GENEVA (ILO Online) - At the world's international border crossings, time is increasingly becoming money.
Inadequate infrastructure capacity at the border crossings between San Diego County and Baja California, for example, currently cost the United States and Mexican economies an estimated US$6 billion in gross output and more than 51,000 jobs in 2005, according to a study by the San Diego Association of Governments quoted in the new ILO report.
What's more, according to the report ( Note 1) to be discussed at a tripartite meeting on labour and social issues related to cross-border traffic here on 23-26 October, this situation is by no means an exception to the global rule.
"In many cases, poor infrastructure, inefficient organization of official procedures and unprofessional border officials not only have negative economic impacts but also affect the living and working conditions of international drivers at border crossings worldwide", says ILO transport expert, Marios Meletiou.
On the roads and border crossings of Europe, Africa, the Americas and Asia, issues such as current visa policies are creating the primary stumbling block for drivers, including restrictions on their right to work, says the report which draws from the experiences of drivers who work the international highways. In many cases, increasing transportation costs also involve interruptions in manufacturing and delivery cycles.
Visa, customs procedures, cumbersome regulations and other factors come into play wherever trucks cross borders. While the official time period to obtain a Schengen visa valid in the European Union (EU) was on average four days in 2005, for example, actual time periods for professional drivers of buses and trucks from non-Schengen countries like Kazakhstan, Morocco, Ukraine and Turkey ranged from 1.5 days for a Turkish driver to 31.5 days for a Kazakh driver during the same period.
In some areas, there appears to be light at the end of the visa tunnel. For example, at the end of 2005, the European Community and the Russian Federation finalized negotiations on a visa facilitation agreement. If approved by both parties, the agreement will hopefully simplify procedures for issuing short-stay visas to citizens of the EU and the Russian Federation. A similar agreement is being negotiated between the EU and Ukraine.
In Africa, customs procedures are proving to be a significant bottleneck. For example, the report says that the average customs transaction involved 20-30 different parties, 40 documents and 200 data elements, 30 of which were repeated at least 30 times. And according to a 2005 International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) survey on working conditions among truck drivers from seven central African countries, all drivers experienced prolonged waiting at the border crossings ranging from two to five days.
Such excessive border delays have also been reported at border crossings in Europe. Some haulers reported waits of 12 to 48 hours at the border between Poland and Belarus, 20 to 48 hours at the border between Finland and the Russian Federation, and 12 to 72 hours at Latvia's borders with the Russian Federation and Belarus. Extremely long waiting periods have also been recorded at border crossings with Asia, reaching up to 72 hours between Turkey and Iraq, and between the Russian Federation and Central Asian countries.
What's more, unofficial payments and harassment represent a major issue for drivers, employers, governments and even consumers. Drivers and road transport companies absorb the main expenditure, but governments lose duties on goods, and costs are often passed on throughout the supply chain to other businesses and ultimately the consumer.
The report cites an example from the Hungarian-Romanian border where a vehicle was weighed and the axle weight load exceeded 1.2 tonnes. Without paying a fine, the truck's driver would have been forced to remain at the border. The official fine was 700 Euros but if the driver was willing to forego a receipt, only 250 euros would be charged.
According to reports from participants at a road transport union seminar in Ghana in 2004, the problem of harassment by police and customs as well as other inspection officers against international road transport workers continues to be a great concern in West Africa. Cases of passenger harassment have also been reported on buses.
Along a section of road of less than 900 km running from Mali to Togo there were 25 police and customs inspection posts - an average of one stop every 36 km. The loss of time at the inspection posts amounted to nearly three and a half hours. In cases where documents covering the vehicle or load had expired, the vehicle crew could be stranded at the border for a week - unless they bribed the officers, the report quoted a recent article in 'Transport International' ( Note 2).
Delays caused by customs procedures are often compounded by inadequate border facilities, including the lack of secure parking, accommodation, welfare and sanitation, food and beverage services and communication tools. In addition, the stress and fatigue that delays create can lead to traffic accidents and fatalities.
These less than desirable living and working conditions of international drivers also have a negative effect on society as a whole. The vulnerability of the workers in international road transport to sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV/AIDS has an impact on many more people throughout the areas where drivers live and work.
A 2001 study by the South African Medical Research Council found that 56 per cent of long-distance truck drivers in the Kwa Zulu-Natal Midlands were HIV-positive. In 1999, the ITF affiliate union SATAWU and the Road Freight Employers' Association in the Republic of South Africa had launched the 'Trucking against AIDS' campaign to halt the spread of HIV/AIDS in the country's road freight industry.
According to the report, governments bear the primary responsibility to address the majority of problems outlined while employers' and workers' contribution is also essential to improve the situation. The report also refers to the ILO's Seafarers' Identity Documents Convention (Revised), 2003 (No.185) that could provide useful ideas for a similar approach in the case of international drivers. Unlike the latter, civilian air and sea transport crew usually enjoy some special facilities regarding entry into or transiting through a country.
"If the living and working conditions of international drivers remain as they are, it will be difficult for the industry to attract the numbers of professional drivers needed in order to keep pace with the growing demand for trade via road transport," says Meletiou. "Without an influx of young men and women into the industry, the sustainability of the sector is in question".
Note 2 - N. Kabore: "Checkpoint Hell", in 'Transport International' (London), issue 19, April-June 2005, pp.23-25.