With road haulage markets down by around 20.0% across Europe in the first half of 2009, cost control and efficiency improvements are vital components of attempts to achieve (let alone maintain) profitability. As a consequence, measures that have a positive impact on profitability with minimal outlay of expenditure are more likely to receive favour with Financial Directors. However, whilst the road transport industry desperately needs to improve the utilisation and application of technology to improve effici
Whilst more than one-half of European road hauliers reported a decrease in profitability in 2008, 11.4% reported stable profitability and over one-third reported growth.
Analysing changes in profitability by geography provides some interesting insight, with the market in Germany and The Netherlands appearing to be ‘better off’ than markets in Poland or Spain.
Whilst industry sector specialisation was identified as the most decisive factor impacting upon levels of profitability, investment in technology only ranked as the eighth most commonly identified factor for changing profitability in European Road Transport.
From a selection of 12, technology investment ranks as the eighth most likely strategy to be undertaken by a haulier seeking to increase its profitability in 2009.
This features below attempts to increase the range of value added services offered by each haulier, additional training for employees and the outsourcing of some transport operations.
Analysed over three time periods (short-term/2009; mid-term/2010 and long term/2011), motor vehicles and fleet investment will once again become the highest priority for transport operators. Reduced to the lowest priority at the most intense period of the economic downturn in 2009, fleet investment will increase in importance.
From a selection of 13 separate criteria, or factors that impact upon fleet technology purchasing decisions, a proven and demonstrable impact upon productivity and performance are the most important criteria for European road hauliers when it comes to purchasing IT and telematics systems.
Relations with the technology resellers are considered to be the least important criteria by European Road Transport companies when making technology purchasing decisions.
This trend is reflected in the ‘down-grading’ of immediate cost saving initiatives such as driver training, tyres and IT / Telematics; expenditure that increased in importance during the downturn as a results of two key attributes 1 – their ability to create immediate cost savings for a business and 2 – their relative cost being considerably lower than investment in new vehicles, for example.
This trend is reflected in the ‘down-grading’ of immediate cost saving initiatives such as driver training, tyres and IT / Telematics; expenditure that increased in importance during the downturn as a results of two key attributes 1 – their ability to create immediate cost savings for a business and 2 – their relative cost being considerably lower than investment in new vehicles, for example.
| 22/10/2009 | Claude Yvens
|
