Poor demand slows truck rental biz in December

NEW DELHI: After steady improvement recorded over the past few months, December saw a decline in the utilisation of India’s truck fleet—an indication of the slow fading away of pent-up demand. According to the IFTRT, “December turned out to be a lean month for truck rentals as freight rates dropped by 3-4 per cent across the country, while diesel prices rose by around Rs 2 per litre during the period. Cargo availability at factory gates dropped by 8-10 per cent, while agri food item movement remained steady across trunk routes”. 

The agency said that poor cargo availability post the festival season has seen the price of rentals drop. 
“The most alarming trend has been the conflict of interest between truckers and that of goods booking agents, as truckers had a very bad year due to under utilisation of their fleets. But on the other had, agents managed to have windfall gains by ferrying consignments which avoided taxes and managed high freight margins because of the low trucks rental rates,” it added. 

Fleet underutilised
The IFTRT says that fleet utilisation has dropped by around 10 per cent in December after the festive season boost earlier