The Land Transport Association of Thailand (LTAT) wants to have a discussion with Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin about transportation fees, after the diesel price went up by one baht per liter last Saturday.
Supasak Rungjerdfa, an advisor for LTAT, said the group wants to find out if the diesel price will go up again this year, by how much, and how often. This way, truck operators can plan how to handle the price increases.
He mentioned that the group is hoping to get a reply from the prime minister within a week. If they don't, the members of the group will meet to talk about their next steps.
Supasak mentioned that the one baht per liter increase will make things 3% more expensive for truck operators. In the trucking business, it's usually a good rule to keep fuel costs under 40% of all operating costs to stay in business.
Now that fuel costs have gone up to 55%, along with a rise in labor costs, he said that truck operators will have a tough time staying profitable.
There are about a million trucks in Thailand, and roughly 70% of them are being used. Supasak said that this number will go down to about 60% after the recent diesel price increase, which has made many of them unable to operate unless their transportation fees are adjusted accordingly.
