Biggest trucker in India to scrap 15% of fleet in 'lost year' (2024)
By Ashutosh Joshi
VRL Logistics Ltd., which owns the largest fleet of commercial vehicles in India, won’t buy new trucks and will get rid of old ones to rein in repair costs amid a nascent recovery in demand. The operator of about 5,000 vehicles, including tankers, cranes and buses, has identified some 700 low capacity trucks for possible scrappage, Chief Financial Officer Sunil Nalavadi said on a conference call on Monday.
The firm 'hopes' to report a profit for the year started April 1 by cutting costs and halting fresh investment, he added. That would be an improvement from a loss in the June quarter, the first ever for VRL as India stayed locked down to control the spread of the coronavirus. Daimler AG sees industry-wide truck sales in India taking at least three years to recover, an outlook that backs up the central bank’s reading of an economy ravaged by the coronavirus pandemic.
Missing The Rally VRL, which is operating at about 75% capacity, gets more than a third of its business from small- and medium-sized firms that are most vulnerable to the economic slump, and plans to remove routes that aren’t seeing enough demand. While business is improving from sectors like pharmaceuticals and farming, demand from textiles and automobiles is weak, Nalavadi said.
The Karnataka-based firm started operations with a single truck in 1976 and its shares rose more than 40% on debut in 2015. The stock has lost 45% of its value this year, set for a third straight annual decline. “We expect that 2020 will be a lost year for earnings growth,” Chairman Vijay Sankeshwar said in the company’s annual report. “Our first priority is to keep our employees out of harm’s way.”
In fact, VRL is recognized as the largest fleet owner of commercial vehicles in the nation's private sector by the Limca Book of Records. With 931 branches, 40 hubs, and several transport yards dispersed throughout India, VRL has a significant presence.
The biggest truck in India is the Tata Signa tipper truck. It has a gross vehicle weight (GVW) of 47.5 tonnes and a lifting capacity of 29 cubic meters. It is powered by a 6.7-litre Cummins engine that produces 250 HP and 1050 Nm of torque.
VRL Logistics plans to expand its fleet size to approximately 7,200 trucks by the next financial year, following its latest order of 1,560 trucks. Currently, it has around 5,700 trucks.
Bharat Earth Movers (BEML) has launched the BH205E, the largest dump truck in India. The vehicle, which has a maximum payload of 186 metric tons (205 US tons) is designed and developed indigenously and built at the company's plant in Mysuru. When fully loaded, the BH205E weighs 335 tons.
The Toyota Hilux is India's most powerful pickup truck, with a 2.8-litre engine. The Toyota Hilux is India's most powerful pickup truck, with a 2.8-litre engine.
Around 327 thousand heavy trucks were produced in India in 2022. In 2021, there was a drastic increase of more than 100 percent in comparison to the previous year. Some 4.3 million heavy trucks were produced worldwide in 2021. In India, commercial vehicles are classified based on their gross vehicle weight (GVW).
The biggest fleet in the U.S. belongs to PepsiCo, Inc. It owns 11,079 tractors, 16,138 trucks, and 6,682 pickup trucks and cargo vans. PepsiCo also owns 20,105 trailers for securing goods in transit. This enormous fleet helps PepsiCo take in $79.5 billion per year in sales.
The number of trucks registered in China more than doubled throughout the period given. In 2020, truck ownership amounted to 30.4 million units, an increase of 11 percent year-on-year. In the same year, the number of cars in China reached 302 million.
The biggest fleet in the U.S. belongs to PepsiCo, Inc. It owns 11,079 tractors, 16,138 trucks, and 6,682 pickup trucks and cargo vans. PepsiCo also owns 20,105 trailers for securing goods in transit. This enormous fleet helps PepsiCo take in $79.5 billion per year in sales.
We are delighted to introduce the Signa 4825.TK – recognising the needs of the customers such as those in construction and coal industry who wish to complete large projects ahead of time, we have developed India's largest tipper, with gross vehicle weight of 47.5 tonnes.
As of March, 2022, IndiGo had the biggest fleet among all Indian airlines, with 275 aircrafts. It was mostly made up by Airbus' A320-200. IndiGo was followed by Air India, owned by Tata Group since 2022, with 117 aircrafts.
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