Montenegro’s road hauliers are preparing to join a regional freight protest at EU borders from Sept. 14, as application of the Schengen 90-day stay rule increasingly restricts the number of days their drivers can work inside the bloc.
Carrier associations from Montenegro, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and North Macedonia said they planned coordinated action after failing to secure a solution for professional drivers subject to the rule limiting stays to 90 days in any 180-day period.
Regional associations say drivers have faced entry refusals, deportations and other penalties after exceeding permitted stays.
For Montenegro, the dispute is becoming a capacity problem rather than merely an immigration issue.
Đorđije Lješnjak, head of Montenegro’s road hauliers association, said domestic operators had already removed more than half of their capacity from some international work because of driver restrictions, increasing the risk that foreign carriers take over loads previously handled by Montenegrin companies.
The constraint changes the economics of fleet expansion.
Buying another truck does not increase EU freight capacity if the operator cannot assign a driver with sufficient Schengen days remaining.
Companies may instead need larger driver pools, shorter rotations, relay systems or partnerships with EU-based carriers, all of which increase operating costs.
Smaller trucking companies are particularly exposed because they have fewer drivers available for rotation.
Higher labour and compliance costs could eventually feed into freight rates for Montenegro’s importers and exporters.
The industry also faces the risk of losing market share.
An EU-registered operator whose drivers are not constrained in the same way can keep vehicles working on routes that Montenegrin companies may struggle to cover continuously.
That could transfer part of the logistics margin from domestic carriers to foreign fleets even where Montenegrin trucks remain physically available.
The planned Sept. 14 protest would escalate a dispute that has been building for months and could disrupt freight movement through EU border crossings if it proceeds.
For Montenegro’s transport sector, the longer-term issue is clear: international freight capacity is increasingly determined not only by trucks, permits and drivers, but by the number of Schengen working days each driver has left.
Without a regulatory solution, that human-capital constraint could become a permanent cost disadvantage for Montenegro’s road-haulage industry.
