In one year, the average annual fuel cost for a truck will rise from €31,600 to €43,000. This increase foreshadows further price rises in the shopping basket.

Transport companies are facing one challenge after another. In addition to supply problems, which are suffocating sectors such as vehicle transport, the lack of spare parts and the shortage of drivers willing to work long hours day after day, there is the relentlessrise in fuel prices, which already represents a 36% increase in the average annual cost for transport companies.

According to data from the Cost Observatory of the Ministry of Transport, Mobility, and Urban Agenda (Mitma), if in 2020 the fuel for a single articulated general cargo vehicle that traveled 120,000 kilometers per year cost €31,600 annually,in 2021 the same journey cost €42,888. For a company with a fleet of four vehicles, the national average, the annual cost amounts to €171,332, and for a company with eight vehicles, it amounts to €343,104 per year. This increase in costs is expected to lead to further rises in the price of the shopping basket, as most products are transported by road.

Faced with this situation, the Valencian Federation of Transport and Logistics Entrepreneurs (FVET) warned yesterday in a statementthat the situation is "worrying" becausethe price hike shows no sign of stopping. According to data provided by this federation, in December 2021, the price of fuel stood at €1.35 per liter, which translates into€4,725 per month per vehiclefor this itemalone.

"Fuel accounts for 31% of the total costs of companies in the sector, one of the most significant items. We notice the increase month after month, vehicle after vehicle. With no possibility of passing it on, the price increase could spell the end for many transport companies in the Valencian Community," said Carlos Prades, president of FVET, which brings together 14,800 companies employing more than 94,000 transport professionals.

Last December, the Ministry of Transport, Mobility, and Urban Agenda undertook to establish the legal mechanisms within amaximum period of 60 days to implement the clausethat would allow this price increase to be passed on, transport operators recall.

However, the sector is still awaiting the legal text, in addition to the formalization of the other commitments made in the agreement, such as the prohibition of loading and unloading for drivers, the reduction of waiting times after which the carrier is entitled to compensation (from two hours to one hour), the provision of basic services at rest areas, and the creation of secure parking facilities for the sector, among others.

"We need the legal text to be applied immediately to enforce the fuel price review clause and the rest of the demands made by a strategic sector such as road freight transport. From the Federation, as part of the National Road Transport Committee, we will be monitoring the ministry's movements," added Prades.

The road transport sector had already accumulated an increase of more than 30% in diesel costs over the whole of last year. If fuel accounts for more than 30% of the operating costs of an articulated vehicle, according to calculations by industry associations, this would meanincreasing transport service prices by 7.5% justto offset the increase in diesel prices. Since then, the price has continued its slow but steady climb.

The average price of a liter of diesel fuel stood at €1.444 last week, matching the all-time high set in September 2012. Filling a 55-liter tank of diesel fuel now costs around €79.40.

News from La Razón.es