The Hindu Business Line : Conflicting data on transporters’ strike impact

On the ground
Safexpress, Blue Dart say services not impacted.
Mandis having enough stocks for next 4-5 days.
Auto makers brace for despatch problems.

Our Bureau

New Delhi/Mumbai, Jan. 5 Amidst conflicting information on the exact impact of the strike called by transporters lobby body, the All India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC), on Monday, the Government adopted a tough stance, calling their demands “unreasonable”.

“Loading of wholesale agricultural goods, construction material, and mines products remained unaffected, which is where our members operate,” claimed Mr B. Channa Reddy, President, All-India Confederation of Good Vehicles Owners’ Association (ACOGOA), a transporters body dominated by vehicle owners, which is not supporting the strike.

Meanwhile, AIMTC, the body which had called the strike, claimed that the first day of the strike was successful. Spokesperson of AIMTC, Mr N.L. Gupta, said, “The first day of the strike call has been successful. In Maharashtra, eight lakh trucks went off the road, causing a loss of Rs 800 crore.”

‘Biz as usual’

Transport companies like Safexpress and Blue Dart, that serve the light and finished goods sector, said their services across the country were not impacted, while Transport Corporation of India (TCI) said its services were partially hit. “Our services were not impacted today and it was business as usual,” said Mr Vineet Kanaujia, General Manager (Marketing), Safexpress, a company which has a captive fleet of 3,500 vehicles.

Safexpress, with Rs 500-crore turnover, serves over 5,000 companies across the country in industries like apparel, lifestyle goods, FMCG products, healthcare and pharmaceuticals and publishing.

Blue Dart said it has not felt the impact of the strike as yet. “We have our own fleet of vehicles so no impact has been felt so far,” said Mr Ketan Kulkarni, Head (Marketing, Communications and Sustainability), said. He added Blue Dart is not participating in the strike.

However, Transport Corporation of India (TCI), which accepted orders on Monday, said it faced problems in arranging vehicles and will not accept goods from tomorrow. “We accepted orders today and our warehouses have piled up. We will stop taking orders from Tuesday,” Mr P.C. Ramachandran, Vice-President (North), TCI, told Business Line while adding that the cold chain division of TCI will continue doing business.

Automobile manufacturers like Maruti and Toyota said that their dealers already have 3-4 days of inventory levels which puts them in a comfortable position. However, if the strike continued further, they may face a problem in despatches of their cars.

New loading

“Supply of building material like brick and sand should happen smoothly as most of our suppliers have their own trucks to ferry the material. Also, our purchase department has been given to understand that there would be no movement restriction on supplies such as steel and cement, which have already been loaded and dispatched. It is the new loading which could be affected… However, the impact is expected to become clear in the next 2-3 days. We carry an inventory of 7-10 days,” Mr Arun Sahai, CEO of Ahluwalia Contracts (India) Ltd, said.

“Our information from various Agriculture Produce Marketing Centres from Vashi (Navi Mumbai), Azadpur Mandi (Delhi), Howrah (West Bengal) and Bangalore (Karnataka) is that arrival of trucks carrying fruits and vegetables to these markets has been normal. These mandis are having enough stocks for the next 4-5 days,” said transport research body IFTRT.

In a veiled threat to AIMTC, Mr Brahm Dutt, Secretary, Department of Road Transport and Highways, said, “State Governments have to maintain law and order. If truckers park their vehicles on highways, then why should they have permits to run vehicles?”

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