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How are carriers faring after leading truck makers leave Russia?

  • October 6, 2023
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For domestic airlines, one of the most serious consequences of the introduction of anti-Russian sanctions was the departure of leading equipment manufacturers from our automotive market – both

How are carriers faring after leading truck makers leave Russia?
For domestic airlines, one of the most serious consequences of the introduction of anti-Russian sanctions was the departure of leading equipment manufacturers from our automotive market – both the Great European Seven and the Japanese supporting the West. How do transport companies solve the acute problem of renewing fleets? How much have the costs of trucks and their maintenance increased in a year and a half? What support do logistics service providers expect from the government? The answers to these and other questions were found by the AvtoVzglyad portal, which spoke to industry representatives.

The Big European Seven responded very quickly to the political events of February last year. It took DAF, Iveco, MAN, Mercedes-Benz, Scania and Volvo less than two weeks, and Renault exactly one month, to decide to “suspend operations” in Russia for an indefinite period: stopping the supply of cars to our country, “freezing” their local productions.

At the time, European brands owned around 30% of the truck market, which amounted to more than 100,000 vehicles sold at the end of 2021. Thanks to the fact that sellers still had stocks of equipment and the ubiquitous Chinese hustled in time, the segment, although declining, was not catastrophic in 2022. According to the analysis agency Autostat, it lost 15.6% to 84,200 units.

In 2023, the market began to grow: according to the results of the first half of the year, 62,720 cars were already sold – 66.5% more than in January-June 2022. The leaders are KamAZ and the Chinese. More specifically, the top places, behind the car manufacturer from Naberezhnye, were Chelny, Sitrak, Shacman, FAW and Foton. But is everything really that simple and rosy? What do carriers, i.e. direct consumers, say about the current situation?

The market recovery is of course good. But the cost of trucks has increased by 30-40% over the past year and a half and continues to grow, says Vadim Filatov, co-owner and deputy director of PEC. In addition, new recycling rates for foreign equipment came into effect on August 1 – now they amount to 1.7 million rubles instead of the previous 1.02 million. As a result, price lists for truck tractors weighing from 12 to 20 tons (up to 3 years old) increased by 7% to 10.7-12.7 million rubles.

Due to the increase in prices of parts, logistics and everything else in the world, prices for domestic cars have also increased. According to our interlocutor, their cost has more than doubled from 5 million rubles. Moreover, if we talk about long-distance tractors in general, there is a shortage (there are not enough semi-trailers by the way) and maintenance costs are increasing.

Now there are about 300,000 trucks on Russian roads, their average age is 18 years. Is this too much? Around the turn of the year 2010-2020, the figure was higher: 21 years. But even though the situation has subsided slightly, the situation is still critical. To solve the problem, transporters asked Vladimir Putin to expand the state program “Russian Tractor” and increase its financing by 5 billion rubles. This allowed transport companies to purchase up to 5,000 additional vehicles annually. The President has instructed the government to work on this issue, but so far there has been no result.

— Trucking companies, under current conditions, are forced to rely on extending the life of existing equipment before it is sold or written off. Our company’s own fleet consists of domestically produced trucks. In recent years we have unified it, optimizing maintenance and repair,” says Vladimir Tolkachev, General Director of Baikal-Service TK.

He clarified that the transport company has managed to expand its fleet by 30% this year. But they did not rely on Chinese trucks, but on domestic trucks – MAZ, as well as Gazelle NEXT and Lawn NEXT. This decision is explained by the fact that our brands have a wide dealer network and therefore no problems with repair and maintenance arise, regardless of which region the car ends up in.

But Mikhail Belousov, general director of the Marshall Group of Companies and founder of the Academy of Logistics, notes that most carriers are abandoning “Europeans” in favor of manufacturers from the Middle Kingdom. According to his observations, Shacman, HOWO and FAW vehicles in particular are very popular among transport companies. Why? Yes, all for the same reason: it’s easy to find spare parts and service.

It has become very difficult for owners of European equipment to repair and carry out regular inspections – parts and consumables have become significantly more expensive, but it is not so bad. Many items are made exclusively to order and you can wait months for them, complains Irina Panpurina, director and owner of the company Southern Transport Systems. And ultimately everyone suffers from it.

