Poland, which is a leading Member State in CELBET expert team, is second, out of 11 CELBET countries, in terms of the number of border crossings points at the external EU border.
The Polish-Russian border strip is considered by CELBET experts as one of the most important, and in the context of geopolitical situation and EU sanctions, as one of the strategic part of the entire external border of the EU. Five of the CELBET Member States : Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland have land border with Russia over 2300 km long.
Russia is the only country that CELBET Member States have the most border crossing points: 36. Poland borders with Russia from the side of Warmian-Masurian voivodeship. On 16 of November, on rail crossing border point in Korsze, Head of National Revenue Administration, Mr Bartosz Zbaraszczuk, officially opened new installed x-ray scanner. What is worth emphasizing, is that among 11 CELBET Member States, only Poland has an X-ray device designed and manufactured by a domestic company. One Polish scanner operates in Kuźnica and new one in Korsze.
A total number of X-ray scanners installed at railway border crossing points on EU external border strip is 16.
EU external railway border strip
There are 42 railway border crossing points on the EU’s external border. 27 of them are for passengers and cargo traffic and 12 of them for cargo only. The remaining 3 are only for passenger traffic.
According to data from the CELBET Equipment team, the situation in equipping border crossing points with X-ray scanners has changed over the years. As you can see, six X-ray scanners have been installed at the EU’s external border in the last 2 years.
- 2017 – 11 X-ray scanners
- 2021 – 13 X-ray scanners
- 2023 – 19 X-ray scanners
Currently, few customs administrations of CELBET MS are under the procedure of purchasing X-ray scanners.
Assistance and support
Equipment team leader Lauris Krivans from Latvia explains that X-ray scanners on the railway border strip are the best technical solution to ensure multidimensional safety. The growing number of X-ray scanners on the external border of the EU is part of the mission of the CELBET Equipment team, which aim is to assist and support Member States with technical knowledge, market research, advice in defining technical requirements for purchases, as well as sharing good practices and experiences in the field of X-ray scanner use.
“The equipment itself is useless if there is a lack of basic factor: skills and motivation of the X-ray operators, who interpret the images. This must be accompanied by correct and constantly monitored maintenance of the device. Today, real and cyber security plays a significant role in the performance of any technical device.” – adds Lauris Krivans, Equipment team leader.
It is worth remaining that in Poland, in Gdańsk, CELBET established X-ray Center of Expertise, where Polish trainers share their knowledge and experience on x-ray scanning.
