Italian truck blockades leave southern shelves bare as damage tops 400 million euros

How the blockades spread

Hauliers protesting rising fuel prices began blocking roads in mid-October, and the action quickly spread across southern Italy. Demonstrators occupied lanes of Via Nuova Marina in Naples in the direction of the Bausan gate at the port. JN reported that the airports of Reggio Calabria and Crotone ran short of aviation fuel, that Naples faced restrictions, and that some universities moved to remote teaching. Fuel stations ran dry and supermarket shelves emptied, especially for fresh produce. The last blockades in Campania and Calabria were removed overnight from Thursday, 22 October into Friday, 23 October, but supply restarts have been slow. Naples prefect Michele Di Bari said the most critical phase had passed, though several more days would be needed to return to normal.

Government aid and the bureaucracy

At an extraordinary meeting on Thursday, 22 October, the Council of Ministers approved aid worth 550 million euros, according to JN. The package includes 105 million euros for road transport and 70 million euros for farmers and fishers. Il Messaggero highlighted a provision letting hauliers pass a diesel price rise on to clients through invoices. The Interior Ministry also issued an urgent directive to prefectures suspending the usual Sunday ban on heavy trucks for the weekend, with prefects to issue the permits and focus on non-perishable goods. Carlo Calenda, leader of Azione, spoke in Vibo Valentia on 23 October and said the aid was late and too small.

The government's aid is insufficient and arrived late.

Calenda said five months had passed between the decree-law and the implementing decrees. He also said a plan to raise cigarette prices by one euro and cut fuel excise, worth three billion, was blocked by Forza Italia, although Giorgia Meloni had initially accepted it.

Prices and empty shelves

Mimit data for Saturday, 24 October put the national self-service average at 2.020 euros per litre for petrol and 2.261 euros per litre for diesel. On motorways the averages were 2.042 euros for petrol and 2.301 euros for diesel, with diesel edging up while petrol fell.

Carlo Buttarelli, president of Federdistribuzione, warned of the time needed to recover.

It will take no less than five to seven days to return to full normality, because the shops are empty.

Altroconsumo collected reports of empty shelves mainly in Rome, Naples, Palermo and Bari, with fresh produce hit hardest. Il Messaggero reported cherry tomatoes above 5 euros per kilo at the Rome agri-food centre, against about 2 euros for Albanian vine tomatoes. Open and Il Messaggero both warned that the diesel increase could reach shop prices, since Istat data already showed fruit and vegetables rising, and that the price watchdog Mr Prezzi could intervene.

Damage and losses

Informal estimates from production sectors put damage at more than 400 million euros, 300 million of it in Campania, and the final bill is expected to exceed one billion euros. Confcommercio estimated losses from discarded goods at several million euros. Vincenzo Gesmundo, general secretary of Coldiretti, described the losses in these words.

We threw away tons of milk that were not collected and large quantities of fresh products, and the fourth-range sector suffered enormous damage.

Italmercati, a network of 22 markets, reported fewer arrivals from Sicily and Calabria, and wholesalers increased purchases from Spain, Greece, Albania and Turkey. Il Messaggero also reported that E-distribuzione warned prefects of risks to fault repairs on the power grid, and that taxi drivers were preparing their own protest.

Farmers protest in Salento

On Saturday, 24 October, hundreds of demonstrators gathered in Maglie in the Salento area, with tractors and trucks, in a protest called by Alpaa, the agri-food workers association linked to Cgil Puglia. Traffic on state roads 275 and 16 slowed, and a delegation of local mayors and the province president Fabio Tarantino took part. Antonio Macchia of Alpaa Cgil Puglia said the platform asks for recognition of Salento as an agricultural crisis area, citing more than 20 million olive trees destroyed and rural areas being emptied of people.