The transit of trucks, trains, and ships through Romania to the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine in particular, may take longer as a result of the introduction of mandatory registration of transit goods through the EU, which will particularly affect imports of petroleum products from outside the EU via the port of Sulina, writes profit.ro.
According to data from the Romanian Customs Service, the sixth phase of the “opt-out” from the NCTS-RO system took effect on May 25, 2026. The “opt-out” option involves submitting goods import declarations (ENS) in the ICS2 system and issuing transit declarations in the NCTS-RO system without security features. Thus, economic operators must ensure they have access to the system for filing import declarations.
According to Ukrainian media reports, the introduction of new procedures will affect the operations of vessels transporting petroleum products from outside the EU through the port of Sulina.
Products originating from EU member states, such as Greece, will not be subject to additional customs clearance, whereas products from Turkey, for example, will be.
“It has become mandatory to establish a kind of transit warehouse while the goods are in the EU,” said one of the traders supplying diesel fuel to the Ukrainian market.
“This is a financial guarantee provided for the full value of the cargo. Once the cargo has completed transit, the guarantee is returned,” explained a representative of a Ukrainian company importing liquefied gas. A similar scheme previously existed for aviation fuel shipments.
As a result of processing additional documents and obtaining a transit permit, the transit time for cargo through the Sulina Canal may increase by 2–3 days.
According to market participants, the introduction of customs clearance for transit cargo will stimulate sales of diesel fuel from Constanta.
“Shipments from Constanta are not subject to the new rules. This could increase the attractiveness of this supply source, which the Port of Constanta has recently lost for a number of reasons,” said a Ukrainian trader quoted by Enkorr.
Nevertheless, the consulting group A-95 estimates that diesel fuel imports from the Port of Constanta in May are unlikely to exceed 50,000 tons, while in March and April, volumes amounted to 154,000 tons and 114,000 tons, respectively.
