Nampula: Year starts with fuel crisis – DW

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Nampula: Year starts with fuel crisis – DW

4:53 CAT | 04 Jan 2023

Several gas stations in Nampula have run out of fuel since the beginning of the new year, leading to taxi drivers and passenger transporters reporting losses. Local government says that the problem has already been solved, and cites mismanagement by the gas stations as the primary cause.

Several gas stations in the city of Nampula have run out of fuel, especially gasoline, and the situation is already worrying drivers, mainly taxi drivers and passenger transporters, some of whom have suspended their activities.

Sururi Momade, a motorcycle taxi driver of more than five years, is one of the professionals concerned about the situation. “Fuel? In fact, there really isn’t any,” he complains.

“Us taxi drivers are not working smoothly. This year, some [petrol stations had fuel] and others did not,” he added.

Momade doesn’t know the real reason for the fuel crisis, only that he and many of his colleagues are already suffering losses as a result of the shortage.

“If we run out of gas in the middle of the journey, customers just leave without paying us, and we have to push our motorcycles kilometres, with the added risk [of aggression] if it’s night-time. This situation is very worrying,” he explains.

The fuel crisis was still ongoing on Tuesday morning (03-01). DW learned that, out of ten gas stations, only four still had fuel. Managers said, off the record, that the failure to unload a tanker in the port of Nacala was the cause of the problem.

Nampula provincial government, in the person of the head of the energy department at Provincial Infrastructure Services, Manuel Silvério, acknowledged that the problem was due to difficulties unloading supplies at the Port of Nacala, but said that the matter had already been resolved.

“There were loading problems and some fuel distributors had difficulties loading at the terminal level [at the Port of Nacala], but this happened last week. By Wednesday of last week, the mater had already been resolved. What happened is that the ship [transporting the fuel] was not able to dock given the water level at the port, and some distributors ended up running out of stock,” he revealed.

Silvério actually blames the managers of the petrol stations themselves. “This week, as we speak, there is no fuel problem. If one or another petrol station does not have fuel, it is because of the management itself,” he alleges .

Despite the crisis at some gas stations, fuel prices themselves have not yet changed.

Source: Deutsche Welle