The hunt is still on, for fuel

Still no fuel

The long lines of vehicles all around service stations clog up the streets, and create traffic jams.
Could this be a prelude to a return to the way things used to be?
Far from it!
This will highly depend on the normalization of the fuel supply.
A diesel powered vehicle is allowed 16 liters of diesel fuel, while a gasoline powered one is allowed only 10 liters of gasoline.
To top it all off, distribution hours vary from station to station.
In most cases, however, it takes place at night, from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m., at the very latest.
The only thing the stations have in common is the fact that there is no telling when their stock will unexpectedly run out.
At times, some drivers barely have a few drops of fuel in their tank.
Because of the severe limitation in their allotment, drivers have been getting the precious commodity on the black market to the tune of 75,000 Fmg for 16 liters of diesel, and 50,000 Fmg for 9 liters of regular gasoline since the beginning of July.
No explanation has ever been provided for a service station’s fuel allotment.
Drivers get in line starting at 5 a.m., only to find out that they will not see a drop of fuel before 8 p.m.

The fuel that is currently being distributed is what the government has imported.
A representative of the Office of Hydrocarbon Fuel speculate, “As long as the fuel imported by the Malagasy petroleum distributors does not reach the Great Island, this shortage will go on.
Galana Distribution is the only company which has officially announced that it has a 20,000 cubic meter order which is scheduled to reach the port city of Toamasina sometime this week.
This quantity is grossly inadequate for the entire island; it is not even enough for the Antananarivo market which requires 500,000 cubic meters per month.
Yet, Galana is the only distributor whose stock is available to the strategic sectors. ”

This surely could explain why, generally, the price of basic commodities, such as salt, cooking oil, and rice has not gone down.
Ground shipping charges have dropped a mere 10% from its pre-crisis level, while intra-urban transportation costs have returned to normal.

Little hope within duty-free zones

Employees of duty-free zone establishments do not hold much hope of reaching their former workplace, try as they may.
Work resumption seems nearly impossible for some companies.
Up to now, the government has not provided any tangible signs of assistance to the duty-free zone establishments which fell victim to the political crisis.
And this, despite the fact that company officials and government authorities are meeting and talking on a daily basis.
Instability at the top of the Ministry of Labor and Social Laws has not permitted any resolution of any permanence or durability to the social problems within the duty-free zones.
They have a long way to go to reach complete normalization.

Air Madagascar’s success story

Following 900 canceled flights, over the six month long crisis period, Air Madagascar is slowly resuming all of the intra-country flights.
Up to now, almost everyone of the capital city’s out-bound and in-bound flights has been sold out.
An airline representative noted that when the provinces of Toamasina, and Antsiranana were liberated, all the seats were sold out within one hour, and no telephone reservations were accepted.
Is this success story of Air Madagascar which, by definition, uses a tremendous amount of fuel, a leading indicator of the upcoming recovery?

Translated by J. F. Razanamiadana