Truck rentals drop by 2-3% in July due to heavy rain, flood and weak factory output: Report

CHENNAI: Truck rentals across the country dropped by 2-3% in July due to heavy rains, floods & weak factory output, according to the Indian Foundation for Transport Research & Training (IFTRT).
"All round gloom in economic activity across the country due to drop in production and despatches of fresh fruits and vegetables in large parts of the country due to extra heavy rains and consequent floods has reduced cargo offerings for truckers," IFTRT said in a report.
"The gloom has been further deepened by significant drop in factory output particularly that of SME (small and medium enterprises) manufacturing units in most industrial clusters across the country due to dwindling demand of general merchandise, construction material including cement, automobiles and auto components, textiles / garments, electronic items resulting in shrinkage in production and despatches leading to lower cargo offerings for truck," the report said.
According to the report, the drop in factory output has curtailed the truck fleet utilisation by around 10% and round trips for trucks on trunk routes are taking 4-5 days more leading to a 10%-15% drop in monthly gross revenue.
"This is leading to delinquency among truck owners towards payment of their monthly auto loan instalments to the bankers / NBFCs. There is serious dislocation in truck fleet availability in most of the important transport / trade centres in the country," IFTRT said.
Also, though Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) hiked prices of diesel by 56 paise per litre on Thursday, August 1, 2013, there has been no indiscriminate increase in the truck freight rates, IFTRT said.