Hundreds of thousands of Indian truck drivers, many of whom fear catching the virus, have fled to their villages, slowing movement of goods, pushing up freight rates and causing logjams at ports and warehouses by AditiShahsays Rajendra1857
FILE PHOTO: A man walks past parked supply trucks at a yard during a 21-day nationwide lockdown to limit the spreading of coronavirus disease , on the outskirts of Kolkata, India, March 27, 2020. REUTERS/Rupak De Chowdhuri/File Photo
Industry bodies estimate only about 20% of India’s roughly 9.8 million trucks are currently operating - either due to a lack of drivers or because demand from manufacturing and other industries has come to a halt. The $130 billion domestic trucking industry ships roughly 60% of the nation’s freight. They said hundreds of thousands of drivers, many of whom fear catching the virus as well, have fled to their villages, slowing movement of goods, pushing up freight rates and causing logjams at ports and warehouses.
The trucking sector is one of the hardest hit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s lockdown and the ripple effects of its paralysis have crippled India’s farm economy, disrupted the pharmaceutical supply chain and wreaked havoc around the delivery of groceries and other goods nationwide. Growers have started to dump produce on the road, said P. Chengal Reddy, secretary general of the Consortium of Indian Farmers Association.
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