Rising fuel prices batter freight-forwarding businesses

Rocketing fuel prices have a knock-on effect on the freight forwarding businesses.
Freight flows and the number of passengers normally decline in the monsoon season. A Mawgyun-Yangon ferry consumes 150 gallons of diesel on average, Ko Thein, a ferry driver, told the Global New Light of Myanmar (GNLM).
Double-deck ferries have a capacity of 4,000-7,000 bags of rice. The ferry freight fare was K400 in 2020. This year, the fare soared to K550 per bag. The ferry operators link directly with the rice millers for the loads.
The domestic fuel price has risen tracking the international crude oil price. The diesel prices touched a high of K289,425 per 50-gallon barrel in August 2022 and K110,776 in 2023.
As the volume of loads decreases on the Pathein-Yangon road trip, the number of trucks declines accordingly. The truck fares have risen for the Yangon-Pathein route. It is charged K100 per viss of load.
Despite the increase in truck fare for the Yangon-Pathein trip, the truck fare for the Pathein-Yangon trip declines due to low truck loads. Soaring diesel prices resulted in a low profit, the truck owners running the Pathein trip elaborated.
The truck fare is estimated at K100-140 per viss of loads.
Sometimes, truck owners yield losses as they cannot charge higher for the return trip, a truck owner stressed. Earlier, the profit for a six-wheel truck was K70,000-80,000 per round trip. The profit narrowed to K50,000 this month, a truck owner continued. — TWA/EM