While larger road freight operators have already witnessed a 10% growth in freight availability over September 2008, the road logistics segment is expected to witness a positive change in domestic freight availability in the coming months.
The commercial vehicle segment was showing a negative demand from October 2008 to June 2009. “The commercial vehicle demand has also witnessed a positive increase on a year-on-year basis from the month of August 2009. With an improvement in the supply side information and in the demand side information, we see a positive change in the freight availability,” said Manoj Mohta, Head, CRISIL Research.
While, the capacity utilisation for road operators till September 2008 was as high as 70% -75%, it fell to around 50%-55% between September 2008 to April 2009. “At present, there is a sense of improvement, with the freight availability already improved to 60%-65%, an improvement of 5%-10%, in case of the larger operators. There is a sense of recovery in the domestic demand. However, those operators who are focused on the exim side still face a pressure,” he added.
As per CRISIL officials, a positive change has already been witnessed in the spot rates. “The spot rates are indicating an upturn, in some cases the spot rates are higher than the contractual rates,” informed Mr Mohta.
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