The Ylaurpala customs station, now the Torfyanovka international automobile checkpoint, was first mentioned in Vyborg customs office archives in 1944.
In January 1949, Ylaurpala was renamed Torfyanovka by a Decree of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. The customs station was manned with one employee. In winter, the checkpoint was closed due to the absence of cross-border traffic.
The Torfyanovka automobile checkpoint was opened to provide international communication between the USSR and Finland by Decree of the USSR Council of Ministers № 685-PS of March 7, 1958. The checkpoint was opened for traffic on July 5, 1958.
The customs station was manned with six employees.
A new customs facility was commissioned in November 1967, on the eve of the 50th anniversary of the October Socialist Revolution, to accommodate a growing inflow of tourists. It was developed by architect Sergei Speransky, a State Prize winner, to register individuals, cars and tourist buses.
Further growth in passenger and cargo traffic led to a personnel increase to 30 employees in mid 1980s.
In the early 1990s, the Torfyanovka customs station converted to 24-hour operation. In 1994 the checkpoint employed 83.
After the Russian Federation was established, IACP Torfyanovka was created by the Russian-Finnish agreement on border terminals of March 11, 1994.
On March 4, 1997, a new customs facility was built at Torfyanovka by the Finnish company Hartela.
Currently, IACP Torfyanovka is staffed with 260 employees.
Standard performance of IACP Torfyanovka:
Distance from Vyborg: 60 km.
Area of Torfyanovka checkpoint: 79 acres.
Number of control lanes in each direction:
- trucks - 8 lanes,
- cars - 4 lanes,
- buses - 1 lane.
The design daily traffic capacity of the Torfyanovka checkpoint in 1997:
1,300 trucks,
2,100 cars,
100 buses.
Currently, the actual traffic at IACP Torfyanovka is 20% to 50% higher than the design specifications and it processes the following:
1,300 to 1,500 trucks,
2,000 to 2,500 cars,
150 to 200 buses,
5,000 to 9,000 passengers.
Comparing the traffic capacity of Russian and European (Finnish) checkpoints would be inappropriate due to the following reasons.
Experts say Russia's foreign trade is more criminalised than in the EU, which requires a deeper control at Russian checkpoints.
Russia imports final goods, consumer goods, food and other commodities, which pose a higher risk of corrupt declaration, than the raw materials and empty vehicles that go to the EU.
The border terminal hosts the following buildings and installations:
1) truck registration office, transportation control module, vehicle scales;
2) facilities for customs and border clearance and passport control and customs clearance;
3) administrative building;
4) two customs check bays for trucks (one each for import and export), the import bay is fitted with scales;
5) customs check bay for passenger cars;
6) Rostek - Vyborg depot;
7) dog service office;
8) truck border control office;
9) old truck border control office for customs clearance and border control;
10) Rostek-Vyborg vehicle parking;
11) radiation control posts;
12) scales for trucks;
13) mobile check&inspection system;
14) Kapo Duty Free shop;
15) site for the mobile check&inspection system.
The checkpoint also hosts the following commercial enterprises:
- Baltoneximbank (banking services);
- Kapo Duty Free (duty free shop);
- Rostek - Vyborg (checkpoint maintenance, paperwork for international transport companies, preliminary information submission to customs offices; storage);
- SZTLS (North West Customs and Logistics Service) (paperwork for international transport companies and preliminary information submission to customs offices).
Customs brokers are present at the checkpoint because it is currently impossible to make customs agencies fill in customs declarations, as it would cause a significant increase in vehicle queues.
The introduction of preliminary information submission on imported goods from EU official agencies from January 1, 2009, will solve this problem.
Customs operation at IACP Torfyanovka:
The IACP at Torfyanovka is currently the most busy border terminal in the North-Western Federal District.
Between 1998 and 2008, the Torfyanovka's actual performance grew by 33%, exceeding one million vehicles within 10 months in 2008.
Vehicle traffic through IACP Torfyanovka 1998-2008
In the recent years, IACP Torfyanovka has seen sustained growth in the number of containers with imported goods coming to Russia.
Top goods imported from Finland in 2008:
This chart is an indicator of Torfyanovka's traffic, except new vehicles whose import stopped in the second half of the year.
The biggest challenge at IACP Torfyanovka is the queues caused by inadequate infrastructure.
There is a shortage of customs facilities at Torfyanovka, including truck check bays, vehicle lanes, work points for customs transit, inadequate number of scales and other limiting facilities.
There is a lack of room for semi-tractor trailers to turn and manoeuvre; the vehicle compound yard is insufficient. There is no vehicle compound in front of the vehicle access gates.
The customs service computer network has a narrow bandwidth (2 mb), which protracts operations.
The lack of unified software forces employees to repeatedly enter some data into data bases delaying customs clearance.
Amid these difficulties, the customs agencies are raising internal reserves and taking action to speed up the border crossing procedure. Although this won't enable the authorities to completely resolve the queue issue, it will allow them to use the maximum possible traffic capacity.
Employees of other customs offices from the North-Western region, as well as from other regions, can be detached to ensure full staffing of the cargo customs clearance hall at IACP Torfyanovka.
Actual customs inspections, which are performed on less than five percent of all vehicles, were achieved utilising a risk management system and modern customs control equipment. A mobile inspection system (MIS), which identifies the content of a container without a visual inspection, reduces customs detention duration to a minimum, freeing the carriers from additional operations.
