Although the agreement recently signed by BiH and Croatia provided for the opening of three more border crossings where phytosanitary inspections would be carried out, which would speed up the flow of goods and relieve the most burdened crossings, this has not yet happened.
Because of this, transporters warn that they still face waiting times at the border of up to 30 hours, which, according to them, makes it especially difficult to transport perishable goods during the summer months.
The new phytosanitary crossings have not started working yet
Mirko Ivanović, a member of the “Logistics of BiH” Consortium, told “Independent newspaper” yes, although the opening of new border crossings with phytosanitary inspections has been announced, they have not yet started working.
“We assume that the reason is the lack of inspectors, considering that annual vacations have started. We hope that this problem will be solved by the end of August,” said Ivanovic.
He adds that because of this, trucks are still delayed at the borders for several hours, and the Gradiška border crossing suffers the most pressure.
“Trucks are still waiting for several hours. The greatest pressure is at the Gradiška border crossing, because goods that are subject to phytosanitary inspections still have to pass that way, since the other crossings have not yet started working,” Ivanović pointed out.
According to him, the opening of new border crossings with phytosanitary inspections would significantly relieve the burden on Gradiška and speed up the flow of goods, especially during the increased volume of transport during the summer season.
Carriers: Instead of improvement, waiting times are even longer
Nikola Grbić, president of the Association of Carriers for International and Internal Transport of the Republika Srpska, says that the situation at the border crossings is worse today than before, despite promises that the new work regime will speed up the flow of freight traffic.
“Instead of a faster flow of freight traffic, drivers face even longer waits and worse conditions,” said Grbić.
He reminds that during the recent signing of the agreement between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, the introduction of phytosanitary inspections at the Izačić, Kamensko and Svilaj border crossings was announced, which was supposed to relieve the busiest crossings and speed up the movement of goods. However, as he claims, that decision has not yet been implemented.
“Extended working hours of phytosanitary services, a larger number of inspectors and more efficient work were announced, but the promises were not fulfilled. There were many promises, extended work on Thursdays and Fridays, more phytosanitary inspectors. Nothing has come of it,” Grbić pointed out.
He adds that carriers have been warning about the same problems for years and that they have repeatedly asked the competent institutions to solve them, but without concrete results.
“Since 2010, we have appealed hundreds of times, written letters and held meetings. Everything is promised, and after that nothing happens,” said Grbić.
Gradiška is still the biggest bottleneck for freight traffic
According to him, the biggest problem is multi-hour waits at border crossings, especially during the summer months, when perishable goods are transported.
“At the Gradiška border crossing, the wait is from 1 to 3 p.m., and sometimes up to 30 p.m. Drivers are standing under clear skies, without basic conditions, and perishable goods suffer due to high temperatures,” warned Grbić.
He points out that there is still no special lane for empty trucks at the Gradiška border crossing, which is why all trucks are waiting in the same line, which further slows down traffic.
He adds that, apart from a slightly faster flow of passenger vehicles, there have been no significant improvements in freight traffic, nor have promises made earlier about improving the work of border crossings been fulfilled.
The agreement foresees six border crossings for inspection controls
Let us remind you that on June 8, the Chairperson of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Borjana Krišto, and the Prime Minister of Croatia, Andrej Plenković, signed a new agreement on border crossings between the two countries.
“According to the content of the previous contract, we only had two crossings of the highest category – Bijača and Gradiška. Now, according to the new contract, we have five border crossings for control checks of goods under all inspection supervision. There is also a sixth crossing Stara Gradiška, which will take over that role when the new bridge becomes fully operational and in function,” Krišto said at the time.
