The abolition of TIR Carnets for customs transit in Russia and the use of other types of guarantees for customs transit will force trucking companies to review their pricing policies.
Valerii Chernenko, the board chairman of the Kyiv regional division of the Ukrainian Association of International Road Carriers (AsMAP) and general director of the Vast Trans company, expressed this opinion in comments to the Interfax Ukraine news agency.
"The situation is simple, and everyone already knows that Russia has banned the use of TIR Carnets on its territory and introduced a system of electronic declarations through its Rostek unitary enterprise," he said.
According to Chernenko, the cost of processing cargo being transported on transit through Russia has increased several times because of this.
"According to our forecasts, it will be more than UAH 2,000 despite the fact that the cost of transportation from Kiev to Moscow is UAH 12,000. That is, it will constitute 20% of the cost of freight. Therefore, this innovation will force many companies to review their pricing policies,” he said.
According to him, a similar procedure exists in Europe and in Poland, for example, it costs PLN 55, which is the equivalent of UAH 150.
"Therefore, it is, of course, surprising that not only Ukrainian carriers, but absolutely everyone, have to pay a minimum of UAH 2,000 for the same procedure,” he said.
According to Chernenko, the second part of the problem is organizational (conclusion of contracts, reception of invoices, and their payment), which causes delays of vehicles.
He said that registration of contracts between Rostek and carriers is currently taking place and that this takes up to three days because of inspection and reception of confirmation from by Russian Customs Service that a carrier is allowed to deliver cargo, followed by payment and other procedures.
"I think this issue will be accelerated in the future because inspections will no longer be necessary and only payment and processing of customs declaration will remain. This will take 30-40 minutes. But I repeat that the cost is much higher than the cost in member countries of the European Union,” said Chernenko.
As reported, customs transit though Russia from the Sumy, Kharkov, and Chernigov regions will be performed without the use of TIR Carnets from November 12, 2013.
Citing data from the Federal Customs Service of Russia, the Ukrainian Ministry of Revenue and Duties announced that customs agencies under the control of the Central Customs Administration would begin measures aimed at ensuring safe customs transit of goods imported onto the territory of the Customs Union on November 12.
"In particular, TIR Carnets will be abolished and replaced with other kinds of guarantees for customs transit,” said the Ministry of Revenue and Duties.
In addition, the appropriate measures will be applied at the Pskov, Sebezh, and Kingisepp customs (the Northwestern Customs Administration) from November 19, 2013, and throughout the territory of Russia from December 1, 2013.
