The increase in fuel prices is causing tension in the road transport industry and has triggered a call for strike for next Monday March 14. The protest has been called by the Platform for the Defense of the Transport of Goods by National and International Road, an organization outside the usual representative bodies of the sector. The transport employers have disassociated themselves from the mobilization. The National Committee for Road Transport (which integrates the employers) maintains contacts with the Government to demand exceptional measures that lessen the impact of the increase in the price of fuels in the sector.
The callers of the strike assure that 90% of the transport companies are “in an economic situation of total bankruptcy, just as working conditions are totally precarious in all senses.” He adds the call statement that the mobilization would be suspended in the event that “the necessary agreements that are published in the BOE” are reached.
strategic sector
Although the majority organizations do not support the mobilization, they are on alert in the face of a situation that is putting professionals in the sector on the ropes. The rise in fuel prices has been of the order of 43% compared to before the pandemic, they say. 95% of the land movement of goods in Spain and 70% of exports to Europe are carried out by road by 360,000 trucks, they explain in employer sources. That is why they demand urgent measures from the Government to minimize the rise in fuel prices. Among the proposals of the Committee that are presented include that the reimbursement of professional diesel be monthly and not quarterly as currently, and that the social security costs of workers be reduced.
The reduction of taxes for the sector and for fuels is also on the negotiating table. He is especially concerned about the increase in the price of gas. Some 15,000 natural gas trucks circulate in Spain, with a usual added cost of 30,000 euros per vehicle and whose economic viability is seriously threatened. The cost of fuel and social security expenses account for more than 60% of the carrier’s costs.
Taxes
For Ramon ValdiviaExecutive Vice President of the International Road Transport Association (Astic), it is also relevant that “temporarily and circumstantially, for a certain period, and for extraordinary reasons, Brussels accepts to lower the tax on hydrocarbons below that established in the EU. That would help companies to resist”. In sources of the Catalan Business Federation of Passenger Transport (Fecav) highlighted that they do not support any strike but “institutional support” is necessary to weather a situation that puts the companies in the sector on the ropes.
The road freight section of the National Road Transport Committee comprises 11 organizations. The largest representation corresponds to the Spanish Confederation of Freight Transport (CETM) up to 63.9 votes out of 125 of the total of the CNTC, which gives it a representation of 51.12%. Fenadismer, Astic and UNO are the following organizations by representation in that committee, which is the one that negotiates with the Ministry of Transport. Regarding the possible follow-up of the mobilization called by the Platform, it is difficult to make predictions, since self-employed entrepreneurs are the majority in the Spanish transport sector, around 70% of all drivers.
Fuel expense
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Sources of Astic They ensure that a heavy vehicle can refuel up to 1,500 liters and consumes an average of 35 liters per 100 kilometers, which allows autonomy of more than 4,000 kilometers. Currently, the average price of diesel is on track to exceed 1.95 euros per liter, which represents a 40% rise since January 2021, an accelerated rise in these first two weeks of March. This means that long-distance carriers now have to spend an average of 2,000 euros more per month on fuel.