Transporters, however, opine that rates may go up by five per cent in the week ahead if the cargo off-take increases from Mumbai. According to transporters, freight rates from Mumbai to Delhi can go up by Rs 500 in the coming week. The existing rate is Rs 12,500.

In the last week, freight rates from Mumbai to most of the states declined. Truck rates from Mumbai to Jammu & Kashmir dropped by around 5 per cent. Although vehicles were in short supply to J&K, rates fell as the cargo supply was not only bad but a good amount of vehicles were diverted to Ladakh and Leh for moving cargo to defence bases, said Ranjit Singh of Jammu Freight Carriers.

In the last week, freight rates to Himachal Pradesh declined by around three per cent. Rates from Mumbai to Haryana,Punjab, Bihar and UP dropped in the range of Rs 200-700.

Truck freight rates from Mumbai to Gujarat moved up. The rates to Ahmedabad rose by Rs 400 to Rs 3,400 while rates to Surat increased by Rs 300 to Rs 2,800. While rates to Rajasthan looked up slightly, freight rates from Mumbai to Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra fluctuated in a narrow band of Rs 100 to Rs 300.

Towards the east, Mumbai to Guwahati rates increased by two per cent to Rs 25,500. The freight charges to West Bengal declined by around Rs 1,000 except for Siliguri (the transshipment point) where rates increased by 4.7 per cent to Rs 17,500.

The rates to south generally remained subdued. The Mumbai-to-Vijayawada rates witnessed the maximum fall of Rs 900 to Rs 5,400 while rates to Hyderabad fell by Rs 200 to Rs 5,300.