{"id":566573,"date":"2026-03-26T23:22:22","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T23:22:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/566573\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T23:22:22","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T23:22:22","slug":"transport-companies-including-uber-and-qantas-raise-prices-due-to-rising-fuel-costs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/566573\/","title":{"rendered":"Transport companies including Uber and Qantas raise prices due to rising fuel costs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Updated March 27, 2026 \u2014 7:23am,first published 7:30pm<\/p>\n

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Australia\u2019s high rate of inflation is coming under more pressure as big transport companies including Uber, Qantas and Australia Post increase their prices in response to rising fuel costs.<\/p>\n

The flurry of increases in consumer prices and payments to drivers is stoking fears that other companies that rely on the firms for deliveries could be forced to raise their own prices, after the war in the Middle East put a rocket under the cost of oil and other key materials used by businesses across the country.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Transport Workers\u2019 Union and the Australian Road Transport Industrial Organisation want the Fair Work Commission to establish an industry-wide review mechanism based on weekly fuel price rises that will enable drivers to be compensated.Sitthixay Ditthavong<\/p>\n

But some companies, such as Uber Eats rival DoorDash, have vowed to absorb the cost of payments to their drivers to cover fuel, while e-commerce giant Amazon will not say whether it will raise prices to cover the assistance it is providing to drivers.<\/p>\n

The spate of price rises in the transportation sector is adding to the pressure on Australia\u2019s already high rate of inflation. Other transport firms that have raised prices include Virgin Australia and ride-share firm Didi, and there have been predictions inflation could surge past 5 per cent by June as more firms raise prices.<\/p>\n

Richard Holden, scientia professor of economics at the UNSW business school, said companies raising their prices in response to the cost of oil<\/a> could flow into higher inflation in several ways.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Treasurer<\/a><\/p>\n

It would directly affect the cost of these companies\u2019 goods, and then he said there was also a question over whether these companies\u2019 products were a cost for other companies. Further, some businesses might see it as an opportunity to raise prices<\/a> so as not to \u201cmiss their chance\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s clearly going to put upward pressure on an already high rate of inflation,\u201d Holden said.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not only oil costs that have exploded since Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping route.<\/p>\n

AMP\u2019s deputy chief economist Diana Mousina said other prices of commodities \u2013 including gas and fertiliser \u2013 had also been pushed higher by the Middle East war, and these were all likely to feed into higher inflation across the economy.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a problem right now because we already have elevated inflation; this is adding more pressure to it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Mousina said price rises, as well as raising companies\u2019 input costs, could also feed into higher \u201cinflation expectations\u201d \u2013 a dynamic the Reserve Bank is keen to avoid.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf people expect inflation to go up, maybe they are going to demand higher wages, or businesses might seek to increase their prices,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Transport is one of the industries most exposed to soaring fuel costs, and this week the Transport Workers\u2019 Union and the Australian Road Transport Industrial Organisation arranged a hearing on how these costs could be passed on.<\/p>\n

They say thousands of truck owner-operators and multiple other delivery drivers cannot pass on the huge increases in fuel costs caused by the war, and face being put out of business.<\/p>\n

TWU lawyer Lorraine Biviano told Fair Work Commission vice president Mark Gibian at a hearing on Wednesday that many operators were facing significant challenges. \u201cWithout some urgent steps, operators who are already hurting will continue to hurt,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The union and the transport group want the commission to establish an industry-wide review mechanism based on weekly fuel price rises to order the companies that engage trucking services to compensate drivers.<\/p>\n

Road Freight NSW chief executive Simon O\u2019Hara asked the commission to take practical and proportionate steps to assist truck operators to keep going.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s crucial that rising costs are shared fairly across the entire supply chain, and that truck operators aren\u2019t hung out to dry. They simply can\u2019t continue to absorb skyrocketing costs,\u201d O\u2019Hara said.<\/p>\n

But Brent Ferguson, representing the Australian Industry Group, National Road Transport Association, South Australian Road Transport Association, and Bega Group, said \u201cthere isn\u2019t a clear one-size-fits-all approach\u201d to fixing the issue.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Petrol<\/a><\/p>\n

Many businesses had already built fuel price rises into their contracts on a monthly, half-yearly or annual basis. Others didn\u2019t break out the cost of fuel in their dealings and there were concerns about disturbing existing arrangements that had already priced in changes, he said.<\/p>\n

In a submission to the hearing, Amazon said it regularly reviews costs for its flex delivery partners and makes adjustments in locations where fuel prices are having the biggest impact.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor third-party carriers, which are transportation companies moving packages between locations or delivering packages, Amazon also provides fuel cost assistance through contractual arrangements and is already working with the suppliers directly to help them manage those recent changes,\u201d its lawyer, Erin Hawthorn, said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is continuing to closely monitor this situation and will consider future adjustments on an as-needed basis,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

DoorDash has introduced a temporary fuel relief program to run from March 21 to the end of April to help its delivery drivers, whom it calls its \u201cdashers\u201d.<\/p>\n

The weekly payment, between $5 and $25 for drivers who travel more than 150 kilometres up to 501 kilometres, \u201cprovides immediate financial relief to dashers\u201d, the company said.<\/p>\n

The delivery firm will absorb the extra costs and not pass them on to drivers, but also said it won\u2019t pass the cost to customers via higher prices.<\/p>\n

The Business Briefing newsletter delivers major stories, exclusive coverage and expert opinion. Sign up to get it every weekday morning<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"SimonSimon Johanson<\/a> is a business journalist at The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.\"ClancyClancy Yeates<\/a> is deputy business editor. He has covered banking and financial services, and was previously national business correspondent in the Canberra bureau.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Updated March 27, 2026 \u2014 7:23am,first published 7:30pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":566574,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[64,63,99,164],"class_list":["post-566573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business","tag-economy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=566573"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566573\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/566574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=566573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=566573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=566573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}