Macedonian transporters and carriers on the Croatian-Serbian and Hungarian-Serbian border are blocked after Belgrade officially decided to block all goods being carried to Croatia or somehow linked to the neighbouring country, which has strained relations because of the refugee crisis.
Namely, truck drivers returning from European countries have to use alternative border entry points in Serbia, because they can not pass on the Serbian border if their documents have any link with Croatia.
“Macedonian transporters have a new problem. Those who return from Hungary and have found alternative routes to return to Macedonia still have to pass through Serbia, however, when they try to cross the border into Serbia, they are turned away if the documents mention Croatia in any way possible. Serbia’s drastic measures come after Croatia closed their border even for transporters, it is detrimental to carriers and trucks. Why have we done?” Asks Biljana Muratovska from the Association of Transporters “Macao-trance”.
She says that these problems are new and has nothing to do with the other problems such as the transporters and truck drivers who for the third day are stuck at border crossings Batrovci and Bajakovo.
“There is no threat that the transporters will dump their goods, because even taking the goods to a site, documents are required. When the trucks are unloaded if they ever get to their destinations, the goods will no longer be fresh for consumption. Some may receive goods for processing, but it can not be used for food”, said Ms Muratovska.
Such measures from Belgrade are in reaction from Zagreb’s decision to close the border for trucks due to the large influx of refugees from Serbia headed to Croatia.
