by Night closure of the Mont Blanc tunnel
Maintenance work on the French tunnel is starting and it has been decided to introduce changes to night-time traffic.
To allow the services to operate, traffic in the Mont Blanc tunnel will be completely interrupted at night:
– from Monday, 10 October, to Tuesday, 11 October, from 10pm to 6am,
– from Tuesday 11 October, to Wednesday 12 October from 7.30pm to 6am,
– from Wednesday, October 12, to Thursday, October 13, from 7.30 p.m. to 6 a.m,
– Thursday 13 October, to Friday 14 October, from 7.30pm to 6am.
Source: Febetra
by Czech authorities introduce controls on the border with Slovakia
The goal is to prevent illegal migration and activities of organized groups of smugglers.
Given the growing scale of illegal transit migration to the Czech Republic, the country’s government has decided to reintroduce temporary controls on the border with Slovakia from September 29 to October 8, 2022. Border controls will be restored along the entire length of the state border with Slovakia at 27 former border crossings, including 17 road, 7 rail and 3 river border crossings.
The government has reintroduced border controls following recent efforts by the police to prevent a growing number of people from illegally crossing the border with Slovakia.
by France – a temporary derogation from drivers‘ hours
Following strikes at refineries run by TotalEnergies and ExxonMobil oil companies, several refineries have been closed and the operation of some fuel storage facilities has been severely disrupted.
In this situation, road hauliers are obliged to transport available fuel supplies to distribution points from places of import or storage located further away than usual, which increases distances and journey times. This situation has caused supply problems and tensions at fuel distribution points, especially in border areas.
It is therefore necessary to accelerate and temporarily facilitate the road transport of fuel in the country in order to distribute the available supplies more quickly and prevent shortages. Given the urgency oft he problem, the government has introduced a temporary derogation from the driving time rules:
1. the maximum daily driving time can be exceeded by one hour;
2. the maximum weekly driving time can be exceeded by a maximum of four hours.
Derogations for vehicles transporting fuel in France are in effect until Friday 14 October inclusive.
by HGV restrictions in Catalonia
Owing to forecasts of significant increases in traffic volume on the 7th and 9th of October, an additional restriction will be introduced on some road and motorway sections for vehicles or combinations of vehicles with a maximum authorised mass of more than 7.5 tons, which are required to use the right lane and must not overtake other vehicles and drive faster than 80 km/h.
On Friday, October 7. between 3:00 PM and 9:00 PM, the restrictions will apply on the following road sections:
➖ the AP-7 motorway, between KP 126, exit 12B at La Roca del Vallés, Granollers and the junction with the C-60 in La Roca del Vallés, and KP 172, exit 25 at Martorell and the junction with the A-2 in the Martorell commune;
➖ the AP-7 motorway in the territory of Terres de l’Ebre, where there are only two lanes, between KP 257, exit 35 at Vila-seca, Salou, Reus S. and Port Aventura, in the municipality of Vila-seca, and KP 344,8 the border between Tarragona and Castellón, in the municipality of Ulldecona.
On Sunday, October 9, between 3:00 PM and 10:00 PM, the restrictions will apply on the following road sections:
➖ the northbound AP-7 motorway, between KP 111.1, exit 11 at Sant Celoni and Montseny in the commune of Sant Celoni, and KP 133.8, exit 13 at Granollers, Montornès del Vallès and Vilanova del Vallés, in the municipality of Montornès del Vallès.
by What EU goods will be allowed to reach Russia?
Russia’s decision to ban EU hauliers, which becomes effective on October 10, is a response to an earlier sanction by the EU against Russian road hauliers, which will not be able to travel across EU countries from April 8.
Nevertheless, goods will continue to be delivered by land from EU countries to end users via Russia. To make it possible, goods will either be moved from foreign vehicles to Russian and Belarusian one or foreign trailers will be hitched to Russian and Belarusian tractors at customs terminals in the border areas of the Pskov, Kaliningrad, Leningrad and Murmansk oblasts, the Republic of Karelia and St. Petersburg.
This arrangement does not apply to the Kaliningrad Oblast in the case of international road transports originating in foreign countries and with destinations in the Kaliningrad District and in the opposite direction.
Foreign vehicles will still be able to pass through the territory of Russia to deliver goods to their destinations if their transshipment could negatively affect their quality or if it is not technically possible to reload them. This applies in particular to perishable goods, pharmaceutical and medical products and others of this kind.
by The Czechs are extending border checks
Border controls temporarily introduced on September 29, will remain in effect until October 28.
The measure was originally introduced for a period of 10 days, i.e. until 8th of October. Since the the border still needs to be protected, the Czech government has decided to continue border checks for another 20 days.
