Specialist vehicle rolling stock offers longer return on investment period - Gazeta Prawna, 30 May 2
Summer is the season of increased consumption of refrigerated and frozen products. Also pharmaceuticals require increased safety and lower temperature in transport. The prices for logistics of medicines can double. There is a shortage of refrigerated trailers and vehicles.
Some medicines, diagnostic samples, ice-cream and fish have to be transported in sub-zero temperatures. Maintaining the right temperature today, given the technical advances, seems very simple. But it turns out that it is the main problem for most service providers on the frozen goods market.
(...) There are companies on the Polish market that specialise in this type of transport and have vehicle fleets capable of this task. These are both major and small companies with only one client.
The main barrier in offering such services is the price of a refrigerated trailer as well as the costs of certificates required for the transport of food or pharmaceuticals.
The price of a refrigerated trailer is at least 120% of a curtain-sided trailer price and the refrigerated trailer means a shorter life and higher price of operation, says Andrzej Szymański, Dartom's trade manager.
A refrigeration unit is used to create the required temperature inside the trailer. It is used to heat or cool the air inside the trailer.
The is driven by fuel which means an increased transport cost of this type of vehicle. There are additional restrictions – the driver needs to pass an additional medical examination and obtain a certificate from a sanitary and epidemiological station that means he or she is fit and does not transmit any illness. The refrigerated trailer itself requires a certificate. Hence the higher price of food product transport in a controlled conditions, says Andrzej Szymański.
(...) The high cost of purchasing specialist vehicles and the subsequent cost of ownership may cause a longer return on investment periods. Especially, given the fact that the increased demand for transport services of some products occurs seasonally and lasts only couple of months. And the experts say that true logistics will develop when the demand is high enough.
The complete text is available in the Gazeta Prawna, 30 May 2007.