More than 75 years since TIR – the only global transit system – started reviving and connecting European economies, the system continues to evolve and expand. This year-in-review article looks at five key developments from 2025.
Managed by IRU under a United Nations mandate, TIR lets you ship goods from one country to another, transiting as many as needed along the way, via a secure, multilateral, multimodal and mutually recognised system.
The goods are sealed at the point of origin and only reopened at their destination – regardless of how many national borders are crossed.
In essence, TIR allows trucks to cross borders efficiently and securely.
The tried-and-tested system has been shown to reduce border transit times by up to 92% and lower transport costs by up to 50%.
Here are five key TIR developments from 2025.
Prioritising TIR trucks at borders
Although TIR trucks benefit from facilitated border procedures, this advantage is often hindered when non-TIR trucks cause delays.
What’s the way around this? TIR prioritisation solutions.
Countries are increasingly introducing TIR prioritisation solutions at their border crossings. The result? Even faster secure trade with TIR.
All Central Asian countries, as well as Romania, Moldova, China, Mongolia and Saudi Arabia, have implemented priority lanes or windows for TIR.
TIR operators using TIR-EPD – a system that allows to send information to customs for risk management purposes and to separate low-risk TIR trucks from high-risk cargo – can proceed directly to these designated lanes or windows upon arrival, significantly accelerating customs procedures for international trade by truck.
Sometimes, several categories of transport or operators, such as authorised economic operators, can use these lanes. Nevertheless, the principles of prioritisation – security and trustworthiness – remain the same.
