The Trucking Industry: An Introductory Note

The primary modes for movement of goods in most of the countries (and in India) are Rail and Road. Of late, movement of goods by roads has gained considerable importance in India. The road transport industry is penetrating into the market through a strategy of services. They provide service form the platform of the consignor to the door of the consignee. Besides, they accept goods in small quantities. Unlike Railways, they have the capacity to penetrate into isolated rural and hilly areas, where laying a railway becomes expensive. Because of the ease of departure as soon as the vehicle is loaded, and the load itself being significantly less than the unit load in Railways, they have been successful in cornering the market for short haul movements of all types of goods and a significant share of the long haul movements which need rapid transaction. The truck population in India has grown at a rate of 7.2 per cent per annum between 1950-51 to 1990-91. At present, there are over 1300 trucks per million population and the utilisation of trucks is around 70,000 kms. per year. The corresponding figures for the USA are 151,2000 (over 100 times) and 19,2000 kms. per year (less than one third). The trucking industry is a very significant player in goods movement, carrying over 54% of the tonne km. rail road share in 1988-89 (up from 11% in 1950-51). The paper concludes that considering the inability of Railways to provide piecemeal wagons, it is essential to encourage the movement of goods by roads. Inspite of the unorganized nature of the private companies engaged in the movement of goods, the trucking operation in India seems to be fairly efficient. This is partly reflected in the increasing rate in the growth of movement of goods by roads. The road infrastructure and service management need to be improved substantially, to make the trucking industry vibrant. However, it is important to identify the commodities that can be transported economically by rail and develop strategies to encourage this, from an energy point of view.