LETTER TO BALA...1

 

Dear Bala, 

Thanks for responding to the request for the resumption of delivery of physical copies of MOTOR INDIA which is in its 66th Year. Significantly, I and your publishing baby share a bond: Both came into existence in 1956. Plus, I have had a long association with your publishing group.

Covid disturbed every business, including the publishing. Being a publisher-editor myself, I felt the pain and am still unable to recover and recoup. The niche segment is a peculiar baby - particularly in the B2B segment. Chalo, life is like that.

The June 2022 Cover Story: Eicher-MR Shah Logistics: A delightful partnership drew my attention. No specific reason. Usually, I usually avoid cover stories because they are long and boring, and more PR-ish. Actually, I read the piece after flipping through the magazine over lunch much before realizing it was the Cover Story! 

Chemical transportation is an area of interest. Your Cover Story is about this segment with a focus on this company. Shankar Kuppuswamy of the Indian Chemical Council is also a reason for this chemical transportation segment. So is Mohan, a certified hazardous chemical movement driver training. We talk regularly about his activities in this segment.

Seen and heard stories of disasters involving chemical movement. Harbans Singh of Charoti Naka, a friend, and activist on highways, has taken me and Ulhas Ambegaonkar almost a decade ago to the spot at Mendhan, on the Mumbai Surat segment of NH48 where a chemical tanker met with an accident, and the nearby villagers rushed to "steal" whatever was leaking and met with gory death. He saw it. I can understand his mental frame. I felt for the victims. 

What interested me in this story was the driver comfort portion towards the end. The piece spends a few hundred words - instead of cursory lip service on this aspect. Eicher has done good work, going by what your magazine writes.  

"Another element that led MR Shah Logistics to choose the Eicher brand is driver comfort and brand acceptance. Eicher understands how to make the transportation business more comfortable and appealing to drivers," to quote one of the directors. 

He adds: "The corporation has made a concerted effort to put driver comfort up front and center as a primary buying factor for clients. This is a win-win situation for both the transporter and the driver, who benefit from a more productive investment and a more comfortable driving experience. Finally, this is an important factor that will attract aspiring drivers to the profession."

"Driver comfort is of utmost importance for any transporter. Eicher understands this well and hence emphasizes focuses on drivers through its vehicle's design, be it the driver-friendly cabins or the industry-first features like fuel coaching and cruise control in its trucks."

 Hang on...

Bala, I did not understand fuel coaching? Do they mean fuel monitoring? Explain. 

Industry-first? Does it mean, the Tatas and Leyland who were in India for decades before the advent of Eicher did not even think and try such features? No idea. 

The concept of driver comfort is new to India. No jokes, please. Until the arrival of foreign truck makers into India, the Tatas and Leyland paid little attention to this aspect. For whatever reasons. I still recall the driver's seat resting on a few bricks! I also recall sleeping on the cramped wooden plank behind the driver seat in 2010-11. Things began to improve post-2012 because my truck sleeping on long journeys was a bit more comfortable. Rexin beds. 

Ventilation was unheard of in driver's cabins. Unless the drivers themselves spent money to fix it at their expense! So generous were motormaliks. Why blame them? The big boys of HCV makers never thought of fixing an electric fan inside the truck cabin. At times, their argument was that such "additional features" made trucks expensive! Bunkum!

Well, we can keep on talking about the absence of driver comfort till birds come home! 

Even seat belts were not mandatory for ages in India! So much for the HCV makers' road safety concerns. 

Anyhow, Bala, thank you again for resuming the supply of MOTOR INDIA!

I shall revert after reading other pieces of interest to me.

Till then, Ciao.

Ramesh

Rendezvous with Hella India boss Ramashankar Pandey

 

Ramesh Kumar from Greater Noida

Out of the blue, Hella India Managing Director Ramashankar Pandey called over the weekend to ask: "How can we help truck drivers to gain respectability in the society?"

What happened to Ram? I know his passion for road safety. But drivers' respectability? I was flummoxed truly. 

An issue close to my heart. As we say in my mother tongue: karumbu thinna cooliya? (Nobody asks for a fee to enjoy sugarcane). 

The telephonic conversation dragged on for 15 minutes. 

I realized that the Madhubani-born, mid-forties German lighting giant supremo in India, is not bullshitting but has something in mind. At a time when Bihar, among other cow belt states, is burning over the Agnipath Recruitment Scheme of the government, this engineering-cum-management practitioner from the same Bihar, is helping me to focus on something serious. Even trucks are torched by the so-called educated lumpen elements. 

