Trucks from Russia and Belarus formed long queues at the EU’s eastern border as transporters tried to leave the bloc, hours before a ban on their vehicles took effect on Saturday.

According to people in the logistics industry, the trunk of the truck in Poland is more than 40 kilometers long and has been waiting for three to 10 days to leave. Thousands of trucks were affected after Brussels imposed sanctions on Russian and Belarusian convoys, they said.

Jan Buczek, head of Poland’s ZMPD, the trade body of the Polish transport group, said that in recent days, queues entering Belarus’ Koroszczyn border crossing – on the main route from Berlin to Moscow – have been increasing. up to 80 km.

“It is impossible for Belarusian and Russian trucks to leave Polish territory by tomorrow,” he said.

Wait times at the Koroszczyn border crossing on Friday morning were 33 hours, and at the Bobrowniki checkpoint further north, it was 56 hours, according to the Polish National Tax Service. Transport groups said there were also long queues at border crossings in Lithuania and Latvia.

The European Union introduced sanctions this month that bar trucks operated by Russian or Belarusian companies from entering or staying in the bloc, with the exception of vehicles transporting food, medicine, mail and energy. It has set an April 16 deadline to leave the European Union.

The sanctions are part of the EU’s latest attempt to punish Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

Thousands of vehicles may not pass in time and risk being seized by state authorities due to the stringent checks on transit vehicles by customs officials.

The situation has been exacerbated by the closure of the border crossing between Poland and Belarus in Kuznica since Belarus’ authoritarian regime orchestrated a migrant crisis on its border with the European Union last winter.

Aliaksandr Kuushynau, a senior director at Gurtam, which provides software for GPS fleet tracking, said about 10,000 Russian and Belarusian vehicles are still in the EU, according to his company. “These vehicles will not return to Russia in the next few days,” Kushnau said.

Another industry insider said: “This is a tricky situation. We think there are at least a few thousand [Russian and Belarusian trucks] still in the EU. “

About 3,000 Polish trucks in Belarus and Russia could be at risk if any action is taken against Russian and Belarusian trucks waiting at the Polish border, Bucek said.

“We should look for a benign solution, because any aggressive action by Europe on Russian and Belarusian trucks at the border would immediately trigger retaliation against our trucks that are on the road or returning from markets such as Mongolia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan,” he said. Say.

Luis Gomez, European president of XPO Logistics, one of the world’s largest freight companies, said the situation could put further pressure on Europe’s transport industry, but the impact could be smaller than the exodus of 100,000 Ukrainian drivers from an already battered industry. Influence. Staff shortage.