Overview

Trucking Companies for Goods

In its recent report on competition in Tunisia, the report of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OCDA) dealt with an area essential to trade at the national and international levels, namely road freight. This is an activity that alone accounts for 86% of the land transport of goods. It is even the second mode of transport of goods on an international scale, second only to maritime transport. The ambitions revolve around the modernization of the road transport infrastructure and its expansion with the aim of promoting regional junctions and further facilitating access to logistics areas. Nevertheless, regulatory restrictions hamper the optimization of prospects in this field as well as the emergence of new companies and the adjustment of the activities of existing companies according to market demands. Many constraints thus affect the regulations relating to criteria specific to the vehicle fleet. The legal framework governing the establishment of businesses seems restrictive. Without forgetting "the specific requirements on freight centers, and those relating to the power of the State to fix the prices of road transport of goods", which are problematic.

According to data from the National Institute of Statistics (INS) road transport of goods takes hold of half of the companies engaged in the transport of goods and storage. Tunisian transport and storage companies experienced a marked increase from 42,979 to 51,546 companies. However, their annual growth rate (2.3%) is lower than the average for the transport and storage sector (3.5%). The same goes for road transport of goods, which, too, recorded a decrease falling from 7.9% to 7%. Positive developments should be noted for this sector, since the number of cold stores doubled from 2008 to 2019 and the number of companies offering ancillary services to the sector quadrupled during the same period.

In 2019, the sector already had 30 non-refrigerated warehouses, 1,281 refrigerated warehouses, 475 companies providing ancillary services to land transport and 330 companies engaged in other transport support activities.

Cost of transport and fleet restrictions

It should also be noted that the regulations relating to trucks vary according to the nature of the business. A distinction is thus made between natural and legal persons. According to 2019 data, the number of legal persons active in this field increased by 90% while that of natural persons increased by 300%. Thus, the contribution of legal persons in this area fell from 35% in 2004 to 20% in 2019. However, and since 2009, the date marking the adoption of the new regulations of the Ministry of Transport, the growth rate of natural persons continues to crescendo, exceeding that of legal persons.

Tunisia has the densest road network, spanning 22,000 kilometers and counting 336 kilometers of highways. This represents an asset for road freight transport. On the other hand, the cost of road transport of goods is higher in comparison with the prices imposed in the African and Middle Eastern region.

In below some tariffs updated from the Ministry of Transport:

Transporter Contact List.

Urban Transport

Urban transport is managed by the various regional transport companies. Intercity transport is defined as transport carried out on routes beyond the perimeter of urban and regional transport. It is provided in particular by public operators such as the National Interurban Transport Company (SNTRI) and the twelve regional transport companies. four private urban and suburban public transport companies operated in the Tunis region 3:

• Collective passenger transport company (TCV);
• Tunis Urban Transport Company (TUT);
• Collective transport company (STC) which operates under the commercial identity “Transport City” 4;
• Urban and suburban transport company (TUS).

The “Société de Transport en Commun de Voyageurs (TCV)” which is a private company created in 1989 and currently operating 6 regular lines connecting Tunis to the suburbs (La Marsa, El Menzah, El Manar, Ezzouhour and the tourist region of Gammarth) and s '' extending over 156 km (round trip),

The “Société de Transport Urbain de Tunis (TUT)” which is a private company which started its activity in 1995 and which currently operates 7 regular lines out of 8 authorized connecting Tunis to the suburbs (Tunis Airport - Carthage, Radès, New Medina, El Mourouj via Autoroute, El Mourouj via Ben Arous and Cité la Gazelle, Riadh El Andalous, El Menzah 9-La Marsa and extending over 214 km (round trip),

The Société de Transport Collectif (STC) which is a private company created on July 30, 2004 and currently operating 5 regular lines connecting Tunis to the suburbs (Carthage, Raoued, Cité Ennasr, Cité Ettadhamen and Zahrouni) and extending over 236 km ( back and forth),

The Urban and Suburban Transport Company (TUS) which is a private company created on August 10, 2004 and currently operates a network made up of 17 regular lines (Tebourba, Cité Bassatine, Sidi Thabet, Cité Ettadhamen, M'hamdia, Cité El Amel , Cité Hached, Mornag, Manouba, Mansoura, Sidi Sofiane, Fouchana and Ariana) and extending over 572 km (round trip).

These private companies are aimed at a clientele willing to pay more to be transported in the best conditions of comfort.

The collective taxi is common in Tunisia where it is also known as "hire". Vans commute between the main cities of the country. As the times are not fixed, the car does not leave until it is full. Cars with blue stripes serve the outskirts of a city, while those with red stripes are for long distances.

Transport in Tunisia is almost 70% owned by the public sector. The supervision of this sector is entrusted to the Ministry of Transport, whose official mission is to provide the country with a comprehensive, economical and safe transport system and to control its proper functioning with a view to making it a factor of economic development. and social. It is made up of three sub-sectors: land transport, merchant navy and aviation.

Urban transport by taxi cars is non-regular transport comprising the following categories:

Individual taxi: it is a passenger transport service provided within an urban transport perimeter by means of a car offering a maximum of five seats, driver included and equipped with a taximeter to determine the price of the trip to the race according to the practice of undivided rental.

The number of individual taxis in Tunisia stood around at 46,000 as of December 31, 2019, of which 62% operate in Greater Tunis.

The collective taxi: it is a passenger transport service provided within an urban transport perimeter, on one or more lines following a fixed route, by means of a car not equipped with a taximeter and offering between 6 and 9 seats, including the driver's seat, and the price of which is fixed instead and calculated according to the distance traveled. The number of shared taxis is 1.332.

Private companies’ operators. Private companies that operate public transport modes, including buses, play a key role in ensuring the continuity of service, but their contribution is very low compared to that of public companies. Indeed, the 2007 figures show that their bus fleet is estimated at 160 against 1,100 buses operated by the Société des Transports de Tunis; and that the length of the network they cover is equal to 900 km against 5836 km covered by the Société des Transports de Tunis.

As for taxis, "rural transport" and rental, operating permits reached 29.3 miles, 11.6 miles and 10.5 miles respectively until the end of 2019.

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Please note: WFP / Logistics Cluster maintain complete impartiality and are not in a position to endorse, comment on any company's suitability as a reputable service provider.