Such critical issues need face-to-face interaction and no zoom meeting would do justice. The hitch was we were separated by 70km one way: Ram in Dwarka and me in Greater Noida. Nothing less than a two-hour journey one way for this physical handshake and meeting of minds. 

"It does not matter. Let us meet. Share your location," he cooed over the Graham Bell invention.

Will the Hella India boss drive on a Sunday to discuss "what should be done to help truck drivers to gain respectability"? 

Sheer coincidence that a friend from Kolkota with logistics background called up a few hours before Ram's phone call to ask: have you read the "researched, well-documented piece by an IAS babu in the Hindu Business Line." I did and nothing new he said. Research on truck driving in India is a regular feature. How do I know? Over the past 13 years, most of the researchers on this "interesting topic" have knocked on my doors seeking my "inputs". 

A month ago, a reputed research agency funded by global financial institutions, sought my inputs on the driver angle. A week ago, another logistics domain expert requested a meeting with a friend of his - a pharma MNC logistics honcho - who is preparing for a PhD on, yes, you got it! - truck driver issue. 

Back to Hella Ram. Ten minutes before Rahukal on Sunday (the 90-minute inauspicious period to begin or commence anything: 1630 to 1800 hours), he pinged: "Left Dwarka" and shared his live location via WA. 

Still, I was not sure. Maybe he has some other engagement in my part of town and possibly he is clubbing a visit to my home to discuss the topic we interacted with earlier. 

Every half an hour, I checked the live location and convinced he was on the "right track". 

Half-past six, he alighted from his chauffeur-driven SUV outside my housing society. 

"Oh my God! Now I understand why I refuse invites for physical meeting in Gurgaon!" 

True. Unless the invitee/host is ready to cough up Rs.2000 towards petrol (just a few rupees below Rs.100/litre), I decline such invites. 

Over the next hour and a half, we were in "chai pe charcha".

Yes, Ram was serious. Otherwise, he would not have driven from one end of NCR to another on a Sunday. 

What we discussed? Await. 

(To be continued)

What did Eicher Volvo Vinod Aggarwal Tell Bajrang Sharma?

(Left to Right): Freight Tiger Sakshi Hingorani, CTA Bajrang Sharma, self & Freight Tiger Madhusudhan Nair

Ramesh Kumar from Greater Noida

Honestly, it was our maiden mulaqat, though we have known each other for over a decade. Forty-eight hours before the face-to-face interaction, Chandigarh Transport Association Secretary-General Bajrang Sharma tweeted: "Welcome to Chandigarh for new suggestions for welfare of industry/trade." Actually, he identified challenges and offered possible solutions. Not me!

"Over the next ten years, my son will be running his business in a much better India," thus spake Sharma. We are seated in the well-lit lobby with Chattisgarh tribals hand-built non-ferrous Dhokra art figurines kept vigil from five feet away. 

His confidence was unmistakable. There was that special glow on his face signaling a truckload of optimism. You rarely come across a non-sulking transporter.  Not today. Never in the past. Sulking is part of their DNA, even when milking clueless shippers with incredible and usurious freight rates. 

Not that the fifty-ish second generation Punjabi fleet owning transporter has no laundry list. He, too, has. His major grouse is the corruption on highways. "Mind you, it has come down," he addresses *Freight Tiger's Sakshi Hingorani and Madhusudhan Nair,* and self as we listen with rapt attention in the reception area of The Lemon Tree in Mohali industrial area phase 1. 

The hotel staff at the counter and the men, women, and children exiting the elevator for the dining hall are unconcerned with our activities. 

Madhu, a professional who had learned his logistics funda at the corridors of DHL and Varuna, among others, is all ears. In his new avatar at the Mumbai-based start-up Freight Tiger's Business Development in charge for the northern region, the hardcore Delhiite is on a whistle-stop tour to Chandigarh and nearby Baddi (Himachal Pradesh) to assess the ground. His mission is to push his company's services to "improve the operational efficiency and thus reduce the logistics cost" among the transport fraternity. Indeed, the upcoming National Logistics Policy's unambiguous goal. Young and sprightly Sakshi, the US-educated marketing and communication specialist, flew in from Mumbai to give company to Madhu on his whirlwind tour.

