Iran Roads Ministry Changes Transport Rental Rate Formula For Allaying Truckers’ Concerns

The High Council of Transportation announced on Saturday that truck rental rates for domestic cargo will be calculated on a ton-kilometer (tkm) basis.

Iran Roads Ministry Changes Transport Rental Rate Formula For Allaying Truckers’ Concerns

Faramarz Maddah, a board member at the Road Maintenance and Transportation Organization of Iran, said the new calculation formula increases the average rental rates compared with the previous method whereby the rates were arbitrarily agreed upon between truckers and cargo owners or transportation companies, the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development reported on its website.
A number of Iranian truckers went on strike in late May, partially blocking roadways by parking their vehicles along main roads.
Setting new rental rates per ton-kilometer by taking into account fuel consumption, route profile, tire depreciation, driver’s salary, insurance and high road risk was the main demand put forward by the representatives of truckers in their meeting with the roads minister, Financial Tribune reported.
Since then, the ministry has been working with RMTO and other bodies to devise the new formula for truck rental fees. Many factors had to be taken into account, including the type of fleet, fuel consumption, fixed and variable expenses, distance covered and whether a truck is loaded or empty while commuting, to name a few.
The time-consuming process finally bore fruit on Saturday, which helps remedy one of the main concerns of domestic truckers.
Back in May, Minister of Roads and Urban Development Abbas Akhoundi said in a five-hour-long meeting with Ahmad Karimi, the secretary of Truckers Guild Association, that he believes in the right to protest and that the protest by truck drivers was their legal right and not an unsettling experience.