Pensions: transport disrupted and gas distribution slowed down on the third day of strike

Transport: new day of hassle, improvement in Paris

The SNCF is able to run a third of its TGVs, like Wednesday. Regarding regional trains, the group announces a slight improvement in the offer with 40% of trains in circulation against a third the day before.

In the Paris suburbs, road travel remains very complicated and the Sytadin site listed 500 km of traffic jams in Ile-de-France shortly after 09 a.m., a marked increase from normal.

In rail transport, many testimonials on social networks describe crowded and few trains. The most disrupted lines are the RER D and the R line of the Transilien, in Ile-de-France, with 80% fewer trains compared to usual.

In the Paris metro, the situation is clearly improving with normal or almost normal traffic on half of the lines.

In the sky, as since Tuesday and until Friday, the General Directorate of Civil Aviation (DGAC) has asked airlines to give up 20 to 30% of their flights departing from and arriving at major airports in the French territory.

Transavia, the low-cost subsidiary of Air France-KLM which operates short and medium-haul routes, cut nearly 60 flights on Thursday. The strike affecting the air navigation en route centers (CRNA), which manage the aircraft flying over the territory, was also to cause "moderate to high delays", i.e. in the latter case greater than 45 minutes, according to the organization. Eurocontrol surveillance.

Gas: the network is idling

The four French LNG terminals which receive imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) are shut down.

Regarding the storage sites, 13 out of 14 - but the last one is a small site without employees - are blocked. "Apart from the low import and biogas, there are no more entrants into the gas network," Fabrice Coudour, federal secretary of the FNME-CGT union, told AFP.

"Little by little, the gas network is weakening," he said, not excluding "a possible gas shortage" within a few days. "The determination is all the more intact as this passage of article 7 in the Senate reinforces a little the anger", assures Mr. Coudour.

Refineries: blocked shipments

Fuel shipments were still blocked Thursday morning at the exit of French refineries.

The blockages affect the TotalEnergies establishments in La Mède, Donges, the Normandy refinery, Feyzin and Flanders, but not production (except in Donges, which has been shut down for technical reasons).

On the Esso-ExxonMobil side, the "strike is also renewed at the Esso refinery in Fos-sur-mer", with 70% of strikers, assured Eric Sellini, national elected representative of the CGT-Chemistry.

This situation is beginning to worry consumers. Some are stocking up as a precaution, accentuating the shortages in certain stations.

"There is no supply problem and the situation is improving", despite the renewal of the strikes, however said Olivier Gantois, president of Ufip Energies and Mobilities, which represents companies in the petroleum sector.

"Of the 200 deposits, there were five that were still blocked yesterday (Wednesday) evening (...) including one blocked from outside and four blocked by the strikers," he said. According to him, there were nine at the start of the week.

According to public data analyzed by AFP, 4,78% of stations lacked at least one type of fuel (gasoline or diesel) at noon on Thursday, a slight improvement compared to the previous day (5,78%).

The shortages mainly affected the stations in the west of France with between 20 and 25% of the stations affected in Mayenne, Sarthe or Calvados.

In Feyzin (Rhône), the FO and CGT unions proposed to the strikers to harden the movement on Wednesday evening by stopping production at this TotalEnergies refinery. General meetings of striking employees must decide on this eventuality.