IACP Torfyanovka is fitted with a mobile check & inspection system (MIS). The following table contains MIS performance data.
|
MIS performance results |
Total from March 3, 2008 |
|
Number of commercial batches passed through checkpoint since start of MIS operation |
182,122 |
|
Total vehicle checks conducted |
7,808 |
|
Number of commercial batches checked by MIS: |
7,387 |
|
- imported to Russia |
6,901 |
|
- exported from Russia |
414 |
|
Number of commercial batches subjected to customs inspection subsequent to MIS check |
287 |
|
Number of administrative offence cases launched after MIS customs check |
70 |
|
Number of criminal cases launched after MIS customs check |
Since September 2003, preliminary submission of information on goods and vehicles by member organisations was launched on the Russian-Finnish border as part of the Green Corridor project agreement by Russia, Finland and Sweden.
The project has already allowed the authorities to speed up and simplify the customs clearance process for goods through the preliminary submission of digital information, with the reliability of the latter guaranteed by Finland's Customs Service. The checks performed by both checkpoint personnel and destination customs office are minimised.
A total of 13,924 commercial batches have been registered at IACP Torfyanovka since the launch of the project:
|
2003 (four months) |
33 |
|
2004 |
1,573 |
|
2005 |
2,320 |
|
2006 |
2,944 |
|
2007 |
3,583 |
|
2008 (10 months) |
3,47 |
The Finnish company VALIO accounts for the majority of the figures' growth.
The project has already allowed a reduction in the average time of customs operations at the border crossing to between 10 and 15 minutes (customs processing only).
The partners within the project are Finland's HANSAPRINT OY, VALIO and KIILTO OY.
Starting this June, IACP Torfyanovka practices voluntary preliminary information submission.
Preliminary information is submitted by organisations which have corresponding agreements with the carriers. Preliminary information submission implies transmission of digital data on goods and vehicles expected to cross the border through electronic communications means to the customs station. This allows the preparation of a digital copy of the transit entry required for customs clearance before a vehicle arrives at IACP, which saves 10 to 15 minutes per vehicle.
This allows an increase in IACP's traffic capacity. The procedure, however, is not compulsory for carriers and therefore doesn't affect IACP's traffic capacity significantly.
Preliminary information submission volumes in 2008 (commercial batches):
|
June |
4 |
|
July |
97 |
|
August |
167 |
|
September |
68 |
|
October |
217 |
|
November |
64 |
The project has been effective since September 2003 in the Vyborg Customs Service's area of operation on the Russian-Finnish border.
The project is aimed at increasing customs clearance procedure efficiency through the creation of a favourable environment for recognized partners in international economic cooperation.
IACP Torfyanovka accounts for virtually all the commercial batches cleared within the project. The partners within the project are Finland's HANSAPRINT OY, VALIO, and KIILTO OY. Earlier, Sweden's VOLVO and SCANIA also took part in the project.
In 2005, the Russian Federal Customs Service suggested expanding the scope of the Green Corridor project by including the goods exported from the Russian Federation to the EU. The Russian Customs Service submitted a draft protocol between the Russian Federal Customs Service and the Main Customs Administrations of Sweden and Finland to launch the Green Corridor project for goods involved in reciprocal trade. An attachment to the draft protocol contained the procedure for admission of Finnish, Swedish and Russian foreign trade participants to the Green Corridor.
This draft protocol, along with the attachment, was submitted to the Swedish and Finnish Main Customs Administrations.
After the tripartite consultations, the Finnish customs service generally approved the suggested documents. Swedish customs experts, however, doubted that the draft protocol complies with EU legislation, citing the absence of the management's declaratory stance. This led to the Russian Customs Service's proposal to introduce preliminary information submission for goods exported from Russia to the EU meeting with no response.
Russian-Finnish border
The Russian-Finnish agreement on border crossings of March 11, 1994 (hereafter the Agreement) establishes:
24 automobile checkpoints (eight multilateral and 16 bilateral simplified crossing points [SCPs]);
four railway checkpoints, including a bilateral simplified crossing point at Svetogorsk;
a water terminal at Brusnichnoye (Leningrad Region, Vyborg district, Saimensky Canal).
At present, all the IACPs listed in the Russian-Finnish agreement, are operational, including Torfyanovka, Brusnichnoye and Svetogorsk in the Leningrad Region, and Vartsila, Lutta, Suopera and Sala in Karelia, and Lota in the Murmansk Region.
IACPs Torfyanovka, Brusnichnoye and Svetogorsk are the most busy in the North-Western Federal District. The above listed checkpoints, as well as the Vartsila checkpoint, require reconstruction to enhance the traffic capacity by increasing the number of traffic lanes, expanding vehicle parking, work stations, upgraded equipment, and other measures.
Other IACPs, except Suopera, require repairs and new equipment.
Although all the four railway crossing points, Luzhaika and Svetogorsk in the Leningrad Region, and Vartsila and Lutta in Karelia, are operational, none of them complies with the standards adopted by customs agencies. There are no open improved spaces, depots or unloading ramps for customs checks, bulk cargo check or wood volume measurement ramps, loading equipment, delayed goods storage facilities, temporary storage depots, moving freight wagon scales and other up-to- date equipment.
There are nine simplified crossing points (SCPs) in operation: eight in Karelia, including Korpiselka, Suvaoro, Ristilahti, Kuolismaa, Haapavaara, Vojnitsa, Inari and Makijarvi, and one in the Murmansk Region, Janiskoski.
Due to the specific character and current state of the motorways, as well as other circumstances, these SCPs can be shut down for long periods of time.
According to Article 5, Paragraph 3 of the Russian-Finnish Agreement on border crossing points, the development of SCPs is to be done by the country's state agencies, local authorities and organisations interested in SCP operation, which is currently not the case.