„The increase in migration is dramatic, as the border checks have clearly shown, so it would not make sense to lift them now. At the upcoming meeting of EU ministers of the interior we will also deal with the situation along the Western Balkan route“, said Vít Rakušan, Czech Minister of the Interior.
by Italy – additional HGV driving ban on the A22 Brenner motorway
The ban will affect the section of the Italian Brenner autobahn A22 between Sterzing (It. Vipiteno) to the Brenner state border on the 3rd and 26th of October from 00:00 to 22:00 and will apply to vehicles with a maximum authorized mass of over 7.5 tons.
The government of the Italian province of Bolzano in South Tyrol has announced the measure in connection with the public holidays falling on these days (October 3rd – Day of German Unity and October 26th – National Day in Austria), when a holiday HGV driving ban is in effect ban in both countries.
⛔ The ban on October 3 affects all northbound transports driving along the A22 from Sterzing to the Brenner state border if their destination is located in Germany or must be reached via Germany.
⛔ The ban on October 26 affects all northbound transports driving along the A22 from Sterzing to the Brenner state border.
HGVs which are already traveling on the Brenner motorway in the province of Bolzano when the ban comes into effect, can stop at the SA.DO.BRE parking lot in Sterzing / Vipiteno or at other places along the motorway in the neighboring communes or in parking lots designated by the traffic police.
The following transports are exempt from the ban:
• Vehicles used for the following purposes: transports of slaughter cattle or livestock, supplies of beverages to tourist areas, urgent repairs of cooling systems, towing services, roadside assistance, vehicles used by road maintenance companies or to maintain road traffic, vehicles used by public security services, fire brigades, for garbage collection, waste disposal
• vehicles used by companies providing regular scheduled passenger transport services, as well as army trucks and agricultural machinery used for journeys that cannot be postponed;
• Journeys in combined road-rail freight transport, which can be confimed by providing a parking space reservation, which contains information about the vehicle registration number, the journey date and time of the reserved train.
by Tyrol: additional traffic restrictions for HGVs
The measure is connected with the renovation of the the bridge (Luegbrücke) on the A13 Brenner motorway.
Consequently, from 10:00 PM on Sunday, October 9, 2022 until 5:00 AM on Friday October 14, traffic in this area will only be able to use one lane in each direction.
In addition, the intensity of HGV traffic will also be limited between the 10th and 13th of October. These dates may be changed if unfavorable weather conditions make it impossible to conduct renovation work.
by Austria introduces border checks
The controls have been brought back at 11 border crossing points for an initial period of 10 days.
According to the Austrian Ministry of the Interior, temporary border checks, reinstated at the Austrian-Slovak border from 29 September, are a reaction to increasing illegal immigration. The ministry spokesman said that the border checks will be conducted along the entire length oft he border, but above all on the main routes.
by Kremlin bans some Western lorries from transiting across Russia
President Vladimir Putin signed a decree authorising the Russian government to ban lorries owned by road hauliers from the EU, Great Britain, Norway and Ukraine from transiting across Russian. The ban applies to all types of road freight: bilateral, transit and to / from third countries.
The ban should not apply to the following situations:
1) foreign HGVs owned by foreign hauliers and registered in foreign countries, which on the date when the decree comes into effect were in the territory of Russia, provided that they leave Russia within 7 days;
2) road transit of goods by vehicles returning to the country of registration, provided vehicles owned by foreign hauliers and registered in foreign countries enter and leave Russia within 7 (seven) days from the on the date when the decree comes into effect;
3) international road transport of postal deliveries,
4) international road transport of goods included in the list of exemptions,
5) international road transports originating in foreign countries and with destinations in the Kaliningrad District and in the opposite direction,
6) transhipment of goods to Russian or Belarusian vehicles, provided that these hauliers have permits for the previous and / or subsequent leg of the journey, and vice versa,
7) replacement of the trailer / semi-trailer with Russian or Belarusian vehicles, provided that these hauliers have permits for the previous and / or subsequent leg of the journey, and vice versa,
❗For situations described in 4-7 above, the amount of fuel carried by foreign trucks leaving Russia must not exceed 200 liters.
❗For situations described in 6 and 7 above, replacement and transhipment are only allowed in designated areas under customs control located in:
– Kaliningrad Oblast (all city oblasts),
– Leningrad Oblast (Vyborg City District, Kingisepp City District),
– Murmansk Oblast (the city of Murmansk, Pechenengky city district, Kola district, Kandalaksha district),
– Pskov Oblast (Pskov city, Sebezh district, Pechora district, Pytalovsky district),
– Republic of Karelia (Kostomuksha city district, Lakhdenpokhsky district, Loukhsky district, Sortavalsky district),
– St. Petersburg.