International Truck Transport in Serbia Halved – Paperwork issues or e-illiteracy?

The capacity of the international transport rolling stock in Serbia has been halved, as only around 7,000 freight vehicles, of the 15,000, are in use. In addition to tourism, this is the activity most affected by the spreading of coronavirus. One of the burning issues for local transporters in international transport is the issuing of licenses and passports, Novosti writes.

Drivers can't get these documents, they claim, since the state of emergency was declared and the Administrative Affairs Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs closed its counters. A decision was made to have the procedure carried out by mail, but it takes a very long time.

The secretary general of the business association “Medjunarodni transport” (“International Transport”), Aleksandar Spasic, points out for Novosti that, on several occasions, they have intervened and asked for the permits for freight vehicles only to be issued in a summary procedure, as trucks are not moving due to the paperwork.

– Two days ago, the Administrative Affairs Department promised us that the system would start working by the end of the week and that requests for drivers and vehicles in international transport would be processed in order of priority – Spasic says. – This needs to be solved, as the state needs literally every truck in this situation, both to bring in the goods meant for Serbia and to drive our goods that have been sold to the destination.

The owner of the company BN Bos Sped, Nikola Bezbradica, says that loaded trucks have been waiting for traffic permits for nearly two weeks.

– We've addressed them by email, no one responded. A driver went to the police, who promised they will mark the procedure as urgent. It hasn't been solved yet – Bezbradica complains.

The procedure of issuing transport permits, issued by the Ministry of Transport, is very difficult now as well, and the ministry's counters were also closed when the state of emergency was declared.

– All transporters can access the electronic system of charging and discharging permits. It needs to be said that, of the 1,600 companies registered for international transport, around 400 own all the most valuable international permits, and a third has access to the electronic system – the ministry explains. – Their lack of interest and passivity when it comes to electronic operations, especially in these conditions, is not our problem. The number of obtained permits in the state of emergency, is not any lower than last year, when the operations were regular.

Poslovno udruženje Međunarodni transport Beograd

Ministarstvo građevinarstva, saobraćaja i infrastrukture Republike Srbije

Ministarstvo unutrašnjih poslova Republike Srbije

BN - BOS ŠPED DOO

Međunarodni transport business association

Ministry of COnstruction Transport and Infrastructure

BN Bos Šped

Ministry of Internal Affairs

Nikola Bezbradica

Aleksandar Spasić

international truck transport

transport of goods

transport permits