JavaScript is off. Please enable to view full site.

Holiday rush drives demand at Europe's busiest fuel station

Holiday rush drives demand at Europe's busiest fuel station

Sunday, August 07, 2022, 17:20 GMT+7
Holiday rush drives demand at Europe's busiest fuel station
Fuel prices in Europe have begun to come down after peaking in June. Photo: AFP

The first Saturday in August, when Europe's July holidaymakers head homewards and its August sunseekers head south, is the busiest day of the year at the continent's busiest filling station.

And even surging global fuel prices did not deter thousands of motorists and truckers from filling their tanks at Shell's Berchem station in southern Luxembourg, on the busy A3 motorway.

The Grand Duchy may be small, but it is a crossroads between Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands and the route south to the holiday beaches of France, Italy and Spain.

And -- crucially in a summer of soaring prices -- it has famously cheap fuel, making it a prime spot for long-distance truckers and cost-conscious travelling families alike.

Even outside of the holiday rush, French and German motorists and cross-border workers often fill up in Luxembourg.

When a family's final destination is on the Med and a full tank of fuel costs more than 100 euros (dollars), the savings add up.

On Saturday, two 40,000 litre tanker trucks were on course to make between 16 and 20 round trips a day keeping Berchem's petrol and diesel pumps working as the vast forecourt filled with camper vans.

Colossal budget

Earlier this year, Russia's attack on Ukraine and global supply chain challenges in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic sent fuel prices and oil giant's profits soaring.

World oil prices and retail petrol prices have started to come down now and governments have begun to subsidise discounts to head off motorists' grumbles.

France, for example, has already cut the price at the pump by 18 centimes and will expand the discount to 30 centimes in September. Belgium cut duty by 17.5 centimes a litre in March.

Luxembourg's cut was only 7.5 centimes, in April, and it is not clear whether the government will extend it until the end of August. For the moment, however, it retains an advantage.

On Saturday, AFP paid 1.79 euros a litre for petrol in Brussels, and fuel-price monitoring websites estimated the average Belgian rate at 1.867 euros per litre.

Meanwhile, motorists in Berchem in low-duty Luxembourg were paying only 1.636 euros -- albeit while queueing with drivers from half of Europe and truckers from as far as Cyprus, Ireland and Poland.

"This is due to the location, which is perfect in the middle of Europe, and the advantageous fuel prices also make a difference," said Daniel Calderon, manager of Shell's biggest station.

Calderon said the motorists that created Saturday's rush were largely good-humoured, thanks to the holiday spirit after two years of pandemic-restricted travel.

But he said the cross-border trade with local French and German drivers had been disrupted by soaring fuel rates in late spring, and some of them are still concerned.

AFP

More

Read more

;

Photos

VIDEOS

‘Taste of Australia’ gala dinner held in Ho Chi Minh City after 2-year hiatus

Taste of Australia Gala Reception has returned to the Park Hyatt Hotel in Ho Chi Minh City's District 1 after a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic

Vietnamese woman gives unconditional love to hundreds of adopted children

Despite her own immense hardship, she has taken in and cared for hundreds of orphans over the past three decades.

Vietnam’s Mekong Delta celebrates spring with ‘hat boi’ performances

The art form is so popular that it attracts people from all ages in the Mekong Delta

Vietnamese youngster travels back in time with clay miniatures

Each work is a scene caught by Dung and kept in his memories through his journeys across Vietnam

Latest news