The Spanish government approves new aid for road, rail, and maritime transport

BarcelonaThe Spanish government has approved new adjustments for road, rail, and maritime transport to mitigate the effects of fuel costs due to the war in the Middle East. These measures are in addition to those already approved, and among them, the aid of up to 20 cents per liter of professional diesel stands out.

The measures were taken after meetings with the affected sectors, explained the Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, during the press conference after the Council of Ministers, and they reinforce, he added, the protection of the transport sector "in the face of a complex international context, to guarantee its viability and ensure the proper functioning of the logistics chain".

For road transport, the mandatory nature and automatic review of the transport price when variations occur in the fuel price are consolidated. In addition, it will have to be expressly reflected on the invoice to guarantee transparency, and finally, a specific sanctioning regime is introduced for cases of non-compliance.

For rail freight transport, 3.15 million euros are allocated to compensate for the extra fuel cost for diesel locomotives. The aid will be 15,000 euros per active locomotive. "The objective is to avoid a loss of competitiveness of rail transport compared to other modes of transport and to guarantee its continuity in the logistics system," explained Puente.

In maritime transport, existing adjustments are expanded and services of pure cargo between peninsular ports and those of the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands, Ceuta, and Melilla are expressly included. Also between the ports of the islands for services already covered by the previous royal decree-law. This means an increase of 7 million euros on the 30 million initially planned.