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The Trucker's Nightmare That Could Flatten Europe's Economy (Bloomberg)
"Peering through his rain-lashed windshield, Zoltan Unczorg alternates edgily between the brake and the gas pedal of his 18-wheeler. "It’s very tiring," the sturdy Hungarian complains as he crawls along in a line of vehicles approaching the Austria-Germany border.
After more than eight hours carrying fan parts, Unczorg has no more patience for delays. And this day was better than usual. He’s had to endure waits of about four hours at this checkpoint, set up last September to hunt for migrants on the A3 highway near the German city of Passau. It’s a route he plies daily for electric-motor maker EBM-Papst Group.
"The worst was last summer, when migrants were walking on the highway heading for Germany,” he says. “It was too dangerous to drive quickly, you could hit them by accident."
After more than eight hours carrying fan parts, Unczorg has no more patience for delays. And this day was better than usual. He’s had to endure waits of about four hours at this checkpoint, set up last September to hunt for migrants on the A3 highway near the German city of Passau. It’s a route he plies daily for electric-motor maker EBM-Papst Group.
"The worst was last summer, when migrants were walking on the highway heading for Germany,” he says. “It was too dangerous to drive quickly, you could hit them by accident."
(Snip)"The impact of refugee migration is visible at the Austria-Germany checkpoint near Passau. A hut squats in the middle of the two-lane highway and a line of trucks stretches back some six kilometers, exhaust fumes mixing with the stench of manure spread on nearby fields.
Under a large white canvas tent, four police officers search a large gray van. Two are armed with machine guns in addition to their service pistols, under orders issued following the terror attacks on Brussels in March.
"You have no idea how many ways I’ve seen the smugglers hide people," says Karsten Eberhardt, a police commissioner, as he sits at a picnic table. "If you carve out a hollow space under the seat and put a board in front, you can hide a pretty large person."
The flow of migrants has dwindled since January, when as many as 12,000 reached the checkpoint daily. On the last weekend in March, police in the region found 70 migrants who were being smuggled.
Peter Sonnleitner, head of foreign trade at the chamber of industry and commerce for Lower Bavaria, based in Passau, says several firms in the region have complained about delays but they have so far been "understanding" because transport companies have absorbed most of the extra cost."
Under a large white canvas tent, four police officers search a large gray van. Two are armed with machine guns in addition to their service pistols, under orders issued following the terror attacks on Brussels in March.
"You have no idea how many ways I’ve seen the smugglers hide people," says Karsten Eberhardt, a police commissioner, as he sits at a picnic table. "If you carve out a hollow space under the seat and put a board in front, you can hide a pretty large person."
The flow of migrants has dwindled since January, when as many as 12,000 reached the checkpoint daily. On the last weekend in March, police in the region found 70 migrants who were being smuggled.
Peter Sonnleitner, head of foreign trade at the chamber of industry and commerce for Lower Bavaria, based in Passau, says several firms in the region have complained about delays but they have so far been "understanding" because transport companies have absorbed most of the extra cost."
Read the entire Bloomberg article here
YouTube has numerous videos going back 3 years of the difficulties European truckers are experiencing regarding the huge numbers of migrants in camps near places like Calais, a major ferry port and the place where the Channel Tunnel comes ashore in France. This one shows a driver approaching Calais and there are hundreds of migrants on the highway, basically walking down the side of an interstate. Watch at the :25 mark where one runs from the side of the road and opens the back door of the truck in front of the camera;
This will not end well for people who were welcomed into Europe only to abuse their hosts. Incidents like this as well as the assaults on women that are happening regularly I think will lead European countries to take some drastic measures.
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