Gas Stations Overwhelmed in S. Florida; Shortages ‘Will Get Worse’

Long lines of motorists trying to fill their tanks before Hurricane Frances struck drained gasoline stocks at hundreds of South Florida service stations Thursday, despite oil company efforts to replenish supplies.

At the same time, gas station operators and oil companies warned that bringing in additional gas would be delayed by the approaching hurricane.

“Shortages will get worse,” said Jim Smith, president of the Florida Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association Inc., whose members include about 5,600 small businesses. The oil companies suspended service at their Port Everglades oil terminals to protect storage tanks and other equipment from hurricane winds and flooding, he said.

Oil companies such as Exxon Mobil Corp., Citgo Petroleum Corp. and Marathon Ashland Petroleum LLC have terminals at Port Everglades that supply gas, diesel and jet fuel to Broward, Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and nine other counties.

“I ran out of gas [Wednesday] at around 5 p.m., and the tanker truck was supposed to come Wednesday morning, but it hasn’t come yet,” said Nazim Uddin, owner of the Coastal service station on the corner of Northeast Fourth Avenue and 13th Street in Fort Lauderdale. Now the company says the truck won’t arrive until Sunday.

“I had to buy gas for my car somewhere else,” he added. “It’s the first time I had to do that in many years.”

“We ran out about noon” on Thursday, said Sharif Faisal, who works at the Mizner Park Citgo in Boca Raton. “We just have diesel left, and I don’t have any idea when we’ll get more gas.”

The shortage, which started late Tuesday, was caused by a double whammy. Drivers filling up on Aug. 31, the last day of a monthlong tax holiday that saved consumers 8 cents per gallon, reduced stocks all over the state. The next day, South Florida motorists began filling up in anticipation of the storm. The net effect was to exhaust gas supplies at tri-county service stations and put a strain on stocks at Port Everglades oil terminals.

Oil companies began to build stocks by sending tankers to Port Everglades and to resupply service stations by using tanker trucks to move fuel from the Port of Tampa to South Florida.

As of Thursday afternoon, Exxon Mobil still had tanker trucks delivering gas from Port Everglades “on a limited basis,” said spokeswoman Patty Delaney. The company, which has about 600 gas stations in Florida, has secured additional trucks to move gas from Tampa to South Florida, she added.

“But once there are 35-mph winds, the tankers have to be off the road and in a safe location,” she said. That means deliveries from Tampa or Port Everglades must be halted until the storm subsides.

Seagoing tankers and tugs are diverted from hurricane zones, so new deliveries by sea will also have to wait until the hurricane passes.

Oil companies try to ensure that police, fire and other public services have fuel available during an emergency. For example, Hugh Graf, spokesman for the Broward County Sheriff’s Office, said patrol cars and fire and rescue vehicles had no trouble filling up, since they use two service centers contracted by the county. The Sheriff’s Office has more than 1,600 uniformed officers, most of whom have take-home vehicles.

Sun-Sentinel