KOLKATA, India -- The recent enormous hike in diesel price has created a big problem for the transporters as well as truck owners in the country. Recently the Central Government had removed the imposed control on the diesel price which empowered oil companies to adjust the prices on their own. This result in increasing the diesel price from Rs. 50.72 to Rs. 54.67 in January 2013. The prices had been modified more than six times and every fortnight the price had been increased. The truck/lorry operators find it difficult to manage with the abnormal hike in the fuel prices.
The freight hike leads to price escalation of other factors associated with a transport operation which range from high rates of spare parts, labor charges, maintenance and toll fees.
Due to the rising operational cost, a large section of the lorries (approx 40%) are not being operated by the owners. They mainly operate lorries to disburse the loan and the profit margins are wiped out long back. In each year, the toll fees are increased by 15% not following any parameter.
There also exist diversified other challenges in the road transportation sectors for lorry/truck drivers in our country. The government of Andhra Pradesh had started to implement mechanical tax for last two consecutive months. Under this tax scheme, each vehicle registered in other states must reimburse Rs 1,000 to 1,200 as mechanical tax for going into the neighboring state.
The lorry/truck operators have also suffered from another crucial issue regarding highway robberies. In some cases, robbers even snatched the lorry with crew itself and their locations are not identified till date. Recently five lorries were hijacked on Maharashtra route and nobody knows what happened to the lorries and the crew.
Another big issue that a lorry/truck operators face on a regular basis is that there is no proper system to educate the players in the road transport industry. There are so many significant areas where the transporter and truckers should have been educated. Many transporters are not well versed with their operating cost. They just go over the theory of working at a cost a bit lower than their nearby competitor. This leads to huge downfall in the profitability and huge loss as the truckers do not acquire the freight rate in proportion to the operating cost.
Besides, the smaller players in the road transportation industry are ignorant with cost cutting measures. There exist several areas where the transporters can minimize costs by the application of proper technology. But the same is not conveyed to them properly and it all appears like an expenditure. Consequently, these transporters follow the backdated practices, which is not suitable for the operating cost and it always remains higher.
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Posted By
Rajib Dey
Content Writer
http://www.loadjunction.com (an online portal for truck freight rates analysis)
