The carriers ask for direct aid for the cost of fuel

BarcelonaThe National Federation of Transport Associations of Spain (Fenadismer) has formally requested an "urgent" meeting with the Minister of Economy, Trade and Business, Carlos Cuerpo, to agree on a new package of direct fuel aid in light of the 80% rise in oil prices since the beginning of the year. The employers' association explained this Wednesday in a statement that it demands a new support plan for direct aid to the sector, which should come into effect starting next October, and not tax cuts as it has been until now, given the record crude oil prices that threaten the viability of transport.

The price of oil has gone from 60 dollars a barrel at the beginning of January to around 110 dollars currently, a trend that is predictably expected to continue in the coming months. The federation added that it will convey to the ministry "the imperative need to radically change the currently existing aid regime", given that the current system "has only served to pad the income statements of oil companies, instead of alleviating the suffocating situation of transport operators".

Oil companies have absorbed the tax cut that came into effect in September, preventing diesel from falling by the expected 10 cents per liter on any day, the transport federation has denounced.

Despite the reduction in the hydrocarbon tax of 10 cents per liter (to which 2 additional cents should be added for the impact of VAT) that was to be applied starting from last September 1st, since the beginning of the month the price of diesel has not at any time been below the price recorded on August 31st. For all these reasons, Fenadismer considers "the design of a new control and direct aid mechanism that is effective, transparent and that actually reaches the tank of trucks and buses to be urgent, avoiding that public funds intended to protect the productive sector end up converted into extraordinary profits for large energy companies".

Criticism also from the other employers' association

On the other hand, the International Road Transport Association (Astic) has demanded that the Spanish government implement a specific support plan for road freight transport and provide "certainty" regarding the continuation of fuel subsidies. Furthermore, it has criticized that around 80% of the companies that make it up have not yet received all the aid they are entitled to and has highlighted that the impact of heavy transport on the final price of products is less than one cent per kilo.

This association is requesting "certainty" about the continuation of fuel subsidies beyond September 30, as it denounces that its companies are working with "enormous" legal uncertainty. "Large companies with fleets of hundreds of trucks still do not know if, starting October 1, they will face price increases of more than 25 cents per liter, considering that a heavy truck refuels about 4,000 liters of diesel per month," laments the executive vice president of Astic, Ramón Valdivia.