Diesel Floating

Costs for petrol and diesel are becoming more and more subject to immense variabilities and thus they constitute an incalculable cost factor. At Schenker Deutschland AG fuel costs continue to constitute about 12 percent of the total haulage costs for general cargo/network transports. The percentage for part-load and full-load transports is between 25% and 30%.

DB Schenker bases its calculations for this diesel component on the "index of the Federal Statistics Office for Diesel Prices passed on to Major Consumers." In the so-called "floating model" the diesel supplement for system freight transports rises or falls by 0.5 percent points if the index rises or falls by 4 per cent. Due to the double share of fuel costs in direct freight (LTL/FTL), the diesel surcharge is increased or reduced by 1 per cent if the index moves up or down by 4 per cent.
 

The floating model at Schenker Deutschland AG

*Attention: Every 5 years, the Federal Statistical Office updates the assessment basis of the various price indices. As of October 2018, the following price indices were therefore the adjustment of the indices from the base year 2010 to the 2015 as the new base year. The adjustment has been made with the reporting month of August 2018 (publication on October 5, 2018). The calculation of the Floating Model at DB Schenker does not change, of course. The Floating model is still based on the respective valid index of the Federal Statistical Office.
Schenker Deutschland AG will implement a separate diesel floater for Direct Freight (LTL/FTL) starting from October 1, 2022.

In concrete terms this means:

A fall of the price index sees DB Schenker customers profiting automatically. In contrast, the diesel component increases when energy costs significantly rise. The diesel component is adjusted to the actual price situation every quarter. Applying the "floating model" has the great advantage of keeping the administrative effort down to a minimum.

Improvements in efficiency achieve a lot - but alone are not enough

An economic enterprise has no influence on the energy price. However, it can introduce measures to reduce consumption. In this regard Schenker Deutschland AG has been making a concerted effort for many years now:

• Increased deployment of large-volume units
• Driver training focusing on "economic driving"
• Controlling transports via central hubs (avoidance of unladen journeys, better truck capacity utilization, optimization of routing procedures)

This and many additional efficiency-increasing measures have reduced energy consumption. Even so, they cannot completely compensate for the rise in diesel prices.