Players in transportation market link protests with worsening of business climate

Dagestan has some "grey" schemes of cargo transportation, although companies are trying not to use the services of “non-transparent” drivers, the market players assert. In their opinion, the "Platon" system is inefficient and leads to unbearable losses. Denis Sokolov, an economist, believes that “shadow” schemes have long become an integral part of Russia’s economic environment; and the "Platon" system is just a new variation thereof.

Rustam Malamagomedov, a member of the Dagestani Association of Carriers and one of the leaders of truckers’ protests, believes that in general, the freight transportation in Russia is a transparent business, which does not allow concealing taxes,. According to his version, many customers understand the strikers’ situation, but there are also those, who threaten to break contracts.

Now, truckers have almost no earnings for properly servicing their trucks, Mr Malamagomedov has added.

In the opinion of Denis Sokolov, an economist and the head of the RAMCOM Centre for Social and Economic Regional Researches, the protests against the "Platon" system have to do with the critically increased expenses of managing entities on doing business. He also did not exclude the spread of the protest activities, launched by truckers.

In Dagestan, many players of the freight haulage market work without registration as individual entrepreneurs, truckers said, explaining that the reason is in the unbearable tax burden.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.