Road hauliers are not benefiting from the improving economy. Unable to pass on rising costs in freight rates, industry margins are shrinking.
Rabobank research shows that. Hauliers have packed order books and are recording rising turnover. Costs are also rising along with them (+3.7 per cent in Q1), with only freight rates lagging behind. Consequently, the margin in the sector fell by 1.4 per cent. Trade association TLN observes the same in its Conjunctuurenquête: 60 per cent of transport and logistics companies had more turnover in the second quarter of 2018 than a year earlier, but only 41 per cent reported more profit.
'Hauliers are losing out'
In the *Financieel Dagblad*, Rabobank states that the sector is suffering from a weakened negotiating position. Hauliers are said to be coming off second best against professional transport buyers. “They are
not measure up to their counterparts and are outmanoeuvred in price negotiations. There
is a shift in the balance of
that has been going on for years and is now
is clearly coming to the surface,” says researcher Henry Steenbergen in the FD.
Inequality in market power
Trade association TLN does not share Steenbergen's conclusion. Not a lack of knowledge or training, but an inequality in market power would be the cause of shrinking margins. "Here, Rabobank really does our sector a disservice," said TLN director Jan Boeve. "We believe the cause lies in the distribution of market power in logistics chains. This is something that has developed over years and has no directly identifiable cause. We want to see a reappraisal of the execution of logistics processes. Of course direction is very important, but ultimately it is execution that counts for the end user."
'Indecent shipper demand'
Boeve hopes hauliers and principals will talk to each other about decent rates. Now, too many trucks are said to be driving around for between €400 and €500 a day. "You can of course say that as a transporter you should then just say 'no' to your client, but of course it is also an indecent demand from the shipper. And we need to have a conversation about that with each other. And by each other, we mean with everyone who has a role in the market. Representatives of shippers, carriers, forwarders, end-users, but also the government."
