Russian truckers stage mass protests against fee limits on grain shipments that force them to break the law

Russian truckers are staging mass demonstrations in the country’s southern regions, protesting against the low fees they are allowed to charge clients for transporting grain. According to the newspaper Kommersant, the maximum “tariffs” truckers are permitted to charge for grain shipments aren’t enough to cover fuel and maintenance costs, forcing drivers to overload their vehicles to earn reasonable income, which incurs fines and creates safety hazards.

“Several hundred” truckers (mostly transporting grain shipment) are blocking highway transfer terminals in the Rostov, Krasnodar, and Stavropol regions. Spokespeople for a truckers’ association told Kommersant that roughly 70 percent of drivers say the industry’s pricing needs reform.

Protesting truckers have sabotaged almost 100,000 tons of grain, which amounts to roughly four percent of Russia’s monthly shipments. The disruption has already affected several major exports, Kommersant reports.