Mumbai: The steady fall in the cargo movement continued to have its toll on the freight rates last week. Rates for nine-tonne load truckss maintained the marginal fall from Mumbai to certain cities in east and northern regions. However, rates to certain places in north such as Delhi and places in Punjab and Haryana, went up by Rs 500-1,000 following a shortage of vehicles. In the last week, as the rush of companies to stockpile the inventory before monsoon slowed down and this impacted the rates.In the northern region, the rates to Jammu & Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh were more or less stable except for a few places. For instance, rates to Srinagar fell by Rs 500 to Rs 26,000. The rates to Baramullah were stable at Rs 25,000. Freight rates to Shimla were steady at 21,200 while rates to Shimoga were at Rs 19,800.
The rates to Delhi increased by Rs 300 to Rs 13,800. According to transporters the vehicles shortage coupled with a sustained cargo movement to the national capital was main reason for the rise in the rates. The shortage of vehicles was caused due to monsoon rains which bunched the trucks.
Consequently, the rates to Haryana also increased by Rs 200-300. The rise in freight rates to Punjab was more prominent as these went up by Rs 500-1,000. The rates to Bihar continued to remain range bound. Freight rates to Hazari Bagh were at Rs 22,000. The rates to Patna, after dipping by over Rs 1,000 in the past fortnight, were stable at 21,800. Rates to Begusaria were also steady at Rs 21,200.
Rates to Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh too remained at Rs 14,000 while those to Varanasi were at Rs 15,000. The freight rates to Agra were stable at Rs 12,000. The Mumbai to Gorakhpur truck rates increased by Rs 200 to Rs 15,500. In the western region, the truck rates from Mumbai to most of the cities remained in the same range.
Truck rates to Ahmedabad came down by Rs 300 to Rs 5,500. Rates to Surat were at Rs 3,500 while rates to Kandla remained at Rs 5,800. Mumbai to Satna were steady at Rs 12,500 while rates to Indore too remained stable at Rs 5,400. Freight rates to Jaipur were down by Rs 200 to Rs 11,000 and those to Ajmer were at Rs 9,800. Rates within Maharashtra too remained stable. In the eastern region, the rates to Guwahati remained steady for the fourth week at Rs 34,500 while rates to Jorhat were at Rs 38,000. Rates to Calcutta were stable at Rs 20,000. The freight rates to Cuttack were down by Rs 1,000 to Rs 15,500 while those to Bhubaneshwar hovered in Rs 17,000-17,500 range.
In the south the rates did not fluctuate much. Rates to Hyderabad were at Rs 6,600 while those to Bangalore were at Rs 10,500 and to Mysore the rates were at Rs 10,700. Freight rates to Chennai were at Rs 12,500 and those to Cochin were at Rs 15,200.
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