What’s behind Miami’s gas shortage? More fuel is on the way, but woes may continue
UPDATE: Can you find gas in Miami? Fuel crisis easing? What to know about supply after the flood
South Florida is in Day Six of a fuel crisis that — you aren’t going to want to hear this — may be fueled by our own making.
“This is now a story of runaway panic-buying that is just unsustainable,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy.
“It’s kind of like designing houses for a 1,000-year flood, so to speak. These are extremely rare. And now it’s kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy. Motorists have been encountering lines, they’ve been getting panicked. They have no idea how to respond. And just like during the Colonial Pipeline [cyberattack] situation in 2021, and during hurricanes Harvey and Irma, back in 2017, motorists are now straining the system to the point that it’s going to be impossible for the system to work in the way it was designed,” he said Tuesday in a phone interview with the Miami Herald.
Of course, it is not all panic buying. Some motorists waiting in line have empty tanks and need to replenish to get their children to school. Or to power their cabs, Ubers or delivery trucks.
Lines started forming by the weekend, a couple days after authorities said that the Fort Lauderdale storms and resulting floods on April 12 disrupted operations at Port Everglades.
KNOW MORE: What’s going on with gas in South Florida? What’s happening?
The Broward County facility is the hub for about 40% of the gasoline into Florida and serves 12 counties south of Lake Okeechobee, including Miami-Dade, Broward, the Keys and Palm Beach County.
By 11 a.m. Tuesday morning, with additional petroleum companies opening overnight Monday and Tuesday, the majority that handle gas — eight out of 11 — are now operating, said Joy Oglesby, a spokeswoman for Port Everglades and Ellen Kennedy, the director of external affairs for the port. Miami International Airport and Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport were not impacted because they get fuel by pipeline.
Nearly a week gone by and Tuesday still saw red-tagged bags at South Florida stations or many simply closed. Lines spilled onto the right lanes of roadways, clogging traffic and burning motorists tempers.
State sends gas to alleviate problem
Over 500,000 gallons of fuel is making its way to South Florida to ease the fuel crunch. Orchestrated by the Florida Division of Emergency Management, the first set of trucks are expected to arrive at gas stations Tuesday night and the rest on Wednesday.
The fuel is coming from Port Canaveral and Tampa, which emergency management has been pulling from since Friday to help aid the flooded Port Everglades when torrential downpour hit.
Emergency management has also deployed over 20 industrial vacuum trucks, water pumps and other water mitigation assets to de-flood Broward.
Miami-Dade is also working with the state and federal governments to restore gas distribution, and helped with Tampa and Port Canaveral sending fuel, county Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said in a statement Tuesday.
“With the improved weather, we expect distribution will continue to improve and anticipate no additional gas shortages,” Levine Cava said.
The mayor urged residents to purchase gas only when they need it to allow local pumps to stabilize. She also reminded the community that price gouging is illegal under a state of emergency.
To report price gouging, contact MyFloridaLegal.com or 1-866-966-7226.
Here’s why gas is hard to find
What’s the problem? “This is truly an exceptional event” sparked by delays at Port Everglades due to submerged pumps from the flooding that created just enough delay that it’s been very difficult for trucks to pull product from Port Everglades, De Haan said. But that issue is mostly resolved.
Panic buying, he says, “is overwhelming a system that simply can’t be designed to meet the demand when everyone’s filling up multiple vehicles and multiple gas cans. It’s become that type of situation. Fuel is flowing from other ports like Port Tampa. Trucks are coming down from Port Canaveral with fuel. Obviously, when we’re already amid a truck driver shortage, we’re talking about hours that trucks have to drive down [interstates] 75 and 95 to get that fuel to the market. There’s just no way that there’s enough infrastructure and enough truck drivers to resupply Florida given the amount of pent-up demand that is now hurting us,” De Haan said.
READ MORE: Picking up or returning a rental car in Miami? Here are tips to survive the gas crunch
Is there fuel in Florida? “There is not a shortage in the traditional sense,” De Haan said. “There is fuel and there’s plenty of fuel across Florida. There is a kink in the hose. The problem now is that there’s not the capability to supply Florida with [200%] to 300% of its needs, which is now required because of the panic buying. So this is a problem that will sort itself out.”
When will it sort itself out? “It’s really in the laps of motorists to be able to decide how long the situation will persist. Panic-buying overwhelming the system by filling up every vehicle and every gas can is obviously going to lead to a longer time of restoration,” De Haan said.
Can apps help motorists find fuel?
Maybe.
The GasBuddy app was primarily built to show motorists prices around them and a fuel tracker can update users on stations that have or don’t have fuel based on supply changes.
“This information is crowd-sourced and the situation is rapidly changing. One station may get resupply and that station could go through that supply in just a few hours time,” De Haan said. “In this type of instance, it’s hard for data to last more than an hour and be accurate because once people find a station that has fuel everyone’s going to that station and very quickly that station’s all through with their supplies. So be patient.”
Are you hearing of price gouging? This should not be a pricing event. Gas prices have been on the upswing but not as it relates to the outage, and the reason for that is because the production of gasoline is not being impacted by these outages. This is a delay at the local terminal. It’s because of external factors like the transition to summer gasoline because the price of oil is moving up. It is not going to be due to this situation. So motorists may also be filling up anticipating that there could be a big price increase and that’s not going to happen. So let’s just remove that from the equation as a reason to fill up because there will not be a massive price increase,” De Haan said.
The scene at neighborhood stations
Tuesday was still a bother.
