The "deterrent power" of the Blue Card New Deal is limited

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In January, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the Notice on Further Strengthening the Production and Registration Management of Light Trucks and Small and Micro Passenger Vehicles (hereinafter referred to as the Notice), which came into effect on March 1. This news made Chen Fei, a blue-brand light truck driver in Hefei City, Anhui Province, completely "at ease".

"Before the release of the Notice, I still had a bit of luck." On February 25, Chen Fei explained to a reporter from China Logistics and Procurement magazine, "Last year, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers proposed to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology that 7.5-ton trucks be promoted into the city, and trucks with a total mass of less than 7.5 tons should still be charged tolls according to the standard of first-class trucks (blue-brand light trucks). "This gave blue light truck owners and drivers a chance to relax the total weight of vehicles and cargo."

The 4.2-meter blue light truck operated by Chen Fei obviously does not meet the requirements for blue light trucks in the Notice. The self-weight at the factory is close to 3.5 tons, and the self-weight of the vehicle after being modified and reinforced reaches 3.7 tons, which is much higher than the 2.5 tons of vehicle weight on the driving license. With the implementation of the "Notice", blue light trucks that exceed the standard will be prohibited from driving on the road. Even so, Chen Fei is neither willing to be transformed into a compliant vehicle according to the requirements of the new policy, nor intends to buy a yellow truck with a higher rated cargo quality.

1

The control of blue light trucks exceeding the standard varies from place to place

Chen Fei operates in anhui province. "Now the implementation and enforcement of the control policy for blue light trucks exceeding the standard are different in different places, which temporarily leaves us with some living space." Chen Fei told the "China Logistics and Procurement" magazine reporter, "Although the blue card new policy has affected my over-standard blue card light truck that operates the fixed supply business in the province, the impact is not very large. In areas with stricter controls, it is driven at night and does not take orders during the day. Moreover, as long as your vehicle is not loaded with cargo, the traffic police generally will not stop you. ”

"The biggest impact of the 'Notice' is the long-distance blue card light truck that runs over the standard." Chen Fei further said, "Many blue-brand light truck drivers around me have not received orders in Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Shandong and other directions, and have turned to run the routes in Yunnan and northwest China." In the eastern coastal areas, there are traffic police checking vehicles under the highway, while in Yunnan and the northwest region, the two-axis blue light truck can be on the highway as long as it does not exceed 18 tons. ”

The "Notice" affects the daily operation of truck drivers and inevitably affects the sales of light trucks. According to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, sales of light trucks reached 162,000 units in January this year, down 16.5% year-on-year and 8.59% month-on-month.

The impact of the New Deal does not stop there. Cai Long, manager of the light truck brand department of Jiangling Motors Sales Co., Ltd., analyzed in an interview with China Logistics and Procurement magazine a few days ago that after the implementation of the new policy, the impact on flatbed dump trucks, blue trucks and barn-type light trucks will be very large, and these models will decline sharply.

Taking the blue truck dump truck as an example, it is widely used in urban and rural construction, small decoration sites and other fields. Although the content of the blue-label dump truck is not cancelled in the "Notice", it is clearly stipulated in its size and configuration, the rear wheel of the dump truck should adopt a single tire structure, the total length of the vehicle should be less than or equal to 5000mm, and the width of the cargo compartment should not be greater than 1800mm.

"I have hardly found blue dump trucks that meet this regulation." Chen Fei said, "Although there are some blue-plate dump trucks that can meet the requirements of less than 5 meters in length and no more than 1.8 meters in the width of the carriage, only in terms of the provision that the rear wheel adopts a single tire, most of the blue-plate dump trucks can be out." Because of this, Cai Long made the above predictive judgment.

2

What should I do if I use a blue card light card?

Since 2019, the governance of "large tons and small standards" blue brand light trucks has gradually upgraded, and the introduction of the Notice has accelerated the process of its compliance operation. With the landing of the New Deal and the strengthening of supervision in various places, if you want to continue to operate on the road for the blue light trucks that exceed the standard, you need to rectify the models that do not meet the regulations of the Blue Brand New Deal in accordance with the requirements of the Notice, and re-declare the announcement parameters of non-compliant models as the announcement parameters of the compliant models; either submit a yellow card application for change, or purchase a new blue light truck to achieve legal compliance of the model.

In Chen Fei's view, this kind of operation is more difficult. The "Notice" proposes that "for the 'large tonnage and small standard' light truck products in use, the production enterprise may rectify and change it according to the corresponding truck product model in the Announcement", but this is not a mandatory requirement. Moreover, the problem of exceeding the standard of the blue brand light truck in use may involve multiple parts of the whole vehicle, such as a large-displacement and high-horsepower engine, a large-tonnage rear axle, 825-specification tires, etc., which increases the difficulty of becoming a compliant model through rectification. "Even if rectification can be achieved, a series of problems are involved during the period, such as who should bear the costs incurred?" Will the rectification have an impact on the vehicle's performance? Chen Fei added.

