Fuel shortages weigh on many crucial sectors
The strike in the energy sector and the resulting fuel shortages or rationing are weighing on activities and workers who are highly dependent on travel by internal combustion engine vehicle. According to INSEE, 74% of workers who travel to work use their car. Certain emergency vehicles (firefighters, police, SAMU or gendarmerie) are considered to have priority. Liberal caregivers (doctors, nurses, home helpers and the elderly) are also demanding priority access to fuel. Firefighters from the Rhône have asked for measures allowing them to buy fuel to reach their barracks and thus ensure “continuity of service”.
Other sectors are requesting the release of additional strategic stocks from the State to maintain their activity. Road carriers are ” on the razor wire “, according to the trade organization OTRE. Companies have their own tanks but “still have difficulty getting delivered” on time, and in quantity. According to François Asselin, president of the Confederation of SMEs, maintenance, repair and taxi services are also experiencing difficulties.
FlixBus long-distance coaches have requested priority access to their sector. Several driving schools have also sounded the alarm, as instructors are forced to queue for hours to refuel. Wholesalers are “very worried” and anticipate “severe disruptions in deliveries” as of Friday, most without storage tanks. Some companies have moved service pick-up times early in the morning to find fuel.
In the north of France, operators have exhausted their reserves of GNR (non-road diesel) and are seeing their deliveries rationed: no more than 1,000 liters in the Marne or in Flanders. Several farms are or will be shut down in the coming days, alerted the federations of operators, denouncing “hostage-taking” at a critical moment. “If we do not sow cereals, this will have an impact on the availability of wheat in 2023 and, therefore, on bread. We are on alert, because sowing is now, not in ten days or in a month”explained Joël Limouzin, vice-president of the majority agricultural union, the FNSEA.
“In the construction industry, excavators and machines need a lot of fuel, the places most affected by shortages are Ile-de-France and Hauts-de-France, with also employees who are unable to join their construction sites », underlines the president of the Confederation of crafts and small construction companies, Jean-Christophe Repon. He asks the government for the possibility of obtaining partial activity measures by territory, as was the case for Covid-19. Finally, for Fabrice Le Saché, vice-president of Medef, there is an impact on “Leisure, restaurants, shopping centers and trade in general, tertiary activities… There are people who freeze their weekends and therefore do not consume and do not travel”.