Looking for some help and advice. I have to travel from Salzburg to Moscow in 5 months time. To travel through Czech Republic, then Poland, then Belarus and into Russia looks like it has BIG PROBLEM written all over it. I am trying to avoid crossing over too many borders and having to mess around with customs and any truck taxes.
Time is not an issue so I would like to drive to Lubeck, Germany and catch the Finnlines ferry from Lubeck to St Peterburg, then drive the 600km plus to Moscow.
Does anyone have any info about the timescale that I may have to wait in St Petersburg docks for custom clearance. I will be on an ATA carnet due to my type of load. Is the Russian customs dept. honest or can I expect to be messed around?
hi mark we are about to do moscow to budapest in a couple of weeks. I think the route we are taking is rue-latvia-lithuania-poland. then czech or slovakia not to sure yet. We use a fixer to get through the border on ata carnets and its straight forward enough…
Best bet would be to go up through Poland, Lithuania, and then into Latvia before crossing into Russia.
Whilst the crossing can be done without assistance, it’s certainly easier with a fixer if you’ve not done it before.
Expect to take anywhere between 4 and 12 hours to get through, again depending on customs, although it could take longer.
The same would apply if you shipped in through St.Petersburg.
Fixers■■? I am an owner/driver so this would be coming out of my costs. Besides, I dont know anyone. That,s why I thought that it would be easier just to catch ferry to St Petersburg and then pay a shipping agent in St Petersburg docks to process the paperwork.
Anyway, all advice is greatly received.
You could hire the services of an agent on the border, or I can give you a telephone number for the fixer I usually use.
I’d forewarn you though that fixers are expensive.
Alternatively, it’s possible to do the importation yourself with the right preperation.
Exiting through Latvia is easy enough, and would be the first customs formalities after leaving the UK.
Can I ask what the freight is that you’ll be carrying? If it’s entertainment or exhibition, it’s quite possible that the consignee
(ie. the promoter or exhibitor) will already have contact with the fixers.
It’s been a few years since I last shipped into st Petes on the Anna karenina but it was one of the easiest routes into Russia I ever used. Coming off the boat simply park in the compound walk across to customs join the queue and it would take anywhere between 2&6 hrs but never more unless their is a problem. On the other hand finding your way out of the city was a nightmare. I would suggest hiring a taxi to show you the way ( cheap enough ). As I say it was several years ago but hey good luck.
Many of Russians, Belarussian and Baltic States lorries driving to Austria via CZ - PL - LT - LV - RUS instead transit on Belarus - expensive, complicate and lots of waiting like old Soviet time!
better driving through to Brno, Ostrava (CZ), Katowice, Warsaw, Augustow (PL), Kaunas (LT) and Rezekne (LV) then you will only stop at Lativa Russia Borders crossing for customs so thanks to EU to have free borders
You will see numbers of Russians and some Kazahkstan lorries drive to Russia via Latvia borders than Belarus
as you are footing the bill, I can not make any sense of driving up to lübeck and then down from st petersburg. The ferry is extraordinarily expensive and you will be saving only a couple hundred kms of driving. take the latvian border suggested. and don’t worry about knowing any fixers, a british lorry will stand out like a sore thumb and they’ll certainly find you before you have to go looking for them. just make sure you agree on the price beforehand. it’ll still be a few hundred times cheaper than taking the ferry.