Transport sector also suffers from rising energy costs, ‘major financial risks’

It comes as a shock to people with a car, as prices at the gas station have risen sharply by the day in recent days. However, rising fuel prices also have a negative impact on public transport companies and the transport sector.

“Fuel is an important cost item for us as a transport company,” says a spokesperson for Transdev, parent company of bus operators Connexxion and Hermes. “We are concerned. Diesel, gas and electricity prices are rising and it is not clear how long they will continue to rise.”

“Major financial risks”

Because transit rates are only adjusted once a year, transit companies can no longer pass on the cost increases of recent weeks to customers. Transdev said: “Annual indexing is, of course, always backwards. This poses significant financial risks for us,” he says.

The Amsterdam public transport company GVB, which has many metros and trams, runs largely on electricity, not on diesel. Its price is also rising. “At the same time, we are dealing with higher costs, while the number of passengers has not yet returned to the old level due to the corona,” said a spokesperson.

“Avoid pruning the calendar”

Public transport companies still receive ‘passage allowances’ from the government because of the corona, but will stop as of September. “We see a financial gap, especially after September. We really need to sit down with the state and our customer transit zone. The question is, can we take everything if not all passengers arrive? cut the work.”

GVB does not see much in the way of a temporary price increase for consumers. “If you want people to come back to public transport, it’s not really a business card to raise the price now.”

“Fuel should be shorter”

Because contracts often include a clause called a fuel clause, shipping companies often have more options to pass on higher fuel costs to customers. But even these substances do not always help. Because in these articles a period of a week, a month or even a quarter is usually agreed.

“For example, if you agree on one fuel item per week with a customer, you will drive on Monday for the applicable price,” explains a TLN spokesperson. “Despite the agreed diesel price increases, the rest of the week goes to the customer. Continued and steep rises now create a constant and growing disadvantage.” Because lately we’ve seen penny hikes in daily diesel prices, and it’s actually unprecedented.

120,000 euros extra for 800,000 liters of diesel

A calculation example from the TLN: A large supermarket dumper that fills up 800,000 liters of diesel per week would cost 120,000 euros per week if the price at the pump increased by 15 cents in a week.

For this reason, TLN recommends reviewing the fuel supply more quickly than once a week. “Realistic agreements must be made between the carrier and the customer. In this way, any money problems with carriers can be better solved.”

Source: NOS

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