About 70 cars — some spilling out onto adjoining streets — were waiting in lines at eight pumps at the BJ’s Wholesale gas station, 7050 Coral Way. Regular gas cost $3.31 per gallon. No premium gas was available.
“Last night I went to 10 different stations and none had gas so I was getting worried. I am relieved to fill up my tank, which was on empty,” said Jacqueline Sanchez, who waited 20 minutes in line to fill her Toyota Rav4.
Felix Reimundo waited about 30 minutes to buy regular gas for $3.31 per gallon, about 50 cents per gallon cheaper than prices he had seen elsewhere.
“It’s worth the wait for the savings,” said Reimundo, who is a BJ’s member.
Glem Alvaro, owner of Glem’s Exterminators, got in the line that led to pump No. 16, an unlucky number for him and the rest of the drivers in that line because the pump was running at drip-speed.
“It’s a very lazy pump and the attendant said they can’t fix it, so this is taking me 45 minutes,” said Alvaro, who filled his wife’s car at another station on Monday for $3.59 per gallon. “I’m from Cuba and I call Cuba and they have plenty of gas and in Miami on a nice day they have a shortage of gas. Now, that is ironic, isn’t it?”
Alvaro said he goes through about $30 of gas per day in his job, which can require driving back and forth from Homestead to Pembroke Pines answering customers’ calls.
“Twenty years ago it cost me $20 a week for gas,” he said. “I think I am going to set up a reserve tank at my house so the next time we have a storm that comes out of nowhere I will be prepared.”
Ivon Acosta said she found the 15-minute wait at BJ’s “not bad at all” as she talked on her cellphone.
“I love BJs,” she said. “That’s why I’m a member. To save money.”
One downtown Miami attorney said she had to try three stations before 8 a.m. Tuesday before finding a fourth that could sell her gas. She wasn’t panic-buying. She had less than a quarter-tank of fuel. She visited two stations on Southwest Third Street and one off I-95 and Southwest Eighth Street. All closed. At that station, an attendant gave the customer an address of a fourth gas station in the 2000 block of Southwest Third Avenue that she said had gas. The attendant there “walked outside very startled as all these cars were lining up” the customer said.
The scene near MIA
Travelers near Miami International Airport were trying to fill the tank of their rentals before catching their flights.
Martin Veit, 49, stopped at a Shell gas station just east of the airport to fill the tank of his rental SUV. The German tourist told the Herald he didn’t expect a gas shortage at the pumps to be this bad. If he returns the rental without topping the tank, he may have to incur penalty fees. “I don’t have the time to look for a gas station,” Veit said.
Regular gas at this station was priced at $4.99 for regular, Plus was $5.65 and V-Power was at $5.89. Gas prices fluctuate by neighborhood.
Saira Pinzón, 42, a Colombian tourist inside a mini van at the Shell, said she couldn’t believe there was a gas shortage in an affluent country like the United States. She told a Herald reporter that she expects to see gas shortages in Latin American countries, but not in Florida. “It is incredible that this is happening here,” she said in Spanish.
Houston resident Marco Cucculelli, 59, said he had to fill his rental’s tank before catching a flight. The Italian man said he needed plenty of gas to not pay penalties, and opined that the shortage at the pumps could be, in part, a result of people panic buying more gas than what they needed. “People in America do this all the time,” he said. “Something happens, and they go and buy all the toilet paper.”
What Port Everglades says
“The docks are open. The ships have been coming in. They were closed for the few hours of the storm. The roadways cleared fairly quickly and the trucks started coming in continuously 24/7. But it takes a while to catch up,” Kennedy said.
Gas was brought in from Port Canaveral, Tampa and Orlando when floods briefly hampered Port Everglades’ operations.
“The latest information is that things are slowly getting back to normal after flooding interrupted operations at gasoline terminals located in Port Everglades,” said AAA spokesman Mark Jenkins in an email interview with the Herald Tuesday.
“This port supplies gasoline for 2,800 gas stations throughout Fort Lauderdale, Miami and Palm Beach. Those terminals resumed operations over the weekend and gasoline is being loaded and transported to gas stations. At worst, there were 300 gas stations without fuel. Now there are around 50. I’m told it could take another week before things fully stabilize and there are no noticeable issues,” Jenkins said.
Advice?
“The best advice is to watch your fuel gauge. Don’t let it get too low before looking for a place to refuel. Again, things are improving. There’s enough fuel, it just takes time to get it to the stations,” Jenkins said.
Although topping off a half-full tank can also contribute to long lines.
How long before things return to normal? “A week is likely a conservative estimate from the Florida Petroleum and Marketer’s Association. That is again how long it’d take before you don’t notice any outages, but conditions are improving by the day,” Jenkins said.
Moderation matters. “There’s going to be a difference if everyone were able to not go out and fill up with two weeks’ worth of gasoline in one sitting,” De Haan added. “If everyone could simply buy two to three gallons or what they need for the next 24 to 48 hours this is a problem that probably would be over in days.
Of course, that is not what many motorists are inclined to do after waiting in line for extended time.
“As it stands now, with motorists all filling up every tank and crevice that they have, this is a problem that could be turned into a few weeks. Motorists are really the wildcard here. How people respond. As it stands now, I think we’re talking about at least a multiple week full restoration to where getting gasoline is no longer a headache,” De Haan said.
This story was updated to add comments by Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava.
Miami Herald staff writers Grethel Aguila and Devoun Cetoute also contributed to this report.
