Fuel shortages spread across southern Italy as hauliers threaten strike

Fuel stations across southern Italy are running out of supplies. In Cosenza, the great majority of service stations have completely sold out of petrol and diesel, and the few still stocked are besieged by queues. In Catanzaro, most outlets ran out on 14 October, with Eni-branded pumps among the first to empty, and Eni said tanker deliveries would reach only some points of sale. In Lamezia Terme, the Eni stations that sell at lower prices have closed. Local reports link the shortage to the blockade at the Eni refinery in Taranto, which has cut deliveries for southern Italy. In Basilicata, queues have formed in Potenza, police were needed to direct traffic in Matera, and some supermarkets have started to show empty shelves.

The haulage sector is also in revolt. Pasquale Russo, president of Conftrasporto, said spontaneous protests by hauliers were spreading and that drivers in the south were organising road blockades. He said fuel prices had risen by more than 50 cents per litre since the start of the war, and that resources set aside for fuel costs had not yet reached the sector.

We are asking the government for an urgent meeting of the haulage associations, otherwise we will have to consider a national stoppage and the country will be blocked.

Unatras, another haulage association, said it was ready for a national stoppage if the government did not convene it urgently. Farmers and hauliers have also planned protests for 16 October in Calabria at Rende, Montalto Uffugo and along the Ionian and Tyrrhenian coasts, while protests at Vieste and the Poggio Imperiale toll booth in the Foggia area were already under way. Russo also criticised a measure in the new Highway Code, approved by the Council of Ministers, that raises the maximum age for truck drivers to 70.