Yes, yes, everyone – and you and me too. Due to rising prices for equipment and its maintenance, the cost of freight transportation inevitably increases. As a result, the prices of goods on store shelves rise, and nothing can be done about it. However, there is hope that the situation will stabilize after some time, when there are far fewer European cars in the fleet. The most important thing is that road safety does not suffer. But this is a completely different story…

Photo: freepik.com
Photo: globallookpress.com
Photo: freepik.com

The Big European Seven responded very quickly to the political events of February last year. It took DAF, Iveco, MAN, Mercedes-Benz, Scania and Volvo less than two weeks, and Renault exactly one month, to decide to “suspend operations” in Russia for an indefinite period: stopping the supply of cars to our country, “freezing” their local productions.

At the time, European brands owned around 30% of the truck market, which amounted to more than 100,000 vehicles sold at the end of 2021. Thanks to the fact that sellers still had stocks of equipment and the ubiquitous Chinese hustled in time, the segment, although declining, was not catastrophic in 2022. According to the analysis agency Autostat, it lost 15.6% to 84,200 units.

In 2023, the market began to grow: according to the results of the first half of the year, 62,720 cars were already sold – 66.5% more than in January-June 2022. The leaders are KamAZ and the Chinese. More specifically, the top places, behind the car manufacturer from Naberezhnye, were Chelny, Sitrak, Shacman, FAW and Foton. But is everything really that simple and rosy? What do carriers, i.e. direct consumers, say about the current situation?

The market recovery is of course good. But the cost of trucks has increased by 30-40% over the past year and a half and continues to grow, says Vadim Filatov, co-owner and deputy director of PEC. In addition, new recycling rates for foreign equipment came into effect on August 1 – now they amount to 1.7 million rubles instead of the previous 1.02 million. As a result, price lists for truck tractors weighing from 12 to 20 tons (up to 3 years old) increased by 7% to 10.7-12.7 million rubles.

Due to the increase in prices of parts, logistics and everything else in the world, prices for domestic cars have also increased. According to our interlocutor, their cost has more than doubled from 5 million rubles. Moreover, if we talk about long-distance tractors in general, there is a shortage (there are not enough semi-trailers by the way) and maintenance costs are increasing.

Now there are about 300,000 trucks on Russian roads, their average age is 18 years. Is this too much? Around the turn of the year 2010-2020, the figure was higher: 21 years. But even though the situation has subsided slightly, the situation is still critical. To solve the problem, transporters asked Vladimir Putin to expand the state program “Russian Tractor” and increase its financing by 5 billion rubles. This allowed transport companies to purchase up to 5,000 additional vehicles annually. The President has instructed the government to work on this issue, but so far there has been no result.

— Trucking companies, under current conditions, are forced to rely on extending the life of existing equipment before it is sold or written off. Our company’s own fleet consists of domestically produced trucks. In recent years we have unified it, optimizing maintenance and repair,” says Vladimir Tolkachev, General Director of Baikal-Service TK.

He clarified that the transport company has managed to expand its fleet by 30% this year. But they did not rely on Chinese trucks, but on domestic trucks – MAZ, as well as Gazelle NEXT and Lawn NEXT. This decision is explained by the fact that our brands have a wide dealer network and therefore no problems with repair and maintenance arise, regardless of which region the car ends up in.

But Mikhail Belousov, general director of the Marshall Group of Companies and founder of the Academy of Logistics, notes that most carriers are abandoning “Europeans” in favor of manufacturers from the Middle Kingdom. According to his observations, Shacman, HOWO and FAW vehicles in particular are very popular among transport companies. Why? Yes, all for the same reason: it’s easy to find spare parts and service.

It has become very difficult for owners of European equipment to repair and carry out regular inspections – parts and consumables have become significantly more expensive, but it is not so bad. Many items are made exclusively to order and you can wait months for them, complains Irina Panpurina, director and owner of the company Southern Transport Systems. And ultimately everyone suffers from it.

Yes, yes, everyone – and you and me too. Due to rising prices for equipment and its maintenance, the cost of freight transportation inevitably increases. As a result, the prices of goods on store shelves rise, and nothing can be done about it. However, there is hope that the situation will stabilize after some time, when there are far fewer European cars in the fleet. The most important thing is that road safety does not suffer. But this is a completely different story…

Source: Avto Vzglyad

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