One kilometer from the Apple area, on the A50 motorway, a luminous panel announces the color. “Only diesel and bioethanol. And yet. A few meters further on begins what could be mistaken for a veritable black gold rush. A queue of more than 400 meters of bumper-to-bumper cars in search of a little fuel stretches on the hard shoulder, to this service station in the 11th arrondissement from Marseille. Refueled at midday, it is one of the few able to supply motorists in the area. According to public data analyzed by AFP this Monday in the middle of the day, 50% of the service stations in the department are out of gasoline or fuel in the department of Bouches-du-Rhône.
In question: the strike movements against the pension reform which put a stop to deliveries. In a press release dated March 18, the CGT ensures that “no more petroleum products have been released since March 7” at the Esso refinery in Fos-sur-Mer. In this same city, the Fluxel port entry depot is on renewable strike, as is the largest tank truck loading depot in France, not far from there. “It’s time to fill up on gas,” warned last week the leader of the CGT in the Bouches-du-Rhône Olivier Mateu on BFMTV.
Voltages at the pump
Message received from Apple… Not without difficulty. In their ambulance, Didier and Christine are a few meters from the Grail. “We’ve been here for an hour and a half, plague Didier. It is a hassle. We have less than 150 kilometers of autonomy left…” “Knowing that we do 500 kilometers a day, continues Christine. We were forced to refuse work to refuel. “And there’s nothing else left,” continues Didier. We have a Total card, so we did all the Totals in the area. Dromel, Rabatau… Nothing. Everything is closed… “
Didier suddenly stops, and the tension suddenly rises a notch. A couple in a blue car tries to overtake the ambulance. Names of birds that prudery imposes to silence fuse from the two cabins. Didier presses the vehicle in front of him to block the way, and the car finally turns back, not without a final insult from the passenger as a farewell. “She already tried earlier, plague Didier. I don’t understand people like that! »
A strike supported by motorists
Behind the ambulance, it’s not so much anger as anguish that grips Jean. “Do you know if there’s still any diesel left? he asks through the window. He also works in the medical field. “The counter has been showing me zero for a while now,” he explains. I’m just stalling. I wonder how I got this far. I’ve been looking since noon. It’s simple: if there’s more left, I’m going to have to leave the car there. I’m already stuck, but if it happens, I’m going to have to miss work. John sighs. “It’s shit, but the strikers are right to piss people off. It’s fed up. I do very physical work. Of course, at 62, I won’t be able to do it. So imagine yourself doing more? How are we going to do this ? »
Unlike the previous episode of shortage which affected the Bouches-du-Rhône last October, this movement is widely supported by these motorists. A little further, at the wheel of his tow truck, car radio at full speed, the young Nazir keeps smiling. “I’ve already visited four gas stations and there’s nothing! It’s hot ! Can you imagine the tow truck that breaks down? It doesn’t. But I am happy. I am against this pension reform. I have only just started working. And I wonder if I will have the right to a pension. That’s the question. So they are right to go on strike. If they weren’t there, we’d be walked on. And the situation is not going to get better. According Provencethe employees of the Pétroineos de Lavera refinery, the last refinery in operation in the department, voted unanimously to stop the production units.