Road freight body National Road Carriers Association (NRC) has released a new customisable cost index tool to help the industry manage rising cost pressures.
It comes as road user charges are going back up after the discount ended in July, sharp increase in fuel prices from the falling dollar and increasing vehicle prices pushing up finance costs.
With all of this piling up, NRC policy and advocacy general manager James Smith reckons the next quarter is going to be “a shocker”.
“A significant number of operators are under stress because of these cost pressures and then on top of that we have a slowing economy,” Smith says.
“The Customisable Cost Index is an interactive tool that allows operators to see the impact of cost increases on their businesses. It allows users to align the index to their business because there is no such thing as a generic transport business.”
Smith says NRC has worked with Infometrics chief forecaster Gareth Kiernan and Statistics New Zealand over the last 12 months to build the interactive tool.
“To get the best value from the tool, transport companies need to know what percentage of their total costs are fuel, labour, tyres, maintenance, road user charges and finance.
“If they don’t know these percentages they shouldn’t panic as we can easily run a cost model for them that will provide them.
“Users can then move a slider to select their starting quarter. The index has data from 2009 through to the June quarter of this year.
“They can also choose to see their costs excluding fuel. This is important if they already have a Fuel Adjustment Factor in place. They can then print off their own cost index. Included is a brief commentary from Gareth on where he sees the key points to be.”
Users will need to know their NRC website member login to access the index. If they don’t, the NRC team can help. If users have any questions about how to use the Index or how to work with what it tells them they should contact one of NRC’s CTS team.
“And if there are any enhancements to the tool that users can think of, please contact me as we are looking to expand this service,” Smith says.
“Thanks to the NRC members who helped test it during development as their input was invaluable.”
Smith says the tool has received rave reviews from the operators large and small involved in pre-launch testing.
*Click here to access the cost index.
