The continuing impasse over the Telangana issue has pushed up road freight rates from Andhra Pradesh to other States in the last 30 days, due to the non-availability of the required fleet of vehicles. This, in turn, is having a cascading effect on prices of vegetable, fruits and certain industrial raw materials that come from other States.
Transport companies say that in the last one month, road freight rates from the State to other key destinations increased by between 15 and 20 per cent. “For instance, the rate between Hyderabad and Kolkata was about Rs 39,000 last month, but today it is about Rs 45,000,” Mr Pawan Kumar Gupta, President of Hyderabad Goods Transporters association (HGTA), told Business Line .
The primary reason for shortage of trucks and other carriers is that operators from other regions are unwilling to enter the State till the uncertainty over Telangana clears. “On an average, about 5,000 carriers bring in various commodities and industrial raw materials to the State every day. Although we do not have the precise figures, this number has come down drastically. There will be a minimum 15-20 per cent shortage in trucks,” according to Mr Gupta.
Transport operators feel that the things will improve at least 15 days after the situation becomes near-normal in the region. In other words, they fear freight rates would continue to rise in the coming weeks, impacting industrial production and prices of commodities.
Another problem is the continuing shortage of drivers. HGTA, which has set up a modern transport training school here, plans to expand the facility to train more drivers. “So far (from April this year), we have trained 100 drivers. Next month, we are planning to expand the facility so as to train 250 drivers a month, as drivers shortage is a major roadblock for the transport sector,” Mr Gupta said.
With about three lakh CVs hitting the Indian roads every year, the shortage of skilled drivers is only ballooning. Industry estimates show that there are 32 lakh trucks plying in India today, while the availability of drivers is less than 30 lakh.