"My wish list is short and simple: Primarily, I desire the corruption on highways has to be eliminated," says the cherubic Sharma and hastens to admit that it is a "tall task." He believes the government has made efforts in that direction to a certain extent, but a lot more is possible. 

"How about creating a National Highway Security Force  - something on the lines of CISF?" asks the CTA boss. 

Highway patrolling? Is it possible to police the entire stretch of national and state highways that connect the entire country, feeding, clothing, and sheltering 1.3billion populace 24x7x365? Madhu and I exchange glances disbelievingly. Sharma catches the nuances and smiles to assuage that he is "not hallucinating." 

"I am confident such a force would reduce harassment on highways by hooligans as well as other rent-seekers," adds he. Total elimination of corruption on highways, Sharma concedes, is impossible. "Bring it down to 20%. That would be wonderful," says he, like a child whose wish to buy a stick of ice cream got parent's approval. 

Sharma desires that his eldest son, running his cold chain trucking business, should not get disheartened and shut the family business started by his father decades ago. That can only happen if the business environment improves with less corruption on highways because their business literally "runs" on the roads. His other son moved into the legal profession along with his lawyer-wife. 

Sharma has solid legal support to fight any legal dispute in his business without paying a penny!

What next, Sharmaji? "The biggest pain point is the driver shortage." What's his solution? "Truck makers like Tata, Leyland, Eicher Volvo, Daimler should set up driver training schools and gift a trained and certified driver along with every vehicle they sell," says he. 

Sakshi and Madhu are clueless as to how to react to this Sharma proposal. I break the ice.

"Sharmaji, you mean like "dowry"? So these truck makers will train and gift buyers with drivers?" 

We laugh loudly, drawing the attention of the passers-by in the hotel lobby. Sharma presents a cool cucumber look.

"Recently, I met Eicher Managing Director Vinod Aggarwalji in Punjab and put forward this proposal to him," adds he.

What was his response?  I ask. 

Vinodji said, "Let's see" to Sharma.

Honestly, I never expected anything beyond "Let's see" from Eicher bossman. Just not him. For that matter, anyone from the trucking segment. If these truck makers were serious, the topic of driver shortage would have never arisen today. 

Sharma is hopeful his wishes will bear fruit in his son's lifetime, if not his own.

The clock is ticking. Sharma has an appointment with Chandi Mata at 9.10 for 10 minutes. Yes, you cannot "darshan" even the Akhilandeswari without an appointment in the Covid times. Plus, it is Navaratri, and he is fasting. So he has to "darshan" Mata before rushing home for dinner. 

We shake hands and promise to meet again, possibly on a Punjab road trip. 

"Sharmaji, please include these two items for submission to Chandi Mata. Only she can find a solution. Not Nitin Gadkari. Nor Channi," I add, as the elevator door shuts, swallowing him into its cavity to take him vertically to the ground floor.

Pilgrimage to Baddi - Once Again!

Baddi truck drivers assembled in the hall to celebrate the Drivers Day Utsav, 2014

 

Ramesh Kumar from Greater Noida

Unless one is in the freight movement business, especially in the northern belt, they may be unaware of Baddi in Himachal Pradesh. Yet, it enjoys a "special mention" among the logistics fraternity! Baddi is situated at the foothills of the Himalayas and on the way to Simla. Many would convey that this town, known as a tax shelter to promote industrial development by the central government in 2003 with a ten-year tax holiday, originally belonged to Punjab state. Still, state reorganization pushed it into the lap of Himachal Pradesh. 

Baddi saw large-scale industrialization from 2007. According to Baddi-BarotiwalaNalagarh Industries Association, over 2000 factories set up at an estimated cost of 15,300 cr employs 75000 workers. Several MNCs have their manufacturing plants in this tiny town, 60km from Chandigarh, the nearest airport.

Such industrialization warrants logistics support largely. Therefore, transportation is a crucial element to ensure the smooth functioning of manufacturing by bringing in raw materials/components from outside and ferrying finished goods to the rest of the country. Sensing the business opportunity, particularly in the transportation segment, the locals have formed an association to "control" the fleet deployment by the companies in Baddi. 

Simply put, the Association fixes the freight rates. All local transporters are members of it. Manufacturers have to route their transport requirements through the Association and are barred from entering into any direct contract with transporters/fleet owners individually. The Association daily allot loads to transporters in a unique system. Cartelisation, one may call it. Expectedly, shippers are displeased with this "unionization" but helpless because they are "overcharged" due to the absence of competition. 

