High oil prices, low freight rates, how should we deal with the market winter?

Posted by bruce zhu on March 31st, 2022

Affected by the global environment and the relationship between supply and demand, the price of oil and gas has been at a high level since the beginning of 2022. Not only has oil prices ushered in a \"six consecutive rises in the beginning of the year\", but natural gas, which has always been lower than the price of diesel, has reached the same level in previous years. Twice the selling price or even higher price performance.

\"The freight logistics industry has entered an unprecedented cold winter period.\" Such a voice can be regarded as the hottest topic in the freight industry since this time. The sluggish performance of freight, the repeated outbreak of the new crown epidemic, and the \"surge\" of gas prices and oil prices; it is precisely under the influence of these multiple factors that in the season that should have been spring, the freight industry did not enter the \"peak season\". \' sign.

A logistics company in Xingtai runs the Hebei-Northwest-Jiangsu-Zhejiang line all the year round, mainly engaged in the general cargo liquid transportation of edible oils. It is precisely due to the multiple influences of the sluggish freight environment, the increase in operating costs and repeated epidemics, the profit has been very high. Thin logistics companies have brought great pressure.

The general manager of the logistics company, Mr. Chen, said that the current transportation situation can be summed up as \"few supply of goods, high oil prices, and low freight\". In addition, the increase in oil and gas prices has not completely affected the freight rate, and the situation of \"everything is rising, that is, the freight rate does not rise\" still exists.

According to the data, from January to March 2021, the contract oil price benchmark was adjusted 30 times. The average oil price was increased from 5.55 yuan per liter to 7.7 yuan per liter, and one liter was increased by 2.15 yuan, and the oil price increased by 38.7%. If the oil price accounts for 30% of the operating cost, the operating cost caused by the oil price will increase by 11.61%, that is, if the order should be 5,000 yuan in the same period in history, and simply considering the oil price increase, the freight should be at least not less than 5,622 yuan , but the status quo is that the freight has been reduced by 17.86%.

Moreover, the epidemic has been repeated in recent times, confirmed cases have appeared in many places, and some areas have begun to implement control. The most direct impact on the transportation industry is: the reduction of waybills. This has also made the situation of \"more vehicles and less goods\" in the freight market more and more serious; in addition, due to different policies in various places, problems such as nucleic acid expenses for drivers and loss of parking time have gradually emerged.

Mr. Chen said that although general cargo liquid transportation does not have high requirements for the timeliness of transportation, some areas now have requirements for nucleic acids. When drivers pass through, they need to have nucleic acid before they can leave, which takes at least one or two days. It has a certain impact on the transportation time and the turnover rate of vehicles.

Under such a market performance, how should card friends and logistics companies \"break the game\"? Perhaps the practice of Mr. Chen\'s logistics company may be able to provide a \"reference answer\" for other companies and card friends.

Mr. Chen said that in order to achieve higher returns in the sluggish environment, it is necessary to realize the \"multiple running\" and \"cost reduction and efficiency increase\" of logistics and transportation tools. Correspondingly, a vehicle with light weight, low fuel consumption, sufficient power and reliable product quality should be selected for transportation.

\"Because the edible oil we transport belongs to the category of food supply, the vehicles are all standard loads, and high-speed transportation is the main thing. The requirements for vehicles are very high, especially for vehicle reliability, fuel consumption, self-weight and after-sales service.\"

The tractor vehicles of the logistics company where Mr. Chen works are mainly HOWO T5G tractors. Mr. Chen said that HOWO T5G tractor products with multiple qualities such as low fuel consumption, high reliability, high safety and high comfort have always been Our logistics company\'s car of choice.

Just in February this year, the company that Mr. Chen works for purchased two more Dongfeng Liuqi HOWO T5G ultra-light tractor models for transportation. Mr. Chen is very satisfied with the overall performance of the vehicles.

\"We have strict requirements on vehicle operating cost control. In this regard, Dongfeng Liuqi HOWO T5G ultra-light version can meet the actual needs of our company in terms of fuel economy, reliability and high attendance. It can be said that , the overall performance of operating costs is still very good.”

It is understood that since 2021, the HOWO T5G ultra-light version model has been unanimously recognized by card users and logistics companies with its mature and reliable National VI technology and vehicle quality, coupled with the advantages of lightweight and fuel-saving products. The two 2022 HOWO T5G ultra-light tractors newly purchased by Mr. Chen\'s Logistics Co., Ltd. are brand-new products that have undergone many optimizations and upgrades on the basis of retaining the original models.

Since it is called \"ultra-light version\", its self-weight performance must be excellent. It is understood that in order to reduce the weight of the whole vehicle, help card users to earn more money, and ensure the operating income of card users, HOWO T5G ultra-light version has passed the five light weights of \"new material, new structure, new process, topology optimization and function optimization\". Quantitative technology achieves scientific weight reduction, and the dead weight is only about 7.5 tons.

In addition, the whole vehicle can be equipped with aluminum alloy rims, its dead weight can be as low as 7.45 tons, and the effective cargo capacity is larger. It can be converted into more than 500kg per trip, and the operation efficiency has been further improved, which can easily reduce the cost of logistics enterprises. Efficient car demand.

The two brand-new HOWO T5G ultra-light tractors owned by Mr. Chen\'s company have an average fuel consumption of about 28 liters per 100 kilometers under standard load conditions. To achieve such data performance, it is not only inseparable from the driver\'s superb driving Technology, the economic performance of the vehicle is also particularly important.

HOWO T5G ultra-light version adopts a mature and reliable Weichai high-horsepower engine + a golden power chain with a small speed ratio rear axle, which not only has sufficient power and reliable quality, but also has outstanding fuel-saving performance, which is very suitable for the work of Chen head office. standard load high-speed conditions. In addition, a number of fuel-saving technologies such as the Chenglong V+ IoV intelligent operation system and the low wind resistance design of the vehicle are further improved, which can further improve the fuel-saving capability of the vehicle, effectively reduce driving fuel consumption, and reduce fuel consumption expenditures among enterprises.

Mr. Chen said that according to the actual driving feedback of the driver, the HOWO T5G ultra-light tractor using the new cab platform also performed well in terms of comfort. The interior of the cab is designed with a large space with a flat floor, and the overall space is very spacious. The cab with a four-airbag suspension design, combined with an aviation seat with multi-directional adjustment and multiple functions, can effectively reduce the fatigue of the driver and passengers.

In addition, the central control large screen, double sleeper, mobile phone bracket, 1000W 220V driving power supply, and cab electro-hydraulic flip and other detailed configurations also support card users\' options, and the original vehicle comes with a 360 ° high-definition panoramic image , all-round protection of driving safety, greatly improving the driver\'s driving experience and comfort.