The road to rectification is not good, upgrading the over-standard blue card light card to a yellow card light card or purchasing a compliant blue card light card, why not be optimistic?

Chen Fei told the "China Logistics and Procurement" magazine reporter, "The rated cargo quality of the compliant blue brand light truck is about 1.5 to 2 tons, while the over-standard blue light truck can generally be loaded with 3 to 5 tons, who do you say the customer will choose?" Cai Long believes that in the future, the loading capacity of blue light trucks is limited, and in the face of the demand for entering the city, loading needs, etc., this part of the user may turn to micro trucks, pure electric light trucks, and yellow cards.

Cai Long further said that in the current micro-card market, the loading capacity of some large micro-trucks is completely comparable to that of standard-mounted light trucks, and the price is lower. Therefore, potential users of standard light trucks in the future are likely to choose micro truck models. In addition, users with heavy duty needs may turn to choose yellow card cars, and after the flat plate tipper cannot be on the card, the ordinary blue card small tip and the yellow card with short wheelbase may become the choice of this part of the cardmate.

3

Yellow-label vans are subject to many restrictions

However, Cai Long stressed that as far as light trucks are concerned, due to factors such as operating costs and right of way, it is difficult for yellow card light trucks to replace blue heavy-duty light trucks. Therefore, the Notice will not lead to a significant increase in sales of yellow card light trucks.

First, yellow-label cars are restricted from entering the city. Affected by factors such as environmental protection and pollution control and traffic congestion, many provinces and cities have very strict prohibition policies for yellow-label cars, and once they mistakenly break into the prohibited areas, they will face deducted points and fines. Although some provinces and cities provide permits for yellow-label cars with needs to enter the city, for many card friends, handling passes is also a troublesome matter, and passes also have a certain validity time and need to be processed regularly.

"Taking Hefei as an example, within the Second Ring Road, all yellow-label cars are restricted to traffic at different times. Yellow-label vehicles are not allowed to enter until after 90 o'clock in the evening. Chen Fei said.

Second, the operating costs are higher. In addition to the issue of right-of-way, the operating costs of yellow card light trucks are significantly higher than those of blue light trucks. Today, the road freight industry is sluggish, whether it is individual practitioners or third-party logistics companies, the operation needs to be carefully calculated. Yellow-label light trucks are significantly better than blue light trucks in terms of rated cargo quality, but the latter's late operating costs are also higher than those of the latter.

Chen Fei told China Logistics and Procurement magazine, "The insurance cost of blue light trucks is more than 5,000 yuan / year, while the insurance fee of yellow cards is more than 8,000 to 10,000 yuan." In terms of highway costs, blue light trucks average 0.45 yuan / km, while yellow cards on the two bridges are at least 0.7 yuan / km. In addition, some yellow-label cars also need to choose to be affiliated with third-party transportation companies, and they also need to pay thousands of yuan of docking fees.

Third, it is time-consuming and laborious to apply for two certificates. The low barrier to entry is the main reason why many truck drivers choose to buy blue light trucks. Blue trucks of 4.5 tons and below do not need to apply for a truck operation certificate and freight qualification certificate, and can drive with a C1 driver's license; yellow trucks need to apply for two certificates, and need a B2 and above driver's license to drive on the road.

"China Logistics and Procurement" magazine learned that at present, the cost of driving from C1 to B2 varies from place to place, ranging from 70,000 to 8,000 yuan to tens of thousands of yuan. Normal driving takes about 2 months. In addition, the training to obtain a professional qualification certificate is also required, the cost is 1500 to 2000 yuan; the operation certificate and qualification certificate of the 4.2-meter yellow card light truck are also spent more than 1000 yuan per year.

It is precisely based on the above multiple reasons that Chen Fei chose to wait and see, and did not plan to buy a yellow card light truck for the time being.

In this regard, Cai Long believes that "blue light trucks will return to a relatively rational and healthy development path, light trucks are the king of urban transportation, undertaking efficient logistics within the city and short-distance intercity, this part of the function is still indispensable and strengthened." He further added that from the perspective of Jiangling's own situation, blue light trucks will still be the main sales models in the near future and in the future, and it is expected that the industry capacity of yellow light trucks will not increase significantly in the short term, "We will continue to pay attention to the changes in the yellow card light truck market and propose some countermeasures." (This article was published in China Logistics and Procurement Magazine, No. 5, 2022)

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Editor of this issue: Wu Qian