“At this moment, especially in the agri-food industry, we account for losses that are not recoverable,” stated Armindo Monteiro, President of CIP, to Lusa, noting that the estimated losses (15 million euros) were calculated based on a normal working day and the duration of the power outage, although this figure is an average with some inaccuracies.
Armindo Monteiro further explained that the impacted sectors include products such as dairy and other goods used in production, which cannot be salvaged during a blackout of the scale and duration experienced on Monday.
Regarding the response to affected companies, Monteiro emphasized that while some situations may be covered by insurance, public efforts and resources should focus primarily on prevention.
“We should invest our energies and financial resources in prevention. It is better to invest in avoiding future incidents like this than to respond to this situation,” he stated, highlighting the growing dependency of many systems on a few infrastructures.
João Vieira Lopes, President of the Portuguese Confederation of Commerce and Services (CCP), echoed Monteiro’s sentiments on the sidelines of the digital newspaper Eco’s second annual labor conference. He acknowledged the challenge in estimating the exact value of the damages.
“We know there are losses [but] we haven’t received any complaint that quantifies them,” said Vieira Lopes, indicating that impacts were primarily in the food sector due to broken cold chains.
Without seeking any public aid, Vieira Lopes suggested that if community funds are available, the government should develop a measure to compensate those who can prove their losses.
A widespread electricity outage affected Portugal and Spain on Monday from 11:30 a.m., with authorities yet to provide an explanation.
Consequences of the blackout included closed airports, congestion in public transportation and road traffic in major cities, and fuel shortages.