The control is so total that the Association, it is believed, does not provide loads to those transporters unregistered with it. Hence, none wants to buy trucks without the Association's blessings. As a result, the supply of vehicles is kept on a leash. Truck manufacturers throng the Association office in Nallagarh seeking their "blessings" to push their wares. 

I was drawn to Baddi because of this "cartelization" tag. Since 2014, I have been visiting this attractive transport hub to understand the pulse and the mood of service seekers and providers. One thing is clear: the Association has prospered beyond belief. Today, they operate from a modern office building with a vast auction hall vis-a-vis what it used to be years ago. Transporters have prospered. At whose cost? Shippers, of course. A competitive environment, like anywhere else, would have slashed the logistics cost of Baddi manufacturers by half, if not more. 

Transporters vie with one another through undercutting freight rates across India. Not in Baddi. Disallowed by the all-powerful Association. But, like in any other segment, the politics-business nexus in Baddi cannot be dismissed. Plus, the vote bank angle. 

So far, transporters have the upper hand over the big boys of manufacturers in Baddi. Not to their liking, of course. With the GST rollout, the tax holiday status was cut short, thus pushing companies into a tight spot. 

Many keep asking: is the Baddi model scalable? Yes and no. It is possible in the industrial estates provided there is unanimity among the transporters. It is possible, provided there is a solid political connection with "vested interest."  The second element can be manageable and readily available. But the transporters' unity is an arduous task. Almost unachievable. Want proof? Look at the shoddy treatment meted out to the transport segment by the government at the federal and state levels. The government is exploiting this "lack of unity" among transporters. 

Precisely, this battle of wits between the two takes me to Baddi regularly. One more time this weekend. 

Are all drivers equal?

Ramesh Kumar from Greater Noida

"Career progression is the new minimum wage,"  the Wall Street Journal quoted Ardine Williams, Vice President of Workforce  Development at Amazon some time ago. Like several other  HR honchos of the American corporate world, he has emphasized the importance of enabling the existing workforce to pursue education while working with free funding and helping them explore moving vertically or horizontally in the same company. William's sole objective was to retain talent or ensure job stickiness. Covid19 and the labor shortage must have weighed heavily on the likes of Williams.  

Career progression is a  universal theme. Nothing America-specific. In the Indian trucking context, one could hear a feeble echo of this theme in some corners. "(A) person with 20 years experience is a driver. So is five or 10 years experienced (driver). Ironical. No weightage for experience" says Selvan Dasaraj of ex-Mahindra Logistics honcho. True, there is no formal differentiation of drivers by fleet owners. 

Are all drivers equal? Yes. One joins the trucking profession as a driver and remains one till he takes his hands off the steering and feet off the accelerator and brake. Some, no doubt, graduate into supervisor provided the owner wills and wants to reward for the loyalty to his company. This number is nothing to write to boast of.

Drivers' stickiness with fleet owners is weak. There is no formal employer-employee relationship with a proper appointment letter with perks such as provident fund, medical and accident insurance. Above all, drivers' compensation is based on per kilometer driven. Therefore, more or less equal pay, irrespective of experience. When a better compensation offer materializes, drivers jump "trucks" from one owner to another. The question of loyalty to the owner does not arise. Their loyalty is to their earning potential. Having said that, some drivers stick with the same company for decades; actually, they induct their sons/nephews also into the same company since the recruitment process in trucking is through referral only. 

"Does it matter what they call us?" asks Punit Verma sipping his extra-sugary tea at a highway dhaba in Sikar, Rajasthan - one of the key truck driver sourcing belts in north India. One can hear the same sentiment among the driver community across the length and breadth of Indian highways.

Ahmednagar-based Gorak Maruti Anna, my man-to-go-to for any highway challenges in the state of Maharashtra involving truck drivers, pooh-poohs at the idea of renaming drives as pilots. "Our Rajas and maharajas called them "saratis". British began calling them "drivers". Pilots are for airplanes, argues the office bearer of a truck drivers association with pan India reach. 

Telangana-based Nijum Riyaz, Principal of the Driver Training Institute jointly promoted by the State government and Ashok Leyland is keen to usher in changes in the way drivers are trained and inducted into the trade. "First, let us stop calling them truck drivers. Why not Vehicle Pilots?," Riyaz poses rhetorically. 

