More than three months after Minsk redirected Lithuanian lorries to designated parking sites, where they remain to this day, the head of Lithuania’s national road carriers’ association Linava says the Belarusian authorities are attempting to formally legalise the detention of the vehicles.
Erlandas Mikėnas told BNS on Thursday owners of the stranded Lithuanian lorries have received letters from Beltamozhservice, an EU-sanctioned Belarusian company that operates the parking facilities, informing them that they must sign contracts for parking services.
“Carriers are receiving contracts from Beltamozhservice backdated to November 10–14, stating that we are ‘requesting’ them to store our vehicles. Since the lorries were effectively driven there by force, no contracts were signed at the time. Now that the situation dragged on, they are looking for ways to formalise this,” Mikėnas said.
“This is how they are trying to legalise their actions in keeping the trucks in the parking sites,” he added.
According to the Linava president, hauliers had previously received only invoices for parking. The newly issued contracts also set out parking fees which, in some cases, amount to twice the value of the vehicle.
“Hauliers will, of course, not sign these contracts. As we have said, the longer this continues, the more likely it is that some vehicles will not even be worth recovering,” Mikėnas said.
He added that some transport companies are no longer able to pay taxes in Lithuania.
Earlier, Mikėnas told BNS that the losses incurred by hauliers are nearing 100 million euros.
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