Lisbon, Sept. 28, 2026 (Lusa) - The Portuguese Government on Monday pledged to extend the diesel subsidy already granted to agricultural machinery to industrial machinery, such as digging machines, a representative of the earthmoving contractors' association told the Lusa news agency.
Speaking at the end of a meeting this morning with the Minister for Infrastructure, Miguel Pinto Luz, and the Secretary of State for Local Administration and Spatial Planning, Silvério Regalado, lawyer Miguel Machado Mendes gave a «very positive» assessment of the meeting, from which he emerged convinced that «the ministry is aware of the sector's problems and difficulties».
«We have a ministry that is aware of the problems and difficulties facing this sector, and I believe we have scope to work together, improve measures and help ensure that from now on – not immediately, but in the near future – we can present a comprehensive solution», argued the representative of the organisers of the slow-moving truck convoy, which on Friday brought together 450 lorries over a 150-kilometre stretch between Paredes and Coimbra to demand solutions to rising fuel prices.
The Lusa news agency attempted to obtain further information from the Ministry of Infrastructure, but this has not yet been possible.
As Machado Mendes explained, the meeting with the ministry resulted in «a commitment that, just as support has been provided for machinery in the agricultural sector, this should be extended to machinery in the industrial sector».
«This means we are talking about machinery, but not vehicles; in other words, we are talking about digging machines, excavators and crushers, but not lorries,» he clarified.
Although the demand to extend the commercial diesel scheme to the earthworks, earth-moving and aggregate extraction sectors – in the same way as is the case for goods and passenger transport companies – remained unmet, the lawyer considers that the commitment made today by the Government «is already something».
«It is a form of support that is already very significant for us, not least because the commitments we secured [at the meeting] were not limited to this fuel issue,» he said.
As an example, he highlighted the standardisation of maximum load limits, so as to bring the sector into line with that of timber transport, allowing it to carry up to 60 tonnes in five-axle lorries, compared with the current maximum capacity of 44 tonnes.
«By carrying heavier loads, we make fewer journeys and use less fuel; therefore, all these are measures that help mitigate the rise in diesel prices,» he emphasised.
In addition, he said that «other measures that depend on coordination with other ministries» – namely the ministry of the economy and the ministry for the environment – were on the table, and that, as they did not depend solely on the Ministry of Infrastructure, «they require even further negotiation».
«We will continue [the negotiations], particularly now that the channel of communication is open, which allows us to raise the issues and be sure that there is someone there who knows the sector well,» he said.
On the issue of commercial diesel, Machado Mendes said that, «apart from some resistance from certain sectors of the transport industry», there is also a «difficulty» arising from the need for «a legislative amendment covering a number of issues, all of which are interlinked».
«Firstly, we need a measure to reclassify our service. In other words, we transport loads of earth and sand that do not belong to us – they belong to the main contractors – but for the purposes of the law they are classified as if they were our own. We would therefore need to have the service reclassified beforehand so that it can be considered as work carried out on behalf of others and treated on a par with other transport companies,» he explained.
In other words, it is an issue «whose solution may be a little more complex», but the «openness» shown today by the ministry leaves «room to work with», he concluded.
PD/AYLS // AYLS
Lusa
