The Comité National Routier (CNR) Paris Observatory for Transport presented a report detailing the costs incurred by carriers in connection with the sanitary requirements introduced in road transport during the coronavirus pandemic. These expenses account for up to 6% of transport costs, which, with low margins and increasing price pressure on many companies, may be unbearable.
According to the CNR, the coronavirus crisis generates an additional cost of sanitary items between €3 and €32 per day per vehicle, which is between 0.5 and 6% of transport costs. The average is €13 per vehicle per day, which is about 2.5% of the costs incurred by the carrier, French transport portal actu-transport-logistique.fr reports. This involves the money spent on driver protection equipment and cabin cleaning.
As calculated by the CNR, the cost of a set of protective products for the driver (gel, mask, wipes, etc.) is between €0.70 and €3. The price difference results, among others, from the variable availability of these products on the market.
“Purchases are made in emergencies, often in smaller quantities (…), price differences result from an obvious lack of optimisation of purchases,” explains the Observatory.
Costs of driver work and vehicle downtime
The CNR also calculated the cost to the carrier of having to disinfect the vehicle. This is about the driver’s working time and the immobilisation of the vehicle, which costs the carrier an additional €2.27 to €26.03 per day (on average about €12).
The discrepancy between these amounts is due, among other things, to the type of activity of the company and the intensity of cleaning, explains the CNR. The Observatory took into account here French hourly rates of €17.74 to €22.31 (or €0.30 to €0.37 per minute) and €155.19 to €170.76 of fixed daily vehicle costs (or €0.2 to €0.28 per minute). The CNR considered a situation here where the driver disinfects the vehicle himself.
Companies that decide to outsource disinfection have to pay between €60 and €200 according to the CNR.
Costs of the pandemic according to Spain
The Spanish association of international carriers ASTIC reported on the considerable monthly expenses resulting from the coronavirus pandemic in Europe already, at the end of May. At that time, it calculated that carriers spend an average of about €5,000 per month on safety measures and protection of workers during the pandemic. Especially in times of crisis, these are not small amounts.