Transport companies play wait-and-see on fuel prices

Despite the petroleum price rise on Sunday, the Viet Nam Automobile Transportation Association (VATA) has not received any proposals on rising transportation costs from transport providers,” said VATA chairman Nguyen Manh Hung.

He said transport companies would not increase their service charges in the near future even though domestic petroleum and oil prices had been adjusted six times since April.

After the fifth price rise in July, many thought transport companies would increase their transport costs because petroleum and oil costs account for 40-50 per cent of total transport costs.

The association had also predicted that general transport costs would go up seven to 10 per cent at that time, but actually only a few companies put their prices up.

According to Mai Linh Corporation’s vice chairman Truong Quang Man, the company’s transport fees would not change in the near future.

When asked about transport prices for the Hai Phong-based Hoang Long Transportation Company, company director Phan Trong Tien said that rising petroleum and oil prices were some of the difficulties the company had to face during the economic slowdown.

Improving service

The company’s current strategy was to attract more passengers. It was clear that raising transport costs in the current situation was not a wise option.

“Instead of increasing our cost, the company is focused on improving service quality,” said Tien.

Taxi Ha Noi and the Thanh Hung Group Joint Stock Company both delivered a similar message. Up to now, they had no plans to increase their transport prices.

But Taxi Nguyen Minh was considering an increase to its fee of VND500/km, according to director Nguyen Hong Minh.

However, Minh said that Nguyen Minh would still be competitive with other firms.

According to VATA, rising petroleum prices could add 2 per cent to transport companies’ expenses.

“If the domestic petroleum price reaches VND15,000, the association will increase its transport costs,” said chairman of the Ha Noi Transportation Association Bui Danh Lien.

He added that businesses that wanted to adjust their transport costs would have to carry out various administrative procedures.

But because of unstable oil prices, when the price went down, they would have to recall the increases. If not, passengers would complain.

In general, most transport at companies seem to have a common wait-and-see attitude.

Tags: Vietnam fuel prices, Vietnam transports