With the substantial increase in the fuel levies announced by Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene in the latest budget speech, fuel efficiency will remain the holy grail for South African fleet managers as the increase diminishes some of the relief gained by the recent slump in global fuel prices.
“The increased levies show how risky it is for fleet managers to become even a little complacent about fuel efficiency,” says David Molapo, head of Standard Bank Fleet Management, commenting on the overall 80.5 cents-a-litre increase in fuel levies.
Minister Nene announced a combination of a 30.5c-per-litre increase in the general fuel levy, and a steep 50c-per-litre increase in the Road Accident Fund levy, bringing the total increase in fuel levies to 80.5c per litre.
“Global oil price fluctuations can be unpredictable, which means that fleet managers cannot bank on continued low fuel prices. Any weakening of our currency might also drive up the cost of local fuel even if oil prices remain low. The fuel levy, however, tends to be permanent hence when oil prices recover, the squeeze will be even harder.” says Dr Molapo.
He believes that the only way for fleet managers to remain competitive is to keep on striving for even more fuel efficiency through all the proven methods, namely driver training and incentivisation, proper vehicle maintenance, meticulous tyre maintenance, careful route planning and using fit-for-purpose vehicles. The use of telematics in all these aspects of fleet management is no longer a luxury but a necessity,” he says.
Pat, as we all know transport and road users are the milk cow of the government, in fact most governments – BUT- there has to come a time when we say enough is enough. The bad roads we have to contend with the so called good roads designed to last for years are destroying our tyres at an alarming rate due to the large aggregate used. The hours that our drivers work would not be tolerated in any reasonable country, the corruption is beyond bad. The only solution is to have Operators Licencing as in Europe and we will be regarded as professionals. Before OL in Europe the trucking industry was despised after the introduction of OL within 5 years the public perception changed, rates increased, hours dropped, bad maintenance was all but eliminated BUT it took professional inspectors and police to ensure that it happened. The very guys that you train to inspect trucks are maybe some of the ones looking for bribes, now they know better what to point out and get more money? Why have the owners of the trucks that caused the horrendous deaths not been charged and appearing in court? Every day we see trucks, taxis and cars that should be scrapped but on our roads. We, like a lot of operators use every bit of technology we can to ensure safety and compliance, we occasionally have complaints of bad driving but after watching the camera replays we invite the complainant to watch the reruns – strange they never accept – because they are the ones in the wrong!! This is very negative but the truth is, it is a negative picture, right through society we have corruption and guys taking the short cut. Some while ago you wrote an article on the R74 going past Sterkfontein Dam, I was there last year enjoying myself in a 4×4 with a very worried wife – on the way back we passed three tri axle trucks from Durban using that road – WHY??? We need uncorruptible law enforcement that WILL take action, while we have transporters cutting corners our rates will remain low.