The Russian invasion of Ukraine and European Union restrictions on trucks from Russia and Belarus have tipped Turkey’s international transportation industry into a crisis with increasing costs and international freight trucks forming huge queues at Turkey’s border crossings. The kilometers-long lines at the three border crossings linking Turkey and Georgia have turned into an ordeal for truck drivers.
At the Sarp border crossing in Turkey’s northeastern town of Hopa over 500 trucks have formed a queue of at least 25 kilometers (15.5 miles). The line of trucks stretches 10-20 kilometers (6-12 miles) at another crossing in the eastern Turkish town of Ardahan. Officials and industry representatives’ figures on the number of trucks able to cross the border daily is conflicting. While officials said some 800 trucks are crossing the Sarp pass daily, according to Turkey’s International Transporters Association (UND), no more than 500 trucks passed through the crossing in the first three weeks of April.
