Fuel heads hauliers' expense lists

ALTHOUGH THE latest price rise of 5 cents a litre for diesel is only a 1.5% increase, fuel represents a major proportion of the cost of a truck and any upward rise has an impact on margins in the road transport industry.
According to figures released to FTW by the Road Freight Association (RFA), fuel represents well over 60% of the variable (running) costs of a heavy goods vehicle, the others being lubricants (about 1.6%), maintenance (19.5%) and tyres (16.2%).
At the same time, fuel and oil is over 30% of the total cost of putting a truck on the roads, with finance costs, depreciation, insurance, on-vehicle staff, overheads and licences being the annual fixed (standing) costs.