"The situation is tight and may continue for another week," says a transporter. The nine tonne truck rates from Mumbai to rest of the country were higher by Rs 1,000-2,500 in every route. Transporters were quoting slightly different rates for same route before the declaration of minimum freight rates by the government. Movement to Orissa has almost come to a halt with cyclone devestating the region. Rates to Cuttack have gone up by nearly Rs 2,000 to Rs 21,000 but one transporters said that it was meaningless to quote any rates since no vehilce is moving in that direction.

Freight costs to parts in east like Guwahati and Jorhat are up by another Rs 500 while towards rest of Assam, there is not much change in rates. In the previous week,there was a 20-30 per cent hike in rates overall but the transporters continued to extend that by few more points last week. Rates to northern states are up in the range of Rs 8,00-1,500 range. Rates to Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh are more or less steady while those to Punjab and Haryana are marginally up by Rs 500. Freight rates to places in Bihar were also ruling in the previous week's range. Towards Uttar Pradesh, the rates were a bit high. Lucknow rates were up by Rs 500 while rates to Varanasi stood at Rs 19,000. Mumbai-Meerut route rates were also steady at Rs 18,000. Rates from Mumbai to other major cities including metros were nearly stablewith the exception of Bangalore.

To Delhi, rates were at Rs 16,500 while to Chennai, the rates were Rs 17,000. Mumbai-Calcutta rates were ruling at Rs 19,000. Bangalore witnessed yet another Rs 100 increase to Rs 12000. The rates to Gujarat rates were up nearly stable. Surat was quoting around Rs 3,900 while rates to Kandla were Rs 6,400. In thewestern region, the rates to Madhya Pradesh were same while rates to rest of the Maharashtra were moving up marginally. Southern rates were firming up with the shortage of vehicles. Rates to Hyderabad and Cochin might firm up next week, says transporters.