SLIMMED-down fleets of road cargo transporters might not be enough to satisfy an expected increase in demand fuelled by the revival of the economy in 2014. As a consequence this might bring higher prices in transport. This is one of the findings of a survey which DKV Euro Services conducted among directors of European branches of transporters. Eight directors managing branches of transport companies in 15 European countries participated in the survey in early summer 2013, the TASR newswire wrote.
“Many [things] indicate that next year we will finally live to see the long expected growth also in road transport,” said Ondřej Pavlík, director of the Czech and Slovak arm of DKV Euro Service. “However, in such a situation we can quickly arrive at a situation that demand would exceed the capacities of transporters.”
This is because many European road transporters reduced, or even halved, their fleets, a phenomenon seen not only in Slovakia, but all across Europe, according to Pavlík.
“Fleet reduction has become part of the revitalisation processes of road transporters,” said Pavlík.
Stronger economic growth and a lack of transport capacities may be good news for companies that have survived the difficult crisis period without reducing their fleets, according to Pavlík.
A similar situation happened in mid 2011, which resulted in higher prices for transportation. However, this period was too short to stabilise the whole sector.
