Lionel Gougelot, edited by Gauthier Delomez 2:07 p.m., March 21, 2022

Filtering dam operations are organized Monday all over the country, by road hauliers who warn of the risk of financial strangulation which constitutes the rise in fuel prices.

Europe 1 went to Lesquin, near Lille, where employees of an SME are hoping for new aid.

State aid is not enough for these road hauliers.

In Lesquin, near Lille, as in other points in France, several of them organized a filtering barrage on Monday to warn of their increasingly difficult situation due to the rise in fuel prices, largely linked to the crisis in Ukraine.

Monday morning, it was mainly small road transport bosses who carried out these operations, as in front of the Regional Transport Center (CRT).

SMEs are strangled financially, and the aid of 1,300 euros per vehicle as well as the reduction of 15 cents per liter of diesel remain insufficient.

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Why aid is not enough to relieve SMEs

This is insufficient, for example, for Honorine Morel, of the company Transport des Pâtures.

"Today, (the liter) is 1.90 euros, minus 15 cents, which makes 1.75. We are far from the reasonable 1.40 to make money, and we lose 22,000 euros every month", she explains at the microphone of Europe 1. "If it continues like this, it's over", warns Honorine Morel.

“Wages will increase by 5%, road costs will increase by 3% on March 1, and another increase in wages on May 1. And we, behind, have nothing,” she regrets.

Fuel thefts on the rise

This diesel price directly threatens the survival of transport SMEs.

A fuel that has become overpriced, which also poses a security problem, as Thierry, the company's operations manager, points out.

"Now, diesel thefts are repeated and today, we are no longer able to ensure the safety of our drivers because they will have their tanks forced," he warns on Europe 1. "They will fall on wags who will risk planting them or doing anything. We have to find a solution."

However, professionals do not expect price cuts in the coming weeks.

They see only one solution: the introduction of professional diesel for cheaper road transport, in the same way as fishermen or farmers.