Economic daily Economie Matin reports that between 1 February and 5 March 2026 diesel prices in Germany jumped past the €2/L mark while French averages hovered around €1.88. Similar spreads emerged with Switzerland, prompting motorists to cross into France to fill up. Service-station operators in Moselle and Bas-Rhin say throughput rose 18 % week-on-week, causing temporary fuel-pump queues and increased spot-pricing volatility. The spike coincides with heightened road-traffic volumes captured by France’s Direction Interministérielle des Routes, which registered a 12 % year-on-year increase in light-vehicle crossings at the Forbach/Saarbrücken A320/A6 corridor on 5 March. Logistics firms flagged delays of up to 40 minutes for commercial vans subject to random customs checks linked to France’s still-in-force internal Schengen controls. Cross-border retailers welcome the windfall, but local chambers of commerce warn that sudden traffic surges strain parking infrastructure and can disrupt just-in-time supply chains that depend on predictable delivery slots. Fuel-tourism also complicates France’s greenhouse-gas accounting because many fill-ups are exported for use abroad. For mobility managers, the price divergence offers savings on fleet-refueling contracts but raises duty-of-care questions: drivers may face longer waits and limited amenities at overstretched border stations. Enterprises should update routing software and build buffer time into schedules until price spreads normalise.
Source: Economie Matin