After spending more than 18 years in Afghanistan and West Africa selling Leyland vehicles, he opted to manage  Leyland's driver training institute on his return to his home base: Hyderabad. With a decade in store before he superannuates, he is keen to address the driver shortage challenge in India. 

The stigma attached to the truck driving profession is acting as a dampener. "I plan to remove this stigma in whatever way possible and make this a career choice. That's where the change of nomenclature from truck driver to vehicle pilot is necessary," elaborates Riyaz. 

As part of his dream to make the truck driver a "sexy" career option, he is keen on working out a career progression plan. "Why not?" asks he and hastens to add that such a plan is not unachievable. Riyaz is not alone in his dream realized. Mumbai-based Mohan Subramaniam of Transmitr Sewa Foundation, a registered NGO, utilizes his educational institution visits to impress upon the school finalists of the potential job as truck drivers. 

"Watching the economy, you cannot run away from the fact that a degree is no passport to jobs. That era is over. Jobless growth is the reality. Companies - big or small or medium - prefer the automation route to avoid human labor challenges. Gradual, but inevitable. So, fewer openings for freshers. Post-Covid19, MSMEs, one of the biggest job generators, are in a coma. There again, no job opportunity," explained Mohan.

Still, it is not doomsday ahead projections for Mohan. According to him, India's growth trajectory with a US$5tn goal combined with the Make In India campaign offers a glimmer of hope on the job front, particularly on the logistics front. "Make in India, simply put, means producing tangible goods. India has successfully embraced the globalization route; that is we have gone into for outsourcing path. Big companies assemble components or parts brought from vendors from different locations. Tatas, Birlas, Ambanis, Adanis, Mahindras, etc produce a lot of tangible goods with outsourced items. They and their white-collar crew don't carry headloads from vendors to their assembly points. Agarwals, Nandas, Kotwals, Sharmas, Singhs, lend their fleet for inbound operations and also help them to move their finished products to the market shelves," adds Mohan.

So, there will be a huge demand for transportation and trucking especially. Today, both Mohan and Riyaz concede that the trucks coming out of HCV OEMs are getting hitech: BSVI with onboard digital or electronic items. "A better understanding of gadgets on board opens up jobs for better educated fresh job seekers," says Riyaz. 

Cabin comfort is also gathering momentum. If one adds a well-designed career progression chart, two challenges get addressed: primarily, employment opportunity and simultaneously the 22% driver shortage. 

Ramesh Venkat, Vice President-Business Relations of the Logistics Skill Development Council, draws attention to the government creating a new course in the Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) where the curriculum includes maintenance, materials, and operation for students, "who can be absorbed by the automotive industry, the biggest job generator". 

Yes, over time these new entrants with better education can impact several aspects of trucking. It's a long haul, but worth pursuing. 

However, the chances of such ITI-certified diploma holders would look for jobs with a proper appointment letter and other social benefits and certainly NOT the "detached attachment" of Indian motor maliks. Are they the true followers of the traditional Indian philosophy espoused by the scriptures?

No entry to toilets. Go away, drivers!

 Driver Kush Singh with the author

Ramesh Kumar from Greater Noida

You've no reason to know Senator Glenn Sterle of Labor Party in Down Under. Australia, I mean. He is a truck driver-turned-parliamentarian in the land of Kangaroos. Like our own VRL Chairman Vijay Sankeshwar, who served the 13th Lok Sabha (1999-2004) during the Atal Behari Vajpayee-led National Democratic Alliance regime, representing Hubli parliamentary constituency in Karnataka. I have no idea nor checked if he had raised transport-related issues in the House during his tenure. 

But Senator Sterle is focused because he is the Shadow Assistant Minister for Road Safety in Western Australia. Mind you, the "Shadow Assistant Minister"  means he is not a member of Treasury benches but in the Opposition. Early September, he pulled up the government for not providing toilet facilities for truckers on the highways. 

He wrote: "Heavy vehicle decoupling facilities are workplaces for our truck drivers. This facility has 30 bays for decoupling and no time limits for trailer parking. Do you not understand that truck drivers are going to be there at all times? How do you think a driver would feel when they find that there isn't a toilet for them to use once they've finally found a park? 

When asked further about accessing toilet facilities... your department suggested that if drivers needed to use a bathroom, they could use the facilities at a different service station a further 8.5 km down the road. ... I wonder how public servants in your department would feel if they were told that there were no toilets at their work and that if they needed to use the bathroom, they would have to drive down the road to find some facilities?"

