According to the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Construction, fuel currently accounts for about 30 - 40% of total operating costs. When gasoline and oil prices increase, increased cost pressure forces many businesses to adjust exploitation plans.
Many units have cut from 20% to 70% of the number of trips, relocating passengers to time slots with higher occupancy rates to limit empty buses. Some businesses only operate sparingly to maintain routes.
Mr. Nguyen Van Binh - owner of a bus company running the North - South route (Hanoi - Ho Chi Minh City) - informed that with a distance of about 1,600km, a 34-seat sleeper bus consumes about 480 liters of oil per trip. Fuel costs from about 10 million VND previously have increased to 16 million VND.
The current ticket price is more than 1 million VND/ticket, if the bus runs with enough passengers, the revenue is about 34 million VND/trip. But in reality, each trip only sells about 20 tickets, the revenue is about 20 million VND" - Mr. Binh shared. Meanwhile, businesses also have to bear many additional costs such as expressway fees, driver's salaries, parking lots, vehicle depreciation... causing many trips to almost lose profit, even lose money.
According to Mr. Binh, reducing gasoline and oil taxes to 0% will help businesses significantly reduce fuel costs. "When input costs cool down, businesses can maintain a more stable frequency, without having to cut trips or increase ticket prices" - Mr. Binh assessed.
According to Mr. Bui Van Quan - Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Cargo Transport Association, operating costs have increased by about 20-25% due to rising fuel prices. "Many businesses have to renegotiate contracts or accept losses. Some units limit receiving new orders, or include price adjustments according to fuel fluctuations to reduce risks" - Mr. Quan said.
Assessing the policy of bringing gasoline and oil taxes to 0%, Mr. Quan said that this is a timely solution, helping businesses reduce cost pressure in the short term. When fuel prices cool down, businesses have conditions to stabilize freight rates, limit sudden price increases, and gradually restore transportation operations and expand orders.
From an expert perspective, Dr. Tran Quang Thang - Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Institute of Economics and Management - said that this policy has a clear positive impact on the transportation industry. With the proportion of fuel costs accounting for 30 - 40%, the reduction in gasoline prices will help businesses significantly reduce the cost of each trip, thereby improving the profit margin that is already very thin.
Not only reducing cost pressure, the policy also contributes to curbing the increase in freight rates. Previously, many businesses were forced to increase prices or apply fuel surcharges to compensate for costs. When input costs decrease, businesses can keep prices stable, even adjust down to increase competitiveness.
According to Mr. Thang, reducing fuel costs also creates conditions for businesses to recover operations. "When cost pressure is eased, businesses can increase operating frequency, optimize vehicle fleet capacity and improve transport output" - Mr. Thang analyzed. From a broader perspective, reduced transportation costs also contribute to controlling commodity prices, supporting businesses in production, distribution and reducing inflationary pressure.
