financial analyst Dubnikov, closing the borders would certainly not be beneficial for businesses, but Belarus is in a much more difficult situation at the moment, so that decision should not be made so easily.

“If you look at it from an economic point of view, you should understand that the money supply of Belarus is at the level of 2 months from imports. That is equivalent to what a country imports goods, it is settled in foreign currency, they are about 8 billion, that’s two and a half months. number. A closed country would naturally interrupt its own flows, which means that there could be a situation where it could not reach an agreement with the suppliers of goods and, in this case, it would be really unprofitable for that country.

If we evaluate purely economically, we can say that for Lithuania Belarus is a player in the top ten. If we evaluate the imports and exports of Belarus, in total, we would have around 1.7 billion. for the total amount of EUR. And it ranks 11-12 in our business structure. Importantly, in terms of the products themselves, about 160 million items of Lithuanian origin are shipped to Belarus each year. and that’s less than 1 percent. Lithuanian products are generally manufactured and exported from Lithuania, ”said M. Dubnikovas.

However, he emphasizes that although the situation is tense, the economic situation in Belarus was not good before the pandemic and is now definitely not better. As a result, border closures are likely not to occur.

“In any case, it must be emphasized that foreign trade is much more important for Belarus today economically than with the countries with which it has relations. It should be understood that Belarus’ exports account for about 60 percent. They are outside Russia, it is I mean, to neighboring countries – Great Britain, Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine – the countries they export to. It’s too expensive for them to get mad at those countries, they don’t have money in reserve, they don’t have the opportunity to borrow either. In this case The threats that are presented seem daunting, but you also need to consider what strong cards they have to help. But players can brag at the table, “said the analyst.