Morocco Transport Industry Calls for Fuel Price Cap Amid Rising Costs

The Secretary General of Road Transport Professionals in Morocco, Mounir Benazzouz, indicated, in an interview with SNRTnews, that the complaints of freight forwarders are increasing. He argues that their situation is becoming difficult, and that the aid allocated by the government came at a time when prices were less than 12 dirhams per liter, before soaring today to around 15 dirhams.

For him, with the current situation, it is necessary for the government to meet with the professionals in the sector, in order to listen to them, affirming that the Head of Government has been contacted twice for this same reason. "We want the government to meet with the professionals. We are no longer able to continue working, so we want the prices to be definitively capped so that we don’t talk about it anymore, and we will wait for the government’s response before taking any other decision," he said.

During the interview, he also mentioned the problem of speculation and intermediaries. According to him, this fuels the bidding war and adds to an already difficult situation. Recently, the Minister of Transport and Logistics, Mohamed Abdeljalil, had said that his department is preparing to put in place a legal mechanism to help professionals in the sector cope with fuel price fluctuations. But in the meantime, the carriers are gloomy.

According to the President of the General Union of Enterprises and Professions, Mustapha Nkimat, most entrepreneurs in the sector have closed shop, unable to cope with international price fluctuations. He states that the atmosphere is now tense between carriers and customers, "because every week or less the price changes, noting that transport costs have increased considerably, fuel expenses between Casablanca and Agadir, for example, have increased by 2,700 dirhams for each trip," he said. "We appreciate the efforts made by the State, and we are well aware of the international situation, but the professional cannot continue to work under these conditions".