TRUCKING INDUSTRY * Australia - Health of trucking at stake

Melbourne,VIC,Australia -Supply Chain Review -December 8, 2010: -- The health of the trucking industry is at stake, according to the Victorian Transport Association (VTA), which is telling customers accept cost increases or risk sending transporters broke...   VTA CEO, Philip Lovel, has issued a plea to clients following the release of the latest cost index figures from the association showing a 3.89 percent rise in transport costs...  Lovel says labour accounts for most of the rise (2.43 percent), followed by interest rates, capital costs and fuel prices. Administration costs also jumped as the industry grapples with more regulatory obligations...  Lovel says interest rates and vehicle capital costs added 0.75 percent to the rise, followed by fuel at 0.36 percent...  His call for customers to pay follows comments from Ferrier Hodgson's, Brendan Richards, who says compliance costs for transporters are increasing while freight rates are decreasing...  Richards believes small trucking companies are struggling to compete with larger carriers such as Toll and Linfox because they cannot meet customer demands for a comprehensive transport and logistics solution...