Consequences of the 2026 fuel crisis

[old man emu]

Expect many lines of groceries to become scarce, especially frozen vegetables. Frozen veggies are now mostly imported, and that requires ships which require fuel.

[onetrack]

We export 100,000 tonnes of carrots (mostly from W.A.) to the rest of the world annually, and 48,000 tonnes of that goes to the Middle East.

But the blockage of the SoH has effectively blown up that market, with $2M worth of Australian carrots currently on the water, unable to reach its destination.

 

There will be serious losses for Australian carrot growers if the blockade continues, and there will be a lot of people in other parts of the world who will go without food, because of the blockade.

I'd rather be here, than in a place relying on Australian produce, right at present. And we have no need to import frozen veggies, we can grow all we need right here.

 

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-20/middle-east-conflict-may-end-some-carrot-farmers/106474078

[Marty_d]

At least the crew won't get scurvy.

They may end up the same colour as Trump if they eat all those carrots though.

[old man emu]

3 hours ago, onetrack said:

And we have no need to import frozen veggies, we can grow all we need right here.

We used to grow all the veggies we needed until our canneries were sold off and shut down by international corporations.

[facthunter]

What about those Wascally Wabbits? Nev

[willedoo]

Fuel prices are starting to hit tourism. Over the whole four day Easter break, the Pink Roadhouse at Oodnadatta had two tourists visit, compared to the usual 50 to 100 per day.

[onetrack]

I've noticed the level of traffic on the roads is down by at least 20%, and many people are travelling much slower. For my country trips, where I used to sit 110-120kmh, I'm now sitting on 95-100kmh.

It makes quite a difference to fuel consumption, travelling slower, and with cruise control it's easy to sit on a selected speed.

 

The downturn has its benefits. I picked up a nice 2012 PMX C-P7 camper trailer for $1200 over the weekend. The sellers started off wanting $3000 for it, about three weeks ago. It's only ever had 2 owners, and it hasn't been abused. It's got 3 near-new tyres, and a pneumatic jockey wheel tyre.

 

It hasn't got the fancy independent swing-arm coil suspension of the later ones, it's just a regular axle with shackle-style leaf springs. It's good enough for me, it's a tried and foolproof setup.

It's fully galvanised, has a stainless steel water tank and electric pump, came complete with a good 120A/H deep cycle battery, and all the canvas is in good condition.

 

It does need some wheel bearing attention, as with all Chinese campers/trailers. I grabbed one wheel and shook it, and it wobbled around pretty badly. The owner was shocked, but I think he was the type of bloke who wouldn't think to check wheel bearings like that. There's a broken wire to the water pump (easy fix), and the zipper on the top protective cover is busted. It has velcro as well as the zip.

 

But I found you can easily buy FixnZip (Australian-made, too!) to fix busted zips, without having to stitch in a whole new zipper, at great expense. So, I'm off to Whitworths tomorrow to pick one up.

 

A mate and I are going to camp out in the caravan park in the little country town where I have my block, next week - because SWMBO is heading off to the Gold Coast to see her son and DIL and 12 yr old grandson. The GC doesn't draw me any more, it's a ratrace, and the place has way too many people. You can't get parking anywhere, and it's starting to see a major increase in crime.

 

So, my mate and I will have an enjoyable time, cleaning up my yard, fixing stuff, and sitting around BS-ing - because he lives way down South in the forests now, and we don't get to catch up like we used to. I've got a sea container that needs re-organising, and it needs a new floor panel installed (28mm ply, which I've already bought), so that will keep us occupied for a couple of days at least.

 

After that, we'll probably go onto some shed frame building, and also do some more repair work on my Chamberlain tractor. I've got no end of jobs that need doing, and with two of you, things seem to get done a lot faster. On top of all that, the weather forecast looks great, between 13° - 25° and 18° - 30° all week, with no rain in sight.

 

https://fixnzip.com.au/?srsltid=AfmBOoozzxauxhN15nGx5O7QBUhc9uCxBmAQ8-_q3Bh4mMsNBeqANxJu

 

Edited 23 hours ago by onetrack

[Marty_d]

Does your mate know he's in for all this work, or will it be a surprise? 😄

[old man emu]

Long disrtance road travel was indeed down this Easter if accomodation and event cancellations are any indication. 

 

A friend has a B&B and is starting to get cancellations for later in the month. A big Easter annual event at Lightning Ridge has many fewere attendees than usual. Dubbo City Speedway cancelled their race meting due to withdrawal of entrants. I'm noticing a big drop in caravaners passing my place. I suspect that those of you living in rural areas can report similar reductions in travelling activity.

[nomadpete]

I am resisting my concern about the "fuel crisis that we had to have".

However, is it true that 270 fuel stations have run out of diesel?

Is our distribution system so focused on Just in Time delivery that it couldn't cope with a minor surge in demand? Our reserves should not have run out this quickly, and some tanker shipping deliveries have been made. After all, don't our refined fuels usually come from refineries on this side of Hormuz?

 

The yanks are whining about their petrol price going up a bit, but we are facing rationing, or worse.

[facthunter]

The running out of fuel is a changing thing dependent on demand They don't mention "Out of" the total Number. It's Done that way to scare you More.. Reserves fluctuate too. Not lust diminish.  Nev

[onetrack]

2 hours ago, Marty_d said:

Does your mate know he's in for all this work, or will it be a surprise? 😄

Marty, he knows full well what he's in for, we've done this before, and we had a good time. Plus, he's a great worker, and we get on well working together.

