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Transport businesses call for help as diesel price hits record high

Nearly six out of 10 UK transport and storage businesses are now "very concerned" as record diesel prices intensify the pressure on them, prompting calls for government support. Diesel prices hit a record average of £2.01 per litre on 2 October, up 40.5% from the 142.38p at the end of February, according to the RAC. The UK Road Haulage Association (RHA) estimates operators are paying around £350 more on fuel for each truck every week, compared with pre-Middle East confict. For a 50-vehicle fleet, that equates to almost a £1m a year extra, if the increase persists, leaving businesses with little room to absorb further costs. New Office for National Statistics (ONS) data analysed by Parcelhero reveals that 59.8% of transport and storage businesses were "very concerned" about fuel prices, revealed in a survey conducted between 21 September and 4 October. This compares with 43% in August and 38.2% across all UK businesses. And shippers are also feeling the pressure, the proportion of businesses also 'very concerned' more than doubling, from 23% in August to 48.4%, in the latest survey. David Jinks, head of consumer research at Parcelhero, warned that the effects of rising fuel costs could ripple throughout the supply chain, from factories and warehouses to consumers. "Retailers are less exposed on paper, but they are the businesses that ultimately feel hauliers' and couriers' fuel costs through delivery rates and surcharges," he said. The RHA is urging the government to introduce an 'Essential User Rebate' of at least 15p per litre for haulage, coach, and van operators for six months. MD Richard Smith explained: "It would help protect margins, ease cash flow, and reduce pressure to pass further costs to customers. Ultimately, it would support the deliveries and passenger services our economy and communities rely on." Meanwhile, a survey on business confidence found that 82% of respondents identified a fuel duty cut as a measure that would give businesses greater confidence to invest and grow. A further 61% supported an Essential User Rebate for commercial operators. Mr Smith also called for maintaining the existing fuel duty freeze and 5p cut, cancelling planned increases, and removing the automatic Retail Price Index link. For operators, the immediate challenge is managing costs without compromising the services that keep goods moving. SNAP, which connects fleets with truck parking and other transport services, warned that rising diesel prices were compounding existing pressures from maintenance, insurance, and administrative costs. Nick Long, SNAP's head of commercial for the UK and Ireland, said: "When diesel reaches £2 per litre and businesses are potentially spending hundreds of pounds more per vehicle every week, the impact on a fleet can be enormous." He added that improving route planning, reducing unnecessary administration, and gaining greater visibility over spending could help operators navigate the pressure. With haulage profit margins typically around just 2%, according to the RHA, sustained increases could force businesses to reconsider investment and pricing, with consequences extending across the wider economy.

CargoAi launches new business intelligence tool

CargoAi has added a new business intelligence tool to bring together various features in a single dashboard. The tech firm said its CargoMART Strategic Hub allows decisions made at headquarters to feed through to local teams when searching and booking capacity. In total, there are 12 modules that combine continuously refreshed commercial and operational data, global carrier visibility, historical and predictive market rate intelligence and AI-powered recommendations. Drilling further into the modules the tool features, CargoAi said it has: An executive summary dashboard with KPIs and recommendations; procurement benchmarking such as rate comparison; allocation performance including booked vs flown; operational performance such as milestones and service quality; carrier prioritisation; AI workers integration for shared intelligence; staff training hub; and weekly executive briefings. CargoAi chief executive Matt Petot: "Air cargo companies already have access to more data than ever before. The challenge is making sure that intelligence actually drives what happens across their operations. "With CargoMART Strategic Hub, we are connecting the decisions made by leadership teams with the tools their people use every day. "From carrier strategy and rate management to operational execution and AI workers, everything can work from the same live intelligence." The tech firm emphasised that its carrier prioritisation module allows companies to define preferred airlines and commercial priorities at headquarters level. "These preferences are reflected directly in local CargoMART search results, ensuring global procurement strategies influence daily booking decisions." Meanwhile, the market rate benchmark combines aggregated historical rates with predictive pricing forecasts. And the shared allocation intelligence gives airlines and freight forwarders a common view of allotment performance, utilisation and available capacity. "The future of air cargo is not about having more dashboards. It is about connecting intelligence with execution," added Matt Petot. "When a procurement decision made at headquarters can influence what a team books locally, and when AI workers can operate from the same business intelligence, we move beyond digitalisation toward truly connected operations."

Nearly two-thirds of Far East-Europe capacity now back to Suez Canal

Some 63% of the ocean capacity deployed between the Far East and Europe has returned to the Red Sea, following three years of detours, but some operators are hedging against renewed disruption by maintaining several Cape of Good Hope routes. Having surveyed the 10 largest carrier networks over the past month, Alphaliner found vessels on 24 of the 46 direct Far East-Europe services were transiting the Red Sea, accounting for 70% of deployed capacity on Far East-Mediterranean routes. On the Far East-North Europe trades, the number was a little lower, 58%, with containers moving between the Far East and Europe via Suez now topping 5.5m teu, of the possible 8.7m teu available to the trades - CMA CGM alone accounting for 1.3m of this. However, the Suez return remains something of a mixed bag, with multiple services opting to transit the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait on outbound routes to Europe, but electing to sail around the Cape on return journeys. Of the 10 carriers surveyed, five confirmed they had resumed Red Sea transits over the past month, that number set to climb to eight after Premier Alliance partners HMM, ONE, and Yang Ming all announced a return to the waterway. Should they carry through on that, it would leave Evergreen and Zim as the only top-ten carriers not to resume Suez transits - although Zim was always likely to be the last, given that the Houthis have explicitly identified the Israeli shipping line as a target. While CMA CGM has essentially retained some sort of Suez footprint through the crisis, others have embraced a more tentative return, MSC only resuming transits in August, albeit it now sends 2.2m teu over 11 loops through the waterway. Gemini partners Hapag-Lloyd and Maersk began to bring services back in July and now represent 1.76m teu of deployed capacity, with the Ocean Alliance's Cosco/OOCL having restored six services, with a combined 1.27m teu. Although the geopolitical situation has suggested room for this manoeuvre by the carriers, it is also believed to be partly driven by economics, the lines eyeing the benefits of reducing fuel consumption at a time when bunker prices remain elevated. According to Alphaliner, very-low sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) has been trading at $881 per tonne on the Singapore spot market, leaving it up 97% year on year in a moment when shippers are aware that they may have the stronger hand to play.