Three cost pressures are landing on transport operators at once, and the timing is the problem as much as the amount.
As Australian Broker reported, Adelaide broker Gaurav Soni says close to 30% of his clients now need finance at short notice, up from about 20% a year ago, with much of the growth from transport and logistics firms. Small business lender OnDeck Australia frames the issue plainly: money going out before money comes in.
What's widening the gap
The numbers behind the squeeze are worth reading together.
- Diesel: Average retail diesel across the five largest cities hit 283.3 cents per litre on 30 September 2026 per ACCC monitoring, up from 176.6 cents in February, a rise of 106.7 cents in roughly seven months. - Slow payment: CreditorWatch's April Business Risk Index found 7.09% of transport, postal and warehousing invoices more than 60 days overdue, against national late payments at a six-year high. Its August outlook put the sector's asset-finance default rate at 6.4%, the highest in the pool. - Payday Super: Since 1 July 2026, super must be paid with every pay run and generally reach funds within seven business days of payday. That pulls an outgoing forward for operators already paying drivers and fuel upfront.
What it changes for a borrower
For operators with trucks but little property to pledge, this points toward unsecured working-capital finance assessed on cash flow rather than real estate. OnDeck cites loans from $10,000 to $300,000, with a personal guarantee required. One reported case saw $130,000 land 88 minutes after a Friday-afternoon application; treat that as an anecdote, not a benchmark.
The practical takeaway is that the viability question has shifted. A fundamentally profitable transport business can still show a working-capital gap purely on timing. If you borrow to bridge one, model the repayment against when invoices actually settle, not when they're due. Fast approval does not shorten a 60-day debtor cycle.
General information only.