The French road network is once again under intense pressure. Recent mobilizations by the agricultural sector, while driven by deep-seated social demands, have resulted in the strategic paralysis of numerous transport routes. For the freight transport sector, these blockades are not mere slowdowns, but genuine economic bottlenecks. Jean-Marc Rivera, General Delegate of OTRE, expresses growing concern for the companies he represents, businesses of all sizes that are bearing the brunt of these obstacles to the movement of goods and people.
The situation is all the more critical as the road transport sector is already experiencing unprecedented turbulence. Recent figures are alarming: between spring 2024 and 2025, more than 3,000 companies went out of business. The rate of insolvencies accelerated dramatically during the second quarter of 2025, with a frightening average of ten company closures per day. In this climate of extreme fragility, where margins are being eroded by rising energy costs and an overall decline in consumption, every hour of downtime on the road pushes transport SMEs a little closer to bankruptcy.
Beyond the financial impact, it is the human aspect that worries professionals. Truck drivers, already strained by difficult weather conditions in recent weeks, must now manage the stress of delays and route uncertainty. Longer journey times and the impossibility of respecting mandatory rest periods in decent conditions inevitably increase the risk of accidents. Accumulated fatigue behind the wheel becomes an additional safety factor that transport unions can no longer ignore.
While solidarity between rural stakeholders and road transport professionals has long prevailed, it is now reaching its limits. OTRE (the French road transport association) emphasizes that the distress of one sector, however legitimate, must not lead to the collapse of another pillar of the national economy. Faced with what it considers a threat to the French supply chain, the employers' organization urges protesters to clear the roads. It simultaneously calls on public authorities to fulfill their role as guarantors of freedom of movement, thereby ensuring the essential continuity of goods flows throughout the country.