Queues of heavy-goods vehicles once again stretched for kilometres at three major Polish–Ukrainian crossings on 22 October 2025 after Polish farmers resumed protest actions over agricultural import and subsidy policies. According to State Border Guard Service spokesman Andrii Demchenko, about 1,300 trucks were waiting to exit Poland toward Ukraine at Yahodyn–Dorohusk, Rava-Ruska–Hrebenne and Shehyni-Medyka, while a further 800 vehicles queued at the still-open Krakivets–Korczowa post.
Although demonstrations by farmers have flared periodically since late 2024, this week’s action coincides with the EU’s final negotiations on the Mercosur free-trade agreement and Warsaw’s internal debate on grain-import safeguards. Protest leaders from the Solidarity rural trade union demand extended fuel-tax rebates and continued cheap liquidity loans, arguing that a surge of lower-priced foreign produce is eroding margins. The government has offered talks but has so far refused to reinstate the blanket ban on Ukrainian grain lifted earlier in the year.
For logistics operators the stoppage is financially painful. Association figures show that a loaded tractor-trailer idling in line costs roughly €300 per day in fuel, driver overtime and demurrage fees; perishable cargoes such as fruit and chilled meat face spoilage risks that can wipe out entire shipments. Freight forwarders are already re-routing high-value goods via Slovakia and Romania, adding hundreds of kilometres and at least 24 hours to transit times.
Multinationals with just-in-time supply chains—particularly automotive plants in Silesia and consumer-electronics assemblers around Wrocław—have begun to flag potential production slow-downs if components cannot arrive from Ukrainian subcontractors. Insurance premiums for guaranteed-delivery contracts are also edging higher. Companies with Polish operations should activate contingency trucking corridors and revise inventory buffers for the next four to six weeks while negotiations continue.
In the medium term, analysts say the dispute underscores the fragility of the EU’s “Solidarity Lanes”, the over-land routes created to keep Ukrainian exports moving despite Black Sea disruptions. Warsaw faces mounting pressure from Brussels—and from domestic manufacturers reliant on cross-border labour and parts—to find a durable compromise that avoids recurring shutdowns of a corridor that handles roughly 16 % of Poland’s east-west road freight.
Although demonstrations by farmers have flared periodically since late 2024, this week’s action coincides with the EU’s final negotiations on the Mercosur free-trade agreement and Warsaw’s internal debate on grain-import safeguards. Protest leaders from the Solidarity rural trade union demand extended fuel-tax rebates and continued cheap liquidity loans, arguing that a surge of lower-priced foreign produce is eroding margins. The government has offered talks but has so far refused to reinstate the blanket ban on Ukrainian grain lifted earlier in the year.
For logistics operators the stoppage is financially painful. Association figures show that a loaded tractor-trailer idling in line costs roughly €300 per day in fuel, driver overtime and demurrage fees; perishable cargoes such as fruit and chilled meat face spoilage risks that can wipe out entire shipments. Freight forwarders are already re-routing high-value goods via Slovakia and Romania, adding hundreds of kilometres and at least 24 hours to transit times.
Multinationals with just-in-time supply chains—particularly automotive plants in Silesia and consumer-electronics assemblers around Wrocław—have begun to flag potential production slow-downs if components cannot arrive from Ukrainian subcontractors. Insurance premiums for guaranteed-delivery contracts are also edging higher. Companies with Polish operations should activate contingency trucking corridors and revise inventory buffers for the next four to six weeks while negotiations continue.
In the medium term, analysts say the dispute underscores the fragility of the EU’s “Solidarity Lanes”, the over-land routes created to keep Ukrainian exports moving despite Black Sea disruptions. Warsaw faces mounting pressure from Brussels—and from domestic manufacturers reliant on cross-border labour and parts—to find a durable compromise that avoids recurring shutdowns of a corridor that handles roughly 16 % of Poland’s east-west road freight.
