Haulier maps out diesel's ups and downs

ALAN PEAT WHILE THE last two months have seen handsome drops in the price of diesel, road transporters are still forking out much more than they were a year ago. Although every company has its own individual diesel costs depending on how-and-where it buys the fuel, figures released to FTW by Paul Rayner, MD of Durban-based DTB Cartage, can be said to be typical of the trend. With the various ups-and-downs of the last 12-months, DTB is paying 63.9-cents-a-litre more than it was last October. Working on its base price of just over R5.11-a-litre in that month, that still leaves the company’s fuel cost 12.5% higher than it was a year ago, Rayner said. In calculating what this means in the overall cost of running a commercial vehicle, you have to take the fuel cost as being between 20% and 30% of the total – depending, said Rayner, on whether the vehicle is running short-haul or long-haul.