Altuna: “There are carriers who have decided to park the truck because they are losing money”

One or one carrier that makes five or six trips a day between beasain and Bergara, for about a year, he needs 50 euros more per day to fill the fuel tank: 200 euros more per week; 1000 euros per month. In addition, in this section you now have to pay the Unloading toll: 10 euros round trip: six laps a day, 60 euros; 300 euros a week; 1200 euros per month. The result of adding fuel plus toll: 2200 euros more each month.

This is just one of the examples put on the table by the head of communication for the Basque carrier union Hiru, Jon Altuna, to reflect “the unsustainable situation” that, he assures, the transport sector is experiencing. He explains that more and more carriers are deciding to park the truck and stay home “because they are losing money.” “It’s not that they earn less than before, it’s that they lose money,” she clarifies.

To deal with this situation generated by the unstoppable rise in fuel prices — today, March 12, a liter of diesel is close to 2 euros — and the response of the group of autonomous Basque carriers, the Hiru union has today called an extraordinary assembly in Alsasua, starting at 10:00 a.m. Among other issues, they will decide whether or not to join the indefinite strike that the Platform in Defense of the Spanish Transport Sector has called starting Monday.

After emphasizing that the situation is “extreme and unsustainable” for the sector, Altuna has preferred not to speculate on what they may decide at the meeting regarding the strike. “The truth is that there are different positions, all very understandable; there are those who no longer have anything to lose and are willing to go on strike. But, on the other hand, there are also those who are afraid to stop because of the risk of losing customers. Everything remains to be seen,” he clarified.

The Hiru union is clear in which direction the solutions would have to come: “You have to establish rates based on the increase in the costs of the carriers. If not, it is impossible to survive.” In this sense, Altuna has specified that current regulations on pricing in the transport sector require prices to be adapted based on costs, but “the problem is that the norm is not complied with and nobody controls it”. For this reason, the carriers demand from the governments of Navarra and the CAV “surveillance and protection measures for the sector”. They denounce that “rates are not adapting and as a consequence we are losing money.”

Finally, Altuna has referred to the “aging” that the sector is suffering. He points out that “there is no relief” and that “it is impossible to attract young people in these conditions.” Therefore, the union demands “structural solutions to structural problems.”

Likewise, the association of autonomous carriers of Navarra Tradisna It will also decide today in an assembly whether or not to join the strike called in the Spanish State.