Bulgaria Faces Border Gridlock as Truck Blockades With Serbia and North Macedonia Drag On

For a second day in a row, freight traffic at Bulgaria’s borders with North Macedonia and Serbia remains effectively paralyzed, with dozens of heavy trucks held up at key crossings. The blockade, which began on January 26, is driven by protests from transport companies unhappy with the EU Entry/Exit System (EES), which has recently come into force and, according to carriers, is causing serious delays and financial losses.

Despite the situation for heavy goods vehicles, passenger traffic with North Macedonia continues to move normally. Cars are crossing without difficulty through the Deve Bair-Gyueshevo, Delchevo-Stanke Lisichkovo, and Novo Selo-Zlatarevo border points. The disruption is limited to freight transport, but the scale is visible. On the Bulgarian side at Gyueshevo, the queue of trucks stretches for more than two kilometers, according to reports from the Bulgarian National Radio (BNR)

A similar picture applies at the Serbian border, where passenger vehicles are also crossing freely through Kalotina. According to Chief Inspector Manol Manolkov, head of the Kalotina border checkpoint, there is no accumulation of heavy trucks directly at the crossing itself. In comments to bTV, he explained that freight vehicles are being held in designated waiting zones outside the immediate border area, in an effort to prevent congestion around the checkpoint.

The standoff continues as carriers insist that the new EU system is disrupting logistics and increasing costs, while border authorities maintain that traffic for passenger vehicles remains fully unaffected.