17 Oct 07
Jevenijs is just one link in a vast international transport chain, as he explains. 'My load arrived by ship in Lubeck, from Brazil. Then it was driven through Germany, Poland and Lithuania to my home town, Ventspils in Latvia. Now I'm taking it to Moscow. It took me one day to drive here. I will wait for three or four days to cross the border. It will take me two days to drive to Moscow and two days to drive back to the border. And how long will it take me to cross the border in the other direction? One day!'
Sermon over, Jevgenijs smiles and shrugs. All the truckers are aware that they are pawns being moved - or not - around a giant chess board marked 'EU-Russian relations', and that getting angry or being awkward will not help their fate.
Recently, Lithuanian truckers took direct action by blocking traffic for an hour. It got a few headlines, but ultimately just made the lines longer and meant that Lithuanian trucks got even slower service than usual.
So is the queue now a permanent fixture? Possibly not. After years of wrangling over the disputed Abrene region that was annexed by the Soviet Union, Latvia has finally given up trying to get its land back. The hope is that by signing a border treaty, Russian customs officials will suddenly start working at something approaching normal speed.
Until that happens, the Ludza line will retain its epic proportions. Jevgenijs, Marek, Roberts and the rest will just keep on trucking. And waiting.
