JEDDAH, 12 July 2005 — The competition between car transport companies has increased with the onset of summer with the entry of new car transport companies into the market, Al-Madinah newspaper reported. Some of the new companies violate the rules and regulations of insurance, break contracts and delivery deadlines.
The competition has forced down the cost of car transport between Saudi cities by more than 50 percent. Many companies have suffered huge financial losses as a result despite an increase in customer demand of 120 percent, 40 percent up on last year.
Khaled Al-Farsi, president of Al-Bassami Trasportation Company, said that the summertime is a busy season for car transport.
“We face huge competition from seasonal companies that only operate during summertime and withdraw from the market after the summer season ends. This led a decline of more than 50 percent in prices which has created a huge competition between the existing companies. He gave the example of transporting a car from Jeddah to Jizan - normally SR550. “Because of the competition, the price declined to SR250. This is harming our business and it must end.”
Muhammad Bahabri, manager of a transportation company, called the responsible authority to stop these companies from driving the prices down. “These companies must be punished, because they always violate the contract in terms of delivering the car on time. Citizens must be careful from dealing with these companies; they always provide the worst service. They sign contract with bigger companies who do not have enough trucks to transport cars. The sub-contractors only own one or two trucks.”
The Ministry of Transport warned people about dealing with companies run by individuals that operate their own trucks for summer seasons. They urged citizens to report these violating companies to the ministry.
The ministry denies any neglect in terms of watching the companies working in local market and urged citizens for their cooperation.