Business demands changes to customs procedures after Kovel shelling and destruction of over 15 trucks

The aftermath of the strike on infrastructure in Kovel proved catastrophic: fire destroyed over 15 freight vehicles that were parked at the customs terminal. According to data obtained following the attack on 16 October, infrastructure facilities were damaged, and there were casualties among people.

Series of attacks on logistics hubs

This incident was not the first in recent times. On 12 October, a freight terminal in Mykolaiv came under enemy fire. Significantly earlier, border crossing points in Odesa Oblast were targeted. The repetition of such scenarios forces society to raise the question sharply: why, in the midst of active hostilities, have all possible measures not yet been taken to minimise the concentration of cargo and vehicles at customs terminals?

The business community has been warning about these risks for several months and has provided specific proposals, yet systemic changes have not yet occurred. The industry demands a shift from discussions to decisive steps to avoid new tragedies.

Appeal to heads of state bodies

Experts and business representatives are once again drawing the attention of Serhiy Koretskyi, Oleksandr Kravchenko and Serhiy Marchenko to the need to eliminate problem areas where vehicles concentrate under customs control and at state border crossing points. Key proposals for resolving the situation include:

• Maximum transfer of documentary checks to the pre-declaration stage to avoid cargo dwell time at terminals;
• Implementation of automatic completion of customs clearance for cargo that does not require physical inspection, without mandatory entry to internal customs terminals;
• Minimisation of unjustified physical inspections through the application of a risk-based approach;
• Simplification of the procedure for changing delivery locations and permission for remote completion of customs procedures, which will allow businesses to promptly adjust logistics during military threats;
• Reduction of vehicle dwell time in customs control zones by distributing the workload between customs offices and maximising process automation.

In addition, the implementation of other optimisation mechanisms has been proposed.

Necessity of eliminating bureaucratic barriers

In peacetime, certain bureaucratic procedures may be appropriate, but in conditions of war and regular shelling, they become dangerous. It is precisely these procedures that force trucks to congregate in one place, leading to massive losses, as happened in Kovel.

Waiting for the next shelling of customs terminals and border crossing points is pointless. The price of delay is measured not only by destroyed cargo and business assets. At stake are people's lives, their fates, jobs and the future of the entire Ukrainian business.