I, for one, believed that Indian authorities are heartless in their dealings with transport vertical in general and truck drivers in particular. Senator Sterle opened my eyes amply demonstrating the government-truckers equation is no different. Heartless and unsympathetic, equally. 

On the evening of 24 June 2016, when I boarded MH 15 EG 5534 Mahindra Traco tractor-trailer with the split load of Renault Kwid for Agra and Gurugram from the Oragadam plant, I did not bargain for the drama that would unfold before the nightfall same day. It was the pre-GST era and hence the Japanese-French joint venture automaker was transferring its finished vehicles to the neighboring Andhra Pradesh state to avail of tax benefits before dispatch. 

This arrangement entailed the cargo moves into Renault-owned yard at Chitoor in the undivided Andhra Pradesh before billed. Around eight we docked at this yard awaiting the invoice preparation formalities. This is where the drama began. I got out, informing driver Kush Singh that I need to empty my bowels.  He handed over an Aquafina bottle filled with water. 

"What for?" I asked. 

He explained. 

I was shocked. A few months ago, I had visited the same yard soon after its inauguration at the invitation of Wallenius Wilhelmson Logistics, which was managing the yard for Renault. I was taken around the facility including the Driver Rest Room with attached toilets etc. Yes, I was impressed with the company's interest to address one of the basic needs of drivers. 

Therefore, I was shocked when the Aquafina bottle was thrust into my hands. What happened to the toilets? Has it been demolished or under repair? I was told that it is operational but drivers are barred; drivers have to exit the yard and go into the bushes outside to complete the task of emptying the bowel. 

I ignored the bottle and moved to the admin complex where the toilet was situated. I was halted by a WWL executive saying that the toilet is for office staff use and not for driver and kalasis. By the way, I was in my knickers and T-shirt resembling a driver's assistant. His superior was pulled out of his home and he recognized me because he was the one who toured me the previous time. Rules are rules and he cannot alter, he argued. Sensing trouble, our truck paperwork got completed swiftly and we were out. Of course, I completed the bowel task in the driver's room premises only! 

On the completion of the trip a week later, I wrote to Renault Nissan management about this toilet tussle. How can you deny this basic facility at a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was canvassing the Swatch Bharat Abhiyaan? was my line of argument.

Nothing happened. Then mails flew to the Member of Legislative Assembly representing Chittoor. Silence again. Next a letter to the then Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu. No progress. Then to the Prime Minister's Office and to the Joint Secretary Parameshwaran Iyer. All copies were marked to Renault Nissan management. In fact, I wrote to then Renault chief Carlos Ghosn also, asking him whether he would deny French drivers access to toilets at his yards. Pas de reponse!

Almost after a month's time, I found a mail with photo attachments of the Chittoor yard driver rest room being used by drivers from Renault Nissan. Meanwhile, the logistics team of this Japanese-French joint venture send feelers that I should desist from raking up this toilet issue. I did not listen but remained focused. 

Highway amenities were never a priority for the government. Though a lot of lip service is done. State-owned retail fuel outlets dotting the highways denied access to truck drivers despite a major chunk of their revenue came from selling diesel to the trucking segment. I had the misfortune of hearing a mandarin in the transport ministry in Delhi jokingly remarking that drivers suffer from claustrophobia and they prefer "dumping" in the open! The less said about the National Highway Authority of India's Highway Nests - Mini or Macro - the better! No takers and not adequately promoted. Non-functional as well. 

The "chilling" reality

 

Ramesh Kumar from Greater Noida

Airconditioned driver cabin in trucks is quite common overseas. Not in India. Even reefer trucks ferrying perishable items on the Indian roads, "cool" the cargo, not the drivers! 

Around 2014, I noticed a Volvo truck with a windmill mast and blades as payload waiting at Athibelle on the Tamilnadu-Karnataka border. Volvo, it was claimed, refused to transact the sale of trucks if the potential buyers disagree with airconditioned cabins.

So, on spotting the Volvo long trailer, I halted to chat up the fairly large crew busy cooking food and washing clothes on the roadside.  

"How is the air conditioner working?" I asked. 

"What airconditioner? It does not work," responded the man whom I presumed to be the driver. 

Why? 

