There is no queue of thousands of trucks at the border: the State Border Guard Service explained what the “eQueue” system actually shows

Information about thousands of trucks in a queue at the border does not mean that they are all standing simultaneously near border crossing points. In fact, this refers to vehicles registered in the "eQueue" system for crossing the state border in the future. Andriy Demchenko, spokesperson for the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, told a UNN journalist.

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Reports about long queues of freight transport leaving Ukraine are actively spreading in the information space. In particular, as of August 7, 7,342 vehicles were registered in the state service system "eQueue" and were waiting to cross the state border.  At the same time, according to Andriy Demchenko, such information may create a false impression of a transport collapse at the border. In reality, there are currently no physical queues of thousands of trucks.

The information currently circulating in the information space about a thousand trucks in a queue may lead some people to believe that such a road collapse is occurring at the border because all these vehicles are physically located at the border and waiting to cross it. This is not true 

The SBGS spokesperson explained that, with the introduction of the "eQueue" system, carriers reserve a place to cross the border electronically, which, on the contrary, made it possible to avoid the physical queues that existed before the system was introduced.

What did the introduction of the "eQueue" achieve? It made it possible to avoid physical queues. That is, carriers or logistics operators book a place in the electronic queue for trucks to cross the border. The situation in the "eQueue" does not reflect what is physically happening at the border. Moreover, if it is currently being said that 5,000 freight vehicles are registered in the "eQueue" to leave Ukraine, (I would add that the "eQueue" operates only for leaving Ukraine), the same situation regarding this number of vehicles, freight vehicles, also existed during this period last year 

In addition, according to the spokesperson,  the number of vehicles registered to leave Ukraine may fluctuate depending on the period—weekdays or weekends.

On weekdays, for example, there are more registrations; on weekends, the number of registrations to cross the border decreases somewhat, depending, so to speak, on demand and on carriers' need to cross the border 

The busiest border crossing point for freight transport currently remains "Yahodyn" on the border with Poland. It is there that the largest number of vehicles is registered in the "eQueue" system; however, this does not mean that multi-kilometer traffic jams have formed near the crossing point.

There are border crossing points that are in the greatest demand, such as "Yahodyn," for example, on the border with Poland, in the Volyn region. Previously, passenger cars, buses, and trucks could cross the border in this direction, but during a certain period,  under martial law, this route became more focused specifically on freight transportation. Passenger cars do not cross the border there, while bus service is also provided. The largest number of vehicles registered in the "eQueue" is specifically for the "Yahodyn" border crossing route. There is no physical queue there, but a large number of vehicles are registered to cross the border in this direction. Overall,  5,000 vehicles are registered in the "eQueue." This is true, but once again, there is no unusual situation, because the same situation existed last year during this very period. In other periods, the number of registered vehicles may decrease 

Demchenko also dismissed the assumption that the increase in the number of trucks was related to changes in the operation of the maritime corridor. According to him, the main cargo transported by sea cannot be fully redirected to road transport. At the same time, the throughput capacity of the border crossing points remains unchanged.

Everyone is now trying to portray this as meaning that the maritime corridor does not fully ensure transportation, and that this has led to an increase in the number of freight shipments. This is also untrue, because the main categories of cargo transported by sea cannot be handled by a land corridor 

Thus, border-crossing points process a number of vehicles per day in accordance with their throughput capacity, so even if hundreds or thousands of vehicles are registered in the system, they physically cannot cross the border in a single day. In addition, the State Border Guard Service emphasizes that it was specifically the electronic queue that made border crossings more organized, since drivers are not forced to wait near border-crossing points for several days, but can arrive at the border at the time specified by the system.

The electronic queue allows drivers to avoid idling in a physical queue. The system informs them on which day and at what time the vehicle must arrive at the border, while the driver can remain in more comfortable conditions