Several factors can influence the freight prices charged by cargo carriers, such as the distance to be covered and the type of vehicle to be used. But what is not so obvious is the price variation between two cities A and B, where the amount charged from A to B is much higher than the price charged from B to A.
Changes in one-way versus return prices are explained by the classic law of supply and demand. Cities that are production hubs, with many industries, and which give rise to many loads, demand a lot of transport. This makes the freight prices in these cities higher than the freight prices in cities that do not produce, but that receive trucks that deliver products that will be consumed.
The map below shows the most expensive and cheapest regions to contract shipping. It can be seen that the Southeast, as expected, is the origin where transport is most expensive: on average R$ 4,2 per kilometer, considering a trailer with a capacity of 26 tons. The cheapest regions are the North and Northeast: R$ 3,0 per kilometer.
Even within the Southeast region, there are price imbalances. São Paulo is the most expensive home state. To give you an idea, the SP-RJ route costs BRL 5,5 / km, while the RJ-SP route costs BRL 4,2 / km, that is, the departure from São Paulo is 55% more expensive.
Figure 1 – Road freight prices by region of origin
Source: ILOS Freight Panel (consultation in September 2016) www.ilos.com.br/panel
Good transport management can make a lot of difference for cargo shipping companies. After all, transport represents more than 60% of the total logistics costs of companies.
ILOS has a tool called Freight Panel, which compares freight prices paid by large shipping companies. More information at www.ilos.com.br/panel.
Maria Fernanda Hijjar
https://ilos.com.brExecutive Partner of ILOS, holds a master's degree and a degree in Production Engineering from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). With more than 10 years of experience in the field of Logistics and Supply Chain, working on several projects, management and participation in research associated with the subject. She has more than 20 articles in newspapers, magazines, periodicals and congress annals, being co-author of several titles in the COPPEAD Collection by Atlas publishing house and in the Panorama Logístico Collection ILOS and CEL / COPPEAD.
