Lithuanian lorries and trailers are still being held in Belarus despite the border closures being lifted. Their owners are anxiously awaiting a four-month deadline, after which the assets could be confiscated.
Lithuanian hauliers ended up in this situation after the government, responding to the so-called contraband balloon crisis, decided on October 29 to close the border with Belarus. Even though the closure ended on November 20, the trucks remained stuck in Belarus.
Dispute over numbers
From the outset, business reps and the authorities presented diverging numbers about how many lorries and trailers were actually in Belarus.
According to data provided by the Lithuanian National Road Carriers Association (Linava) to LRT.lt on January 9, 113 companies reported 410 lorries, 473 trailers and 30 other vehicles as being stuck in Belarus.
According to Linava, this only addressed cases that were reported to the association, but the actual scale of the issue may be higher.
However, Lithuania’s Customs Department had previously published much lower figures for the number of vehicles stuck. For example, on December 9, it said there were just 185 vehicles and trailers still in Belarus.
Now, the customs said, there were 261 lorries that remained stranded.
“Lorries registered in Lithuania continue to travel to Belarus and return, so the situation at the border with Belarus has changed little,’ the Customs told LRT.lt.
‘Everyone is still stuck’
LRT.lt spoke to several representatives of firms that continue working in Belarus. They acknowledged that they still worked in Belarus, adding that they were unable to recover vehicles detained between October 30 and November 20 when Lithuania reopened the border.
“Everyone is still stuck there,” said Aleksandras Vasilevskij, the owner of Vilnius-based company Lentransa, adding that the claims that the lorries were able to leave the country were untrue.
He said he continues to receive demands to pay daily fees of €120 from the Belarusian authorities, which was previously described as ransom by Lithuanian reps and local firms.
“But paying that bill does not mean you will leave,” Vasilevskij said.
Linava reps also said that the drivers of detained lorries are not physically stuck in Belarus.
“In most cases, the lorries and trailers were left in storage yards, while the drivers were returned to Lithuania or reassigned to other routes. However, the situation is very individual – each company made its own decisions, taking into account safety, logistics and work organisation,’ the association said.
Laimonas Maceikis, the owner of Klaipėda-based company Novatransa, said the Belarusian authorities informed him they would prepare to confiscate his stranded lorry if he did not pay the fine by February 3.
“Under Belarusian law, confiscation is carried out in any case four months after seizure. There is not much time left – more than half of it has already passed,” he said.
Legal action
The number of lorries and trailers detained in Belarus would be particularly important if Linava decided to file a claim against the Lithuanian government.
Prime Minister Inga Ruginienė has previously said that such a claim should be brought against Belarus. She also stressed that businesses operating in that country should have assessed the risks.
Vasilevskij, owner of a logistics company, said there were also risks in other countries.
“Working in Poland is also a risk, because there they constantly inspect vehicles and check roadworthiness, even though we carry out the checks in Lithuania. If you want to earn money somewhere, you go there. After all, the border was not closed,” he said.
“The borders were open, there were lists of unsanctioned goods that could be transported,” he said, adding that he continued working in Belarus.
Previously, Linava president Erlendas Mikėnas said the association members were considering legal action against the Lithuanian government.
“At present, the priority is to use all possible political and administrative measures to resolve the situation as quickly as possible and return the property of Lithuanian hauliers stuck in Belarus,” Mikėnas told LRT.lt.
If this approach fails, “legal action will become inevitable”, he added.
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