At 7pm last night – 19 hours into the nationwide truckers’ strike – the government actioned a civil requisition, principally to reinforce supplies to the Algarve which wasn’t receiving fuel guaranteed under the terms of ‘minimum services’ (click here).
The move means police and eventually even the military will start driving trucks south, keeping supply-chains moving.
The decision to action what is the third civil requisition of this government’s mandate was also made in order to guarantee fuel deliveries to the country’s airports.
“The government had no alternative” secretary of state for the presidency Tiago Antunes explains. “Its only interest is to assure normality and services essential to the public interest”.
The effects of the civil requisition will be”gradual and progressive”, said Antunes.
ANA airports authority meantime has “advanced with preventive limitations on the refuelling of aircraft”.
This basically means fuel is being ‘rationed’, causing some carriers to change schedules in order to refuel ‘in other countries’.
Last night EasyJet started advising passengers to give themselves ‘extra time’ to get to airports and check the details of their flights in advance.
A spokesman told Lusa: “some flights to and from Portugal may need additional technical stops to refuel at alternative airports.
“We advise all clients with trips planned to and from Portugal in the coming days to consult the state of their flights” as air traffic “could be busier than normal”.
Otherwise, the effects of the strike on holidaymakers already here are becoming all too clear with bewildered groups queuing at fuel stations long into the night.
The fact that some stations are demanding pre-payment for the maximum allowance of 25 litres is adding to confusion.
Hotels however are for now ‘comfortable’, reporting enough in the way of fuel and gas for the next few days.
For a complete update on developments, see our paper edition, out on Thursday.
