Truckers turned to Putin

The Russian industry of automobile freights was at risk of bankruptcy because of the war with Ukraine and the sanctions that followed it. Restrictions prohibit Russian truckers to transport goods to Europe, which is why an excess of trucks has already been organized on the domestic Russian market, and foreign transport companies actually monopolized transport communication with the EU. This is stated in the draft appeal of the Association of International Automobile Carriers to Russian President Vladimir Putin, reports RBC.

The Association calculated that from the moment of introduction of the ban for Russian carriers, domestic companies have overpaid foreign truckers for transportation services already 68 billion rubles, and if the authorities do not take emergency measures, then by the end of the year this amount will increase to 333 billion rubles. The problem is that the entrance to Europe is closed to Russian carriers, but not foreign to Russia. This situation turned European companies into monopolists of the transportation market along the Rossiya -EU route and led to a multiple increase in the cost of services.

If before the war the average cost of transportation was estimated at € 3.2 thousand, now – in € 12 thousand. At the same time, the restrictions led to an excess of transport in the intra -Russian market, which is why domestic transport, on the contrary, sharply fell by about 13.2%. The Association insists that the current conditions in the market create conditions for bankruptcy of companies that are already working on the verge of profitability, and calls on the government and the president to urgently take measures.

At the moment, the authorities have approved a financial support package of the industry, which includes: 18.6 billion rubles of compensation to companies to save jobs, 3.5 billion rubles of subsidies to leasing companies, 2.4 billion rubles for compensation for the territory arrested in the territory Ukraine trucks and goods. However, the introduction of response measures that could balance the market is only being considered.

The difficulties with the introduction of a mirror ban were previously justified by large business representatives: they were afraid that, due to Russian restrictions, Europe would cease to supply equipment critically important for domestic business, which would cause only greater damage to the economy. The total volume of goods delivered by road was estimated at 22.8 million tons in 2021, of which 55.4% were delivered by Russian truckers.