Hi and Good Day to All,
We run to Greece and go via Ancona-Patra Ferry, years ago we used to go overland via Romania-Bulgaria, can anyone please advise to current position with the cost of tolls/fuel plus now that they Romania/Bulgaria are in the EU do they still want documents i.e. customs etc, or can you go with just the CMR ?
We are looking to do a costing to see if it’s viable, and find out if the Border crossing customs officers are still on the take.
Regards
Tony
“The way to Greece” is still via Ancona-Patras so I presume the cost saving, if any, is insufficient to make it worth while. Certainly there is more predictability in using the ferry. I suppose a lot would depend on where in Greece you would be going to.
I can see that route becoming popular for Turkey and beyond though. I’ll try to get some costings over the weekend if I can.
Whatever has changed now that Romania and Bulgaria are in the eu, I imagine you would still find pleanty of people ready to solicit a backhander.
hi mate , when i do greece i normally go ancona , but a while ago my boss looked into bulgaria but there was restrictions on the insurance so it wasnt worth while but that was before they changed , i dont do customs in poland and hungary now so i would guess that now romania and bulgaria are in you wont need to however you will still need to pay eg. the interior tax in romania and other taxes . harry is spot on about other ways they will find to help you spend money
I’ve only crossed from Romania into Bulgaria a couple of times but I remember the process being one of trotting from one dingy office to another and being relieved of some tax or fee at every step. Transit Tax, Ekolog, Sanitation Tax, Improvement Tax etc, in return for stamps on a scabby piece of paper.
When the Rumos had finished with me it was the Wombles’ turn to repeat the process and then finally they charged me £20 to squirt some filthy water all over my truck in an apparent attempt to insult Romania by suggesting it is an unclean place.
Maybe it is, but Bulgaria ain’t exactly Switzerland.
Hi Harry and Monk many thanks for the replies.
We used to ran to Rumo and Bulgee 12/14 years ago and it was a great place to have money taken off you at every opportune moment by the Police/Customs and girls if you were so inclined, but due to the current problem of being under-cut by the old eastern block hauliers (Now EU) for some reason ?
I wondered what the current situation was and if there were any saving to be made, but of course this must be weighted up agained the distance and time factor going overland against Ancona-Patras ferry.
Also, we tip at Thiva just north of Athens and then reload Italy, but things might change and we start to reload Athens and deliver to Bulgaria and Romania.
Hope you can come up with so costs etc.
Regards
Tony
I would have thought the only benefit of running commie bloc to Athens was to save money, get on the cherry a bit earlier and forget the tacho rules. Now the EU are involved, it must be cheaper to use the shortest route. Italy Patras.
You can still get girls in Italy if that is the main concern, although some of them come with extras 
If you have a trip to Glasgow from London, would you still go for the cheap fuel in Exeter?
Wheel Nut If you have a trip to Glasgow from London, would you still go for the cheap fuel in Exeter?
Thats ‘The Brit Pete School of Trucking’. 
hi mate got my niece to do a bit of searching , she come up with calais to ancona via swiss is 931 miles . calias to athens via A,H,RO,BG is 1969 miles . gives you a rough idea
and patas to athens is 132 mile , sorry …
Wheel Nut:
I would have thought the only benefit of running commie bloc to Athens was to save money, get on the cherry a bit earlier and forget the tacho rules. Now the EU are involved, it must be cheaper to use the shortest route. Italy Patras.You can still get girls in Italy if that is the main concern, although some of them come with extras
If you have a trip to Glasgow from London, would you still go for the cheap fuel in Exeter?
Regarding the old rules in commie bloc about tacho’s, all of the EU drivers now do to us what we did then ! ! As usual we are the only ones who get done on both sides of the water,and I don’t think belly tanks would go down very well now days, but it might be worth a try and see if the French are still looking for them?
Regarding the cheapest route, not always, the ferry costs approx £500/550 each way
Having done the job that you do, although we went to Marinopilis depot at Elefisina when i was there, i reckon you would be mental to go overland, too much messing around, i used to get all the stories off big Alex about the aggro. Much easier to take your time and enjoy it by going to Ancona, ps is Steve Wise still the main man in the office?
IF your trailers are 4.00m high then let the train take the strain
from Freiburg to Novera italy you get a leagal break on the disk-card
and save the hassle of paying the swiss the plaesure of tranisiting
which is quite expensive nowdays also if you have a reservation for the train you can run on sundays,time ftrom Calsis to Freiburg 10hrs,
and from novera to your ferry port is do able in a shift i belive,
Yup, letting the train take the strain looks great on tacho’s and transit time. But, you don’t get a good nights kip on those bunks. They change the units at each border, which involves a fair bit of shunting around and they ain’t gentle about it. Then you quite often get put into a siding to allow the passenger expresses through. So all in all it’s a pretty rough ride.
I’ve only done it three times, all at night. Apparently the views during the day are amazing.
Thank you to all for the replies, however, does anyone know what the costs are for going overland■■? or do they have a train service from somewhere Austria etc thru Romania and Bulgaria, for trucks, and if so how much.
rgs
Tony
JJSL:
Thank you to all for the replies, however, does anyone know what the costs are for going overland■■? or do they have a train service from somewhere Austria etc thru Romania and Bulgaria, for trucks, and if so how much.rgs
Tony
Have a look at the Euro Drivers Info Point sticky post. There are links there to the Multi-Modal Rail sites.
JJSL:
Thank you to all for the replies, however, does anyone know what the costs are for going overland■■?
I got my boss to phone around last week- we have in the past subbed for Intersped and know a few people who occasionally still go to Greece- but he couldn’t find anybody at all who has been via the route you suggest.
I suppose someone has to be first to try it, and it looks like you da man! 
Lo Tony would think the biggest factor would be time’ what you save in costs not going ancona you are going to lose in the extra time going overland so for every couple a trips overland you could have got another in sending the truck by boat, it is cheaper via Romania Bulgaria, as i did some about a year and a half ago next time im at the boss’s will get him to print out the old costings and let you know, i have been hearing that at the mo its not to quick due to volume of trucks, there should be a guy on the boat out of esbjerg tonight who has been down that way since jan 1st will ask him if he is on. When i spoke to the boss earlier today he asked me if i wanted to go back working for the spedition company out of copenhagen Doing Greece and Turkey told him i was quite happy going to uk for dhl at least i do get home every couple of weeks, say ello to uggy if e still on for you
rgds
steve
Hi Biggles,
Many thanks, and yes uggy just got back today in the UK, will pass your regards onto him and if you can find out what the current costs to transit Romania/Bulgaria are plus the customs crossing times it would be much appreciated.
Just a note to all. The only reason for doing this is to get an idea of what it would cost a Romanian/Bulgarian Haulier to do the same job, but only on the costs of the trip i.e. fuel/ferries/tolls because I know that their vehicle costs i.e. Finance/Insurance/Wages are lower, but if you can get an idea, then you can look at the whole thing and say well F@@@ it. or maybe not.
Regards
Tony