Rising Fuel Costs Leave Boats Idle in Mozambique

Dozens of low fishing boats lay anchored in flat waters off Mozambique’s capital, stranded for days as surging fuel costs kept their owners from heading out to sea. Since the government hiked prices in early May because of the impact of the Middle East conflict on supply, many fishermen in Maputo’s quiet Pescadores quarter have not had the cash to fuel a fishing trip.

“The impact is dramatic for us,” said Carlos Nguenha, vice president of the local community fisheries council, as wooden boats bobbed idly behind him, some piled with nets. “These conflicts don’t only impact those countries, they affect the whole world,” Nguenha said. “We appeal to them to sit down and talk so that we can overcome this.” Nguenha’s council covers 1,800 fishermen and nearly 290 boats on the Costa do Sol just north of the city. Members are young and old and mostly family breadwinners, with no other work, he said.

Mozambique’s energy authority in early May increased the cost of petrol by 12 percent to 83.6 meticais ($1.3) a liter.

Diesel rose by nearly 46 percent to a record $1.8 a liter. While fuel costs are slightly higher in other countries in the region, the sharp increase, coupled with erratic supply, has hit hard in Mozambique, which was listed as the world’s second-poorest country in a World Bank economic update published in March 2026.

There have been massive queues at filling stations and some people have reportedly given up using their own vehicles in favor of publictransport.

Its poverty headcount, defined as people living on less than $3 per day, is 81 percent and most employment is informal and low-paying, the World Bank report said.

Exhausted and dishevelled, Eduardo Alexandre and his crew had just landed their boat on the Pescadores beach with no catch after more than 24 hours at sea.

“We would still be out there but we had to come back because of a lack of fuel,” the 49-year-old said. It can take six to seven hours to reach the open sea where the fishing is best, he said. “We needed another 10 liters.”