Cargo, Crisis, EU – Baltic States, Health, Markets and Companies, Medicine, Transport

A 30-kilometer queue of trucks waited to cross into Poland from Lithuania at the Kalvarija-Budzisko border checkpoint on Monday afternoon, Giedrius Misutis, spokesman for the State Border Guard Service, confirmed to LETA/BNS. 

"This is due to tightened controls by Polish border guards. We carry out our checks quickly and the flow would be absorbed quickly. However, Poland allows (vehicles to cross the border) at a very slow pace, (with the procedures including) sanitary controls, temperature measuring customs controls and document checks," he said. 

Poland does not restrict the movement of goods across the border, but it may deny entry to trucks without cargo. 

According to Linava Secretary General Mecislavas Atroskevicius, truckers are waiting at the border for the problem to be resolved. 

He could not say how many trucks were currently stuck at the border. 

Lithuanian Transport Minister Jaroslav Narkevic told BNS earlier on Monday that the issue of empty trucks was being dealt with. 

Poland closed its borders to foreign nationals at midnight on Sunday in an attempt to stem the spread of coronavirus.