Linava: The longer Lithuanian trucks remain in parking lots in Belarus, the less feasible their return
Erlandas Mikėnas, president of the Lithuanian road carriers' association Linava, announced that Belarusian authorities are looking for ways to formally legalize the detention of Lithuanian trucks and semi-trailers in Minsk, LRT writes .
Illustrative photo. Photo: Nasha Niva
More than three months ago, the Belarusian side sent Lithuanian trucks to special parking lots and has not released them since. According to Mikėnas, vehicle owners received letters from "Belmyservice" company, which is under EU sanctions and manages these parking lots.
The letters propose carriers to sign agreements for parking payment retroactively — from mid-November. Thus, according to the head of Linava, Belarusian structures are trying to give a legal appearance to their actions, as no agreements were signed previously, and the equipment was effectively placed in parking lots by force.
Previously, carriers only received invoices for parking, but now they are offered official agreements specifying payment amounts.
In some cases, these amounts already exceed twice the cost of the vehicles themselves. Carriers refuse to sign such agreements. Mikėnas notes that the longer the trucks remain in the parking lots, the less feasible their return will be.
The situation has severely hit companies: some of them can no longer pay taxes in Lithuania, and their accounts are being seized. It is especially difficult for enterprises where up to 90% of their fleet is detained in Belarus. Total losses are estimated to be approaching 100 million euros.
Despite the border being formally open, Belarusian authorities are not releasing Lithuanian cargo vehicles from the country. A fee of 120 euros per day is charged for each truck or semi-trailer, and after four months of parking, they threaten to confiscate them.
Linava plans to seek assistance from the European Commission to recover the detained vehicles and claim compensation for losses.
According to the latest data from the association, 1071 vehicles (575 semi-trailers and 496 trucks) have been detained in Minsk. However, the total number of Lithuanian equipment located in Belarus could reach approximately 4,000 units, of which about 1,250 are trucks.
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