Once the gas got over, the company decided not to go for refills. Airconditioner is an unnecessary spend. Moreover recurring. Drivers are used to the hot and humid working atmosphere and therefore, why infuse a new habit. Put it mildly, they don't deserve it. That is the mindset of fleet owners. It has not changed much. There are always a few exceptions whose heart beats for the weakest supply chainers: truck drivers.

It is no joke to sit and steer on long hauls. Take a look at the weather pattern of India. It's summer, summer, and summer. A bit of monsoon. Winter, very little, unless one drives in higher reaches of northern India for a few months. By and large, truck chassis are bought and body-built on roadsides mostly by unregulated fabricators who pay no taxes and therefore charge less than a regular, licensed fabricator. The price difference is substantial thereby making it easier for fleet owners to opt for roadside sloppy body-builders. Many of them are of the wooden body because the metal body is costlier. 

In Indian weather conditions, long-haul truck drivers have to tackle heat from twin elements: external (atmospheric) and internal from running engines. At the peak of summer (45 degrees Celsius plus), the driver has to be ready for an additional five degrees Celsius at least. It is akin to sitting atop a burning tinplate. In the Persian Gulf, it is mandated that all outdoor activities have to be halted when the mercury touches 50 degrees Celsius. There, mostly construction activities come to a halt while trucks continue to ply because they are airconditioned. 

Recall the image of one's own mother/sister/fire at the chullah or oven in the good old days of wood-fed or coal-fed cooking in unventilated homes (that is, without exhaust fans in kitchen walls). The suffocation and sweat cannot be wiped away. Now visualize the driver at the wheels on Indian highways in a wooden/steel body with no concern for heat reduction driving at the speed of 50 km/hour during daytime. It's horrible and unbearable. 

It brought back memories of what happened at Reliance textile mills in Ahmedabad in the 1980s when assembly lines were air-cooled to make the working environment better for mill workers. Textile Mill Association babus laughed away at this novelty, little realizing how the Ambanis scripted a massive turnaround with huge productivity gains, thanks to the air-cooled workspace. I had a chance of visiting a similar facility in the south in 2018 and the cool loom room did not surprise me. Good industrial practices, huh? Surprisingly, I was told that the special air-cooling system was to "safeguard" the costly equipment installed in that facility! Machines score over men! Chalta hai!

One need not have to be a rocket scientist or a transport economist to decode the government psyche to talk of cabin comfort. Simply put, its objective was twofold: reduce the incidence of accidents on highways due to driver fatigue and secondly, make long haul trucking a desirable career option for the less or underprivileged. 

Why these twin goals were important? Today, even a high school student would disgorge the unhealthy data of India topping the global accidents table: 150,000 every year. Though commercial vehicles involved in such accidents are approx. 11 percent, the impact was not lost. Lack of structured driver training and certification in the absence of driver training schools (whatever we can spot can be counted on one's fingertips. Only, that many!) and therefore, the untrained men behind steering wheels of heavy commercial vehicles is one of the key issues. Besides lack of training, driver cabin comfort led to the much accepted but ignored concept of driver fatigue - one of the major accident-causing factors.  

Perhaps, the question that was bugging the mandarins in Parivahan Bhawan would have been how to address the looming driver shortage - 22 percent? How to bring in a certain amount of "sex appeal" to the truck driving profession? With someone like the hardnosed Nitin Gadkari as Transport Minister breathing down their necks, the mandarins perhaps have seen an ideal tool in airconditioning of truck cabins in addressing this issue.

It is not out of place to share two personal experiences: August 2012, I traveled in an airconditioned Tata Prima truck from Jamshedpur to Chennai with Tata Steel load, courtesy Toll Global Logistics. With two drivers and a running time of 20 hours out of every 24 hours (with a four-hour halt between 12 midnight and four next morning for rest for both drivers), it was a pleasant and smooth drive. 

No sweat, literally speaking. The dashboard and cabin comfort were stupendous. The driver could tilt his seat whichever way he wanted. So, no stiffness of the neck. The second experience was an interaction with a driver of a chemical tanker from Ahmedabad to Lucknow. The wannabe driver students of IL&FS Driver Training School at Ajmer gatecrashed into the Scania driver cabin and refused to climb down. Such was the look and feel and comfort. 

Yes, of course, it was air-conditioned. Do you know that at the height of summer, driving between 12 noon and 5 or 6 in the evening is abhorred by long haul drivers? They argue that it is "uncomfortable" to drive in that searing heat; not to be missed is the impact on tires when they ply on the hot highways. 

