The Trucking Classification Structure and the Effect of Deregulation, Essential Regulations and Regulatory Enforceent on the Trucking Industry

2 Abstract: From the consultations with Malaysia's hauliers, freight forwarders and government authorities there are only three commercial trucking licence classes being issued in the country, i.e. for-hire, private and for-hire container licences in contrast to a more comprehensive license structure being practised in developed countries. In the U.S.A. for example, the license types being issued are intercity-private ; intercity-for hire; for-hire- common; for-hire contract; for-hire-exempt; interstate-common-general freight; interstate-common-specialised; interstate-contract-general freight; and interstate-common-specialised. The results of a survey involving managers of carriers indicated that it was possible to classify freight-specific licenses into specialised licence (for moving heavy, bulky, hazardous materials and security freight) and exempt licence. Trucking services could be categorised into three classes, namely, interstate-exempt, private and general freight/specialised freight. There were trucking regulations in Malaysia that were believed to be stifling carriers' operations. Examples were regulations that demanded a low minimum driver's age, the enforcement of road bans on trucks on certain highways, the prohibition of backhauling and the use of high-tech vehicles. A factor analysis on the "constraining" regulation items had extracted five distinct deregulation factors (those regulations that needed to be unregulated), namely, route, regulatory control (operations), regulatory control (restrictions), policy and vehicle specification. There was a significant relationship between deregulation and carriers' overall performance. There was no significant relationship between carrier performance and revenue, carrier size and performance and carrier size and revenue. On average, the number of licences issued to carriers and the number of prime-movers in the market was more than sufficient to meet the demand for trucking services in the country. Finally, the 1958 cargo delivery rate of 16.6 sen/tonne/km (sen is Malaysia's coin name) was believed to be unsuitable by many carriers, considering the existing cost levels.