A station in Qality, on the outskirts of Addis Abeba, was filled last week with heavy trucks and freight loaded with all kinds of imported goods. Four security personnel wearing blue uniforms and keenly observing their surroundings guarded the front gate.

Blue, red and white coloured trucks roam around with roaring sounds from their engines. Inside the compound, three others clad in green uniforms checked each truck’s plate number and loaded items before issuing permits to leave the premises. The dust blows underneath the large tires as the trucks depart.

This was the starting point for the tedious days-long round trip to ports in Djibouti. The trucks make their way to the border.

Customs Controlling & Monitoring Station, a few kilometres off the station, allows drivers to choose which highway to take, with most taking the Dewale route, one of the two roads leading to the borders with Djibouti, an indispensable sea outlet for Ethiopia’s import and export trade. Many find the alternative, the Galafi route, posing a risk; they have security concerns.

Yetsione Shewa, a driver in a white shirt with sunken red eyes, was one of these concerned drivers. His frustration was evident, striding from one place to another with a stack of paper in his hand, searching for the transport authorities. He has been waiting for his truck to be unloaded for four days with no luck. The warehouses were full, and many drivers before him were waiting to unload their freight.

Yetsione hoped to demand payment for staying long, but he found it uneasy.

“I’ve got to wait until next week to unload,” he said. “The system here is debilitating.”

Drivers are paid 2,500 Br a day for staying at the station, depending on how long they get held up.

The father of two and a cross-country driver under Millennium Logistics, he has experienced rough moments on the Galafi road, crossing the Afar Regional State. A truck driver for five years, he witnessed the business getting precarious as he had found it difficult to cross the border through Galafi at night. He recalled an incident; 10 individuals holding hands formed a line in the middle of the road between Awash Arba and Mille towns, awaiting drivers.

For fear of facing imprisonment of six years and a settlement of 350,000 Br if they hit a person, drivers often feel they have no choice but to stop and face the consequences.

“They don’t touch the freights,” Yestione told Fortune. “They only attack and rob drivers.”

He had once been shot in his right arm by robbers who fired at him; they took 10,000 Br.

“Thank God I survived,” he said, showing the scar.

He has faced such troubles two times in the past two years. He claims that police scoffed at his plight and told him to wait until the culprits were found.

However, an officer working for a police commission of the Afar Regional State denied any security problems and claimed things were fine. He declined to be identified and provide further information.

Despite troubles on the highway, drivers are subjected to a 5,000 Br penalty should they fail to make it to the Qality station in three days.

“We decide whether troubles happen or not,” said Eshetu Fikadu, controlling and monitoring officer at Customs Commission.

The Ethiopian Roads Authority claimed the road leading to Galafi had been rehabilitated. However, the town 163Km from Djibouti city remains detrimental, according to cross-border drivers. Many had been in despair over the rough road and unreliable security on the Galafi highway.

According to Sultan Husen, the customs officer in charge at Galafi checkpoint, the Authority has attempted to reconstruct the road. He agreed that there had been desperate safety issues, with drivers frequently reporting security concerns on the road.

Their predicament is, however, a glimpse of the turmoil the trucking industry has faced lately.

Cross-border freight transport associations have been voicing their concern following a law forcing them to incorporate, ratified by Parliament five months ago. They should transfer accumulated assets in nine months, a decision that displeased the associations’ leaders, who claimed it was made without consultation with those whose interests were most at stake.

Consequent panels were held with officials of the Ministry of Transport & Logistics, under Dagmawit Moges, drawing their concerns on the implementation. Four weeks ago, the Ethiopian Transport Employers’ Federation, formed in 2018 with 4,000 trucks under its fleet, urged changes to be considered after submitting a draft to the Ministry, calling for amendments.

Dejene Luche serves as a public relations officer for the Federation, led by 18 board members representing public and oil transports, dry cargo, and construction. He believes the associations needed time to understand how companies are incorporated, raising the required equity from members within the deadline. He blames transport authorities for burying their faces in the sand, unwilling to see stakeholders’ ordeals.

The law requires the 65 trucking associations to invest in acquiring a minimum of 50 trucks in four months.

“They can’t buy more than two,” Dejene told Fortune. “They risk falling into a diminished state if the transition is rapid.”

Whether mobilised under associations or managed by corporate entities, 11,000 trucks make rounds to Djibouti daily on one of the two corridors.

Dewale town is in the Shinile Zone of the Somali Regional State, 166Km before the border crossing to Djibouti. It also houses a checkpoint on the Addis Abeba-Djibouti railway line.

Ahmed Mohammed, administrative officer at Dewale Customs, confirmed that more trucks were coming through the gates for two months due to the damage Galafi sustained. The capacity of the scanning machines is limited to inspecting 30 to 50 trucks a day. It has been challenging to keep up with an average of 165 trucks passing through the checkpoint.

“We couldn’t handle the excess flow,” he said.

The Ethiopian Customs Commission allows trucks to cross the borders to Djibouti with verified documents, approved by Parliament in 2008. The document contains data on the type of freight, license plate, the driver’s name and address, and the route it is allowed to cross.

Officers at the Dewale customs checkpoint, under the supervision of the Dire-Dewa Customs Commission, issued a notice two months ago to drivers forewarning penalties for crossing the border without an authorised document. Nonetheless, many prefer this route over the Galafi crossing.

“We feel safe crossing through Dewale,” said Tesfaye Argaw. “The road is not as difficult as Galafi.”