Yes, the key question is whether fleet owners would like to shell out extra for airconditioning? Will they ensure gas refill as and when required? Wise fleet owners would not and should not hesitate to introduce this revolutionary move. After all, the ultimate beneficiaries would be themselves via longer km coverage per day which would result in quicker turnaround time. So, less idling of vehicle. More money in their kitty. Drivers too would be happy to drive in such comforts. OEMs - the end-users - should be ready to relook at the freight rates in the overall interest of the most vital supply chain link: transportation and truck drivers. 

Arun Lakshman, a veteran transport consultant with the Automotive Skill Development Council, offers a different perspective on the fleet owners' hesitation to "cool" driver cabins. "Primarily, running the cooling system adds load to the engine and slows down. Remember, our trucks always overload to offset low freight offered by shippers; as it is the engine is overworking," says he. Nonetheless, creating a comfortable cabin ambiance is a necessity to improve efficiency, he adds. "Mental fatigue precedes his (driver) physical one. The misbehavior or ill-treatment by his immediate superiors even before the trip starts increases his discomfort," elaborates the ex-Maruti Suzuki senior officer who had spent over three decades dealing with inbound and outbound logistics.

A south-based second generation, tech-savvy fleet owner, reasons his decision to do away with airconditioning in his fleet: "They (drivers) keep the vehicle switched on even in waiting or idling to enjoy the comfort. It is an additional, unwanted burden on us. So we dismantled after some time."  Tsk. Tsk.

It is pertinent to point out that the manufacturers have come together under the banner of SIAM. Transporters have not one, but three bodies: one big boy viz., All India and Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC) and two junior siblings: All India Transporters' Welfare Association (AITWA) and All India Confederation of Goods Vehicle Owners Association (ACOGOA). These lobby bodies have a huge presence in the political capital of India viz., New Delhi to submit their wish list to the powers that be.  Unfortunately, drivers have no such body to represent their interests. Trade Unions such as INTUC, AITUC, CITU, BMS mostly represent organized labor's interest. Not the unorganized or non-unionized truck drivers. 

So, they are orphans, with none to voice their grievances. Therefore, it is an uneven equation: with truck makers and transporters/fleet owners on one side and truck drivers on the other. The latter realized that their interests are not looked after. Hence, their numbers are dwindling, leading to a classic supply-demand mismatch. That's where we are talking about a 22% shortage of drivers, not of trucks. High time, a benevolent view is taken regarding making the driver cabin a comfy zone to move freight with less discomfort. Yes, it will add to the final price tag. A few thousand rupees more? In the interest of saving human life from potential disaster, no amount is unbearable. 

Until the government made Corporate Social Responsibility mandatory, CSR spend was nothing to write home about. Today, the scenario is marginally different in the sense that while allocation is mandatory, not the actual spending with no penalty for not spending. Here again, the government diktat played a role which India Inc should have done on its own, with no pressure from the government via legislation. 

Driver cabin airconditioning will act as a charmer or a chalice to the wannabe long-haul truck drivers. Why not give it a  try? The sustainability of any business (not only HCV manufacturers) hinges on transportation. Almost 70 of freight movement is via surface or road transport. Rail and coastal shipping are still in infancy. Even when they take off in a big way, still they cannot eat into road transport. 

Remember, this is the age of outsourcing. Hence, components or raw materials have to be ferried to the manufacturing site from afar and wide, and, again, the finished goods have to be moved out to nooks and corners of a vast nation like India. Again, road transport. Today, the Indian economy is growing at 7 percent, and touching double-digit is not too far away. Add the government thrust on Make In India drive. We are talking about pushing the contribution of manufacturing from 16 to 25 percent. A massive leap. Manufacturing is not something like the service sector with no physical production. So transportation is mission-critical. 

India's first Special Secretary (Logistics) in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry N Sivasailam, speaking at the 2019 SIAM Annual Conclave asked the delegates: What would be the additional cost of air-conditioning trucks? Roughly Rs.50,000, someone responded. Then the second question: Is it tough to absorb this cost? Pindrop silence is how the automobile czars present in the auditorium responded. Are they not offering a hefty discount on the chassis they sell to buyers: anywhere between Rs.200,000 and Rs.500,000? Of course, depending on the order volume. Cold-hearted? am wondering.