The freight transport sector in Russia is grappling with pressure from multiple fronts that threaten its growth. Elevated prices for trucks, spare parts, and fuel, combined with a tightening driver shortage, are cited as the primary risks to industry expansion. This assessment comes from a report prepared by the Socio-Political Research Institute within the Federal Research Center for Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences and summarized by TASS.
Analysts highlight that the most pressing sustainability challenges for autotransport companies include rising costs for trucks and component parts, as well as fuel, with each issue receiving high importance scores. The consensus among the majority of experts is that these factors are of extreme significance to the sector. In parallel, researchers point to a decline in customer solvency, concerns about driver professionalism, and intensifying state oversight as other critical problems facing the industry. Anti-Russian sanctions are viewed as less impactful relative to these operational pressures.
Alongside these findings, the data show that personnel shortages are already taking a measurable toll. A substantial share of surveyed firms report that insufficient driver availability directly affects the level of service, delivery times, and overall throughput in the motor transport market.
On the pricing side, industry observers note a monthly uptick in the cost of domestic automobile spare parts, reflecting broader supply dynamics and inflationary pressures across the supply chain.
In related discussions, several analysts pointed to the affordability of vehicles as a market driver. They noted that some crossover models could be acquired for prices comparable to those of new Chinese automatics, illustrating the nuanced price dynamics currently at play in the light- and medium-duty segments.