Efficiency Decreases Remain After Four Weeks of Intensified Checks at German Borders
Market Monday - Week 24 - Update on the border waiting times in Europe
In this Market Monday, although Tuesday due to the public holiday, we visit the border situation again.
More than 4 weeks after the new German government announced stricter border controls to address migration, the efficiency loss for the transportation industry continues. The disturbances at German borders majorly occur at the Polish and Czech borders to enter Germany. Peaks are usually monitored on Mondays and Tuesdays reaching more than 60 minutes delay.
The following map shows the situation today (10.06.2025 at 07:00 AM) and highlights the disturbances at the Eastern borders of Germany. Currently truck journeys are prolonged by 60 Minutes (Zgorzelec to Görlitz) to enter into Germany compared to a pre border control baseline.
Hourly updates of this map in almost real-time can be found here:
In mid-October 2023, Germany implemented controls at its borders to Poland and Czechia, negatively impacting road freight transportation. Border crossing delays became particularly pronounced for vehicles entering from Eastern Europe, as shown in the chart below. The controls were subsequently expanded to other borders, but the initial checkpoints were the most negatively affected.
Between January and April 2025, border crossing points to Poland and Czechia (yellow line) showed a relief compared to 2024. After the announcement in May overall waiting times to enter Germany (purple line with all land borders of Germany) increased and reached the impact of October 2023 again.
While the immediate effect of these waiting times for shippers are limited, these disturbances negatively impact the operational efficiency of the carriers and thereof their production costs and margins. It further reduces the available capacity, raises volatility and contributes to higher spot price levels.
Christian Dolderer
Lead Research Analyst
Trimble Transportation (Transporeon)