Permits abolished: the road transport agreement
Ukrainian hauliers had always operated on a quota of permits. In 2022 the European Union suspended the quota entirely, and a lorry could run to any member state without one. For an importer, this was among the most immediately useful decisions taken.
Some measures are strategic and some are simply useful. This one was useful, and I can quantify it from my own operations.
Ukrainian hauliers had always worked on permits: a limited annual quota of documents, negotiated bilaterally with each country, allocated among carriers, and traded when they ran short. In 2022 the European Union and Ukraine agreed to suspend the system. A Ukrainian lorry could run to Poland, Italy or the Netherlands without one, and European carriers gained the same freedom in the other direction.
What it replaced
Before: a haulier calculates in advance how many permits it can obtain, and shapes its business around that constraint rather than around demand. Loads wait. Rates rise at the end of a quota year.
After: capacity follows the freight. When the sea route was closed and everything moved overland, that flexibility was not a convenience. It was the difference between goods moving and goods sitting.
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