The transporters threaten the Government with "unforeseeable consequences" if it does not recover the 20 cent discount for the sector

The main association of transporters in Spain has demanded this Monday that the Government raise to 20 cents per liter the fuel bonus from which the sector benefits.. If the Executive does not intervene, the aid will drop from the current 10 cents to five next week. “The transport of goods by road is essential for the functioning of supply chains and the supply of the population and, if the Government does not take action on the matter, the consequences will be unpredictable, and could cause serious damage to the economy. Spanish as a whole.”, has warned the Spanish Confederation of Freight Transport (CETM) in a note released early this afternoon.

“With less than a week until the transport fuel bonus goes from 10 to 5 cents, the Government has not given any response to the CETM request so that the sector can recover the initial amount of 20 cents,” the statement continues. Unlike the rest of drivers – for whom the fuel discount declined with the arrival of 2024 – the road freight transport sector has maintained it throughout this time. Of course, in a reduced modality of 10 cents from April, which will be reduced to five from October.

“It is offensive that the road freight transport sector has to wait until the last day, as has happened on previous occasions, to find out if its requests are met and to be able to continue with the activity and management of its companies,” the text continues. spread by employers. It is worth remembering that the last extension of fuel discounts was approved just three days before the decree expired.

The CETM denounces that fuels have already accumulated 11 consecutive weekly increases and that analysts predict that prices “will continue to rise unstoppably” in the face of production cuts in OPEC+ countries.. In addition, they remember that the Ministry of Transport promised to review the amount of aid if the situation worsened.

The latest data from the EU oil bulletin places the price of 95 gasoline at 1.75 euros per liter, exactly the same value as that recorded at this point in 2022, only then drivers had a discount of 20 cents in charge of the State. For its part, the price of diesel – the fuel most frequently used in road transport – stood at 1.67 euros last week, compared to 1.91 (without discount) at this time last year.

Transporters point out that their concern goes beyond the price of fuel. They regret that salary costs, insurance, tires or the vehicles themselves have also become “disproportionately” expensive, which is leading to “an unsustainable situation”. Likewise, they denounce that the slowdown in consumption due to inflation and interest rate increases are reducing their activity.

The CETM is the association with the most weight in the National Transport Committee, the dialogue forum in which representatives of the sector and the Government participate.. However, the CETM did not support the transport strikes that paralyzed the country in March of last year and that even affected economic growth in that quarter, as recognized by the Bank of Spain.

The call was carried out by the National Transport Sector Defense Platform, an association made up mostly of self-employed workers and SMEs. However, the unrest due to the sharp rise in fuel prices in the weeks after the war meant that the strikes were widely followed throughout the sector. The approval of sectoral aid and the 20 cent discount for refueling calmed the waters and managed to defuse the conflict. The last call for strikes occurred in November 2022, although the Platform was forced to call it off the next day due to lack of follow-up.