On the Road Tolerance is at the Border

Long waiting times at the border gates hindered the increase in transit and export operations from Turkey due to the Russia-Ukraine war.

While waiting times at Kapıkule and Hamzabeyli Border Gates reach 100 hours, the 25 km TIR queue formed weakens the opportunities Turkey has in logistics.

Evaluating the truck queues at Kapıkule Border Gate in recent days, UTIKAD Chairman of the Board Ayşem Ulusoy mentioned the recession signals in the global economy and stated that the opportunities we have in export and logistics should be used better.

President Ayşem Ulusoy said, “It is unacceptable that our exporters are not able to respond to the demands in a timely manner due to the truck queues at the border gates at a time when the global economies announced their growth forecasts in 2023 negatively and especially the big economies are facing increasing pressure on their purchasing power due to high inflation.” he said.

President Ulusoy stated that the situation in Kapıkule, our most important border gate opening to Europe via Bulgaria, is even worse, and that the TIR queue formed here has reached 20 km in the direction of import as of this morning. Ayşem Ulusoy, President of UTIKAD, said, “AFAD has provided food aid to TIR drivers due to the difficult conditions they have experienced. This picture has become inhuman. In addition, waiting times at the border gates are approximately 90-100 hours, and the number of vehicles is around 1500. We are also concerned about the drivers leaving their jobs due to the increasingly difficult conditions.”

Ayşem Ulusoy stated that the war between Russia and Ukraine had a negative impact on fuel prices, which tend to increase, and that the logistics industry is one of the sectors most affected by the increasing fuel costs and continued as follows:

“Rising fuel prices are the most important cost item in transportation. Waiting times at the border gates are driving the already rising costs even higher. Every logistics activity to Europe is extremely important for our country. Europe is looking for ways to combat rising energy costs and there is a contraction in production. We are one of the most important suppliers in Europe. Our country has come to the fore with the agility it has shown in supply with the pandemic. Fast and on-time supply is indispensable for our sector, but this picture at the border gates weakens our claim that it can become our signature in supply.”