Truck movements and rentals across the country saw a sharp fall in November, post-the-festival season rush, with a slowdown in the movement of goods, according to Shriram Finance. Fleet occupancy levels also crashed to 60 per cent and below, it said.

The ban on the entry of BS4 trucks in the National Capital Region and the poll activity in Maharashtra further added to the slowdown.

According to Shriram Mobility Bulletin, round-trip truck rentals on major routes for 18-tonne payloads saw a month-on-month fall of 0.5-1.4 per cent, though a few routes saw a marginal uptick. Rentals on key trunk routes like Delhi-Chennai-Delhi and Delhi-Bengaluru-Delhi saw a decline of 1.4 per cent and 1 per cent, respectively.

Truck rentals returned to normal levels in October, with a softening in demand for transportation services. This decline is largely attributed to a combination of factors, including poor urban demand across categories, the BS4 truck ban in the NCR region because of air pollution issues, polling activities in Maharashtra, and reduced agricultural produce movement, the bulletin said.

In Maharashtra, elections tripped trucking activity, and poor crop arrivals from key agricultural markets suppressed logistics movements.

In the NCR, logistics costs saw a sharp rise due to fewer BS6 and CNG-powered trucks. A majority trucks in the business are BS4 compliant and given the existing entry ban in the NCR region, these trucks transport items to the NCR border from where the goods are loaded into smaller BS6 or CNG trucks and delivered in the NCR region, the report said, adding that this resulted in increasing the logistics costs in the region.

Sales of good carriers in November at 65,397 units were down 16 per cent month over month and 7 per cent year over year.

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