The September month continued to see recovery in truck freight market as truck rentals went up by 3-6 per cent on the back of improving economic conditions.

“The increase of 3-6 per cent truck rentals on trunk routes during September was aided by overall economic recovery and 15-20 per cent rise despatches from factory gates, particularly MSMEs as wholesalers have been piling up inventory in the wake of festive season,” according to a statement of IFTRT (Indian Foundation of Transport Research and Training).

In an indication of buoyancy in the market, about 2.1 lakh e-way bills are being generated every day under GST. Also, increased arrival of fresh fruit and vegetables in the APMCs this September led to higher utilisation (to the extent of 80 per cent) of the fleet for transporters, which led to improved demand for goods carriers.

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Monthly average truck rental on Delhi-Mumbai-Delhi round trip on a 9-tonne payload truck went up to ₹1,20,000 on October 1 when compared with ₹1,16,000 on September 1. Similarly, Delhi-Chennai-Delhi round-trip rental was up 6 per cent at ₹1,33,000 when compared with ₹1,26,000 and Delhi-Bengaluru-Delhi increased by 5.5 per cent at ₹1,35,000 on October 1.

This month will be the beginning of the Kharif harvest season involving food items like rice, cereals, oilseeds etc. with an expected record production of 150.5 MT. This will bring good money into the hands of rural and semi-urban people. Also, there will be healthy cargo availability from merchandise and export segments.

These will drive demand for goods carriers to ferry cargo on intra-state and inter-state routes. Also, economic buoyancy during October and November will help the transporters to get higher freight charges as also to undertake brisk replacement in fleet,” said SP Singh, senior fellow of IFTRT.

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