[nomadpete]

1 hour ago, facthunter said:

The running out of fuel is a changing thing dependent on demand They don't mention "Out of" the total Number. It's Done that way to scare you More.. Reserves fluctuate too. Not lust diminish.  Nev

I'm surprised that there are any running out. Sure it's not a big %. Come to think of it, nobody mentioned how many servos run out whilst waiting for deliveries normally. That would put it in perspevtive. 

 

In country areas there is currently lower demand than normal, as OME points out. The autumn grey nomad migration usually starts about now but many are cancelling their trip. Even urban traffic is noticably down. So demand is down.

But this is not going to be short term.

 

Don't try to buy an EV. The waiting lists at present are 6 months.

[facthunter]

Demand Includes people Hoarding. Prior to this Point sales were Multiples of Normal. That would require More trucks than Previous to ensure delivery. Those trucks and drivers cannot just be Pulled out of the Air.. Nev

[nomadpete]

Just now, facthunter said:

Demand Includes people Hoarding.

I really don't think that there is all that much hoarding. I confess I have been keeping both vehicles, and tractor near full since the start of Trump Iran war. I also filled a couple of jerry cans with diesel and ULP to keep my machines going - as I had lazily let them run down. 

 

I expect anyone on small acreage, with machines would have such "fuel hoards". But it quickly averages out over a short time.

Maybe farmers might rush through an order to top up their 1000 litre supply (I understand why), but that still averages out as their seasonal consumption isn't changing.

 

In short, I think there are signs that our theoretical one month of reserves are not being managed very well.

[red750]

kilowattcars.com.au have a number of Nissan Leaf used cars for, $12,000 drive away with RWC and 3 months rego.

[facthunter]

Nomad Pete. The figures were there and easily obtained and verified. . What's your last Line? Based on facts or a Brain Fart.  Do you actually Know what is being done or do you Just Trust the Courier Mail? Nev

Edited 10 hours ago by facthunter

[nomadpete]

Just now, red750 said:

kilowattcars.com.au have a number of Nissan Leaf used cars for, $12,000 drive away with RWC and 3 months rego.

I started looking at EV's before the Iran war. Back then, there was a one or two month wait for delivery. Now when I go into a dealership I am confronted by frustrated salespersons who open the conversation with immediate apologies for the long lead time to fill an order.

 

The humble Nissan leaf is old but still popular. But no use to us. We need either rear wheel drive or AWD for our driveway.

[nomadpete]

9 minutes ago, facthunter said:

The figures were there and easily obtained and verified. . What's your last Line? Based on facts or a Brain Fart.  Do you actually Know what is being done or do you Just Trust the Courier Mail? Nev

That's a bit rude, Nev.

I take that personally.

Are you suggesting my fuel habits are part of this problem?

 

First, I am not a Queenslander, and when I was I wouldn't deem The Courier Mail as worthy to wrap my kitchen waste.

 

As for the information being all 'out there'. Well, a week back the Guardian did an article which covered the nonspecific government plans. Four levels but few real details. However the official line was:-

 

"Australia now has 39 days’ worth of petrol, 30 days’ worth of diesel; and 30 days’ worth of jet fuel."

 

 So we have not used any of our reserves. 

And deliveries were normal. Nothing to worry about.

 

There are numerous websites that claim to track 'dry' servos. The ones I looked at, the totals did not diferentiate between 'reported possible dry' and 'confirmed dry'. I cannot see any historic lists of how many servos are normally temporarily out of gas. Logically, in normal times it is not unusual to see a brief shortage. And such numbers would defuse the concern about the current numbers.

 

The fact that I am keeping my car tank more toward the F mark, cannot increase my weekly consumption. My jerry cans will be empty again within a fortnight or so, and meantime I'm not wasting more fuel driving into town to buy mower or tractor fuel every time I start a machine up.

 

[facthunter]

 I'll stand by what I SAID.  What one person does has Little effect, but the sum of what a lot do a bit of has a large effect. It's always a balance and Panicking doesn't Help  Remember TOILET Rolls  and runs on Banks.  Nev

[red750]

re The Nissan Leaf. When I bought my 20 year old Holden Astra 2 years ago, it was $6,000 with RWC, 3 months rego and 6 months warranty. It's still doing me fine. I only do around 160 km per month and usually travel those short trips to the shops or Men's Shed alone. If I was to go electric, the Leaf would suit me, but I'm happy the way things are. $20 of ULP91 does me about a fortnight.

[willedoo]

Regarding stored fuel, I'm planning to set up a proper diesel backup generator for thunderstorm and cyclone seasons. When we had the cyclone last year I bought a little 2kva petrol generator from Kings and had to run it for 40+ hours, but got caught with about 20 litres of petrol left over and not much to use it in. At least with diesel it will store for a lot longer and stored fuel can be rotated through the vehicle.

 

On another note, over the years there has been a fair bit of diesel theft from farms where thieves come in with empty storage on a ute or small truck and clean out the farmer's overhead diesel tanks. I wonder whether there has been an increase in that activity since the price hike.

Edited 8 hours ago by willedoo

[facthunter]

Lot's theft of Diesel From Trucks reported in NSW as well as servo's..  Nev

[onetrack]

It appears most of those Nissan Leafs for sale are Japanese imports - of which there are plenty available. But the older Nissan Leafs are low on power and range and most would only be good for 100kms now before recharge. And they're prone to battery failure because they're old-tech, and have no battery cooling.

 

The newer series Nissan Leafs (from about 2019) are better for range and power, but they still have no battery cooling. On a hot day you're liable to cook the battery cells with high speed operation.

 

https://carfromjapan.com/cheap-used-nissan-leaf-for-sale?position=Side Bar

[facthunter]

I don't think I would be rushing in to buy one of those. Nev