By James Mackenzie
PARIS (Reuters) - Truckers blocked roads across France onMonday in their latest protest against high fuel costs andcalled on the government to help their struggling industry.
The nationwide day of action announced by France's mainhaulage associations included roadblocks and "snail" operationsby convoys of slow-moving trucks to disrupt traffic.
But in a gesture intended to minimise delays for nearlyhalf a million students sitting their baccalaureateexaminations on Monday, the protest action was delayed until9:00 a.m. local time (8:00 a.m. British time) and is expectedto end at 4:00 p.m.
"It's not about punishing transport users, it's aboutsending a warning to the government," said Philippe Fournier,an official of Unostra, an association that represents smallhaulage firms. "It has to accept its responsibilities."
Coming a day before a separate day of action by unionsagainst plans to reform working hours and pension laws, thefuel protests add to a climate of discontent as France preparesto assume the presidency of the European Union next month.
In Paris, traffic was disturbed by a convoy of privateambulance operators protesting in front of the health ministry.
Outside the capital, convoys of trucks crawling along thehighways held up traffic near cities from Calais on the Englishchannel to Marseille on the Mediterranean.
"We don't want to go under, we want to remain competitivecompared with our European competition," Pierre Sibut, head ofthe FNTR transport association in the southeastern region ofRhone-Alpes, told Reuters.
"We're asking the government to put short term measures inplace to help us get through the next six months," he said.
The government has proposed some relief, including thepossibility of staggered tax and social payments for truckingfirms or some fuel tax relief. But it has rejected demands fora Europe-wide fixed price for diesel for professional users.
Monday's actions are the latest in a series of proteststhat have created a headache for governments from Spain toSouth Korea over recent weeks and pushed the issue of high fuelprices to the top of the policy agenda.
Crude oil prices have doubled in the past year and risen 40percent since the start of this year, climbing steadily to morethan $135 a barrel.
Earlier this month France's FNTR road transport associationsaid the price of diesel fuel, currently around 1.46 euro($2.24) a litre, has risen by 30 cents in the past year and 10cents in the past month.
It said one cent difference in price can add 400 euros ayear to the fuel bill of a long distance trucker.
The group says bankruptcies among transport operators haverisen 25 percent in the first three months of the year from ayear earlier, with 500 firms going out of business.
(Additional reporting by Jean-Francois Rosnoblet inMarseille, Marc Parrad in Rouen, Gilbert Reilhac in Strasbourgand Claude Canellas in Bordeaux; Editing by Giles Elgood.)
