Reviving the freight table has several sectors on alert

The Ministry of Transport is preparing a resolution to reactivate the freight table and overtime in five main roads in the country. This to “moderate” the price of cargo movement that, according to the document, is being paid to carriers below operational costs.

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The draft establishes an analysis of the routes Buenaventura – Bogotá, Buenaventura – Medellín, Cartagena – Bogotá, Barranquilla – Bogotá and Santa Marta – Bucaramangawhich would be accepted by this regulation, and shows that of the 172,700 trips made between 2022 and 2023, about 61,557 or 36% were payable well below what is established in the Sicetac (Information System of Efficient Costs of Motor Transport) .

In this way, the Office of Economic Regulation has It is recommended to set minimum costs for cargo mobilization by vehicle configurationthat the companies must recognize the transporter while the facts that motivate the intervention disappear, which in this case, is the sharp escalation of inflation.

The prices set for the Buenaventura – Bogotá route would be from $1.85 million for two-axle trucks, up to $3.43 million for three-axle tractors with two-axle semi-trailers; for the Cartagena – Bogotá route from $2.86 million to $5.39 million respectively; for the Barranquilla – Bogotá route from $2.78 million to $5.30 million; for the Buenaventura-Medellín route from $1.72 million to $3.12 million and the Santa Marta – Bucaramanga route from $1.46 million to $2.75 million. In addition, the additional hour will cost from $27,171 for two-axle trucks to $41,263 for three-axle tractors with two-axle semi-trailers.

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Although this could benefit the transporters, Fedetranscarga, one of the unions in the sector, says that This is a fallacy, because although it tries to control the situation, the methodology used for this regulation and the results do not adhere to reality. In this way they recognize that, although it is necessary to have a floor for collection, the value indicated by the portfolio is still precarious.

“For example, the freight for the Cartagena – Bogotá route of a tractor-trailer currently costs $7 million -a value that is not considered in any category-. It also depends on the load, something that this resolution does not take into account. It is not the same to mobilize a load of packages of fertilizer, than Ferrero Rocher chocolates that have to come frozens”, admits Henry Cárdenas, president of Fedetrascarga.

Another recommendation to take into account the value of vehicle maintenance parts and pieces which have been rising remarkably which makes it almost impossible financially to maintain a truck.

“The repair of an engine less than eight months ago was at $30 million, today it is time to pay almost $70 million, this increase in rates has made everything extremely expensive, even a tire that costs almost $2 million,” Cárdenas acknowledges.

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This is even more worrisome when, due to blockades and road closures, transporters they can mobilize their vehicles in a restricted way in the country and they can make only a few monthly trips.

According to the union leader, these difficulties that transporters are going through are, for example, in the Buenaventura – Loboguerrero section, where trucks remain on the road for even weeks.

“People who buy a truck are seeing losses from all of this. If the mule is worth $1,000 million and you have to pay a monthly fee of $18 million, and a month there are $6 or $7 million left for the work (paying operating and insurance costs), what are we playing, the expected profitability is not being achieved”, he concludes.

However, from the other shore, Javier Díaz, president of Analdex, indicated that in the current situation of combating inflation what is required to do in the country is to reduce logistics costs, instead of increasing them.

PAULA GALEANO BALAGUERA
Portfolio Journalist