An association of refrigerated transport professionals fears “breaks in food products”. The entire road transport sector is on alert.
Motor carriers are sounding the alarm. An association bringing together 120 refrigerated transport companies warned on Tuesday against “ruptures on food products for the Frenchif fuel shortages due to strikes persist. “The blockades of oil refineries in progress on the national territory confront companies that transport perishable goods (…) with growing difficulties“, said the association”The cold supply chainin a statement.
According to this association, which claims to federate 120 companies totaling 50,000 employees and nearly 100,000 refrigerated trucks, “at transporters who have tanks, the available reserves are in some cases less than a week” while “the other carriers are dependent on the stocks available at the service station“. A worrying observation confirmed at Figaro by Jean-Marc Rivera, General Delegate of the Organization of European Road Carriers (OTRE). “Most professionals have visibility for only three to four days”he worries.
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The representative of road hauliers estimates that 75% of road transport companies are in difficulty with fuel supplies on Monday. Small companies are particularly exposed because they do not have private tanks to supply vehicles, unlike large companies. However, supply difficulties do not spare these private reserves. “You order 10,000 liters and we only deliver a third of it to you, without any view of the exact delivery date“, he relates. The tone of Yves Viguié, Ile-de-France secretary general of the OTRE, is even more serious, while the region is one of the most affected in the country. “All stocks are in the trucks and will be sold out soon“, he alarms.
Representatives of road carriers were received Monday evening by the Ministry of Transport, after a first meeting at the end of last week. Minister Clément Beaune assured them that the order to release strategic stocks had been passed, taking care to reassure them. However, the OTRE believes that the concern will subside when the end of the strike is recorded. However, the unions renewed the strikes at TotalEnergies and Esso-ExxonMobil on Tuesday despite pressure from the government and a majority agreement on wages signed at Esso-ExxonMobil.