Truck and pickup hire

Carrying goods for hire by truck or pickup. Diesel is government-priced at Tk 115 a litre, but there is no government freight list - the rate is whatever you can bargain.

Last reviewed: 19 September 2026
Version 1

Starting capital: ৳5,00,000 – ৳30,00,000
Manpower: 2 – 4 people
First sale: 15 – 45 days
Break-even: 18 – 60 months
Kind of work: Mobile service · Medium difficulty

About the business

Buying a truck or pickup and taking work carrying other people's goods. One side of this business is set by the government and the other is not, and that is the whole point. The cost side is official: BPC's published price for diesel is Tk 115 a litre, effective 1 June 2026. The revenue side is not. BRTA fixes fares only for non-air-conditioned buses and minibuses; there is no government freight list for trucks, pickups or covered vans, and rates are settled by bargaining on supply and demand, so the same distance can fetch very different money. Take one worked example. A fish truck from Mymensingh to Karwan Bazar in Dhaka burns about 70 litres a trip. At Tk 115 that is Tk 8,050. In April 2026 the fare on that route was Tk 8,000-10,000 and was raised to Tk 11,000 after the fuel price rose. So roughly three-quarters of the fare goes on diesel alone, before the driver, the helper, tolls, extortion, tyres and repairs. On the long routes the numbers are bigger: Dhaka to Chattogram normally pays Tk 18,000-20,000 a truck, and during the fuel shortage it reached Tk 28,000-30,000. When diesel goes up the freight rate follows, but several days later, and that gap is the owner's loss.

Unit economics

Item	Range	Evidence
Monthly working capital	৳60,000 – ৳2,50,000	Editorial estimate
Selling price	৳8,000 – ৳30,000 / unit	Market quote
Variable cost	৳7,475 – ৳8,625 / unit	Market quote
Gross margin	22% – 32%	Market quote
Time to first revenue	15 – 45 days	Editorial estimate
Break-even time	18 – 60 months	Editorial estimate
Cash cycle	0 – 30 days	Editorial estimate
Waste / loss	5% – 15%	Editorial estimate
Daily capacity	0 – 1	Market quote

What you need to start

A truck, mini truck, pickup or covered van. Bikroy.com on 16-09-2026 carried 421 truck and trailer listings: 25 under Tk 200,000, 101 at Tk 200,000-500,000, 168 at Tk 500,000-1.2 million, 105 at Tk 1.2-3.0 million and 21 above Tk 3 million. By type, 191 were mini trucks; by make, 103 Tata and 101 Toyota.Equipment
Goods vehicle registration from BRTA. Operated for hire (truck, tanker, van, pickup): Tk 4,600 up to 3,500 kg maximum weight and Tk 13,800 for 3,500-7,500 kg. Not operated for hire, the same classes cost Tk 28,000 and Tk 56,000. Rates effective 01-01-2014 (Regulation 74(1), M.V. Regulations 1984).Licence
Public carrier permit (route permit) from BRTA. Annual fee: Tk 520 for one district, Tk 690 up to three, Tk 900 up to six, Tk 1,290 up to twelve and Tk 1,670 beyond. Carrying your own goods needs a private carrier permit instead, Tk 790 a year for one district. The application form is Tk 150 per permit.Licence
Trade licence from the city corporation or municipality: form Tk 10, licence book Tk 50, standard tax Tk 30, stamp Tk 150-300, licence fee Tk 100-60,000 by trade type, plus VAT and signboard fee. Issued in 3-5 working days.Licence
Fitness certificate issue and renewal from BRTA: Tk 900 for a heavy motor vehicle, Tk 450 for other motor vehicles and Tk 450 inspection fee. A duplicate after damage costs Tk 150.Licence
A driver holding a heavy vehicle licence and a helper. Even an owner who does not drive must know how many litres a trip should take, or the fuel accounts cannot be checked.Skill
A dependable filling station and garage, and a relationship with a wholesale market for loads. In the April 2026 shortage drivers queued for hours at pumps and sometimes paid Tk 200-300 extra to get fuel at all.Supplier

How the work is done

1Decide what you will carry - vegetables, rice, fish, garments or building materials. The load decides the vehicle size, and fish needs ice or a freezer body.
2Buy the vehicle. Of 421 truck and trailer listings on Bikroy.com on 16 September 2026, the largest group sat in the Tk 500,000-1.2 million band and 191 were mini trucks.
3Register at BRTA as a goods vehicle operated for hire. For hire, registration for up to 3,500 kg is Tk 4,600; the same vehicle not for hire costs Tk 28,000 - know that difference before you start.
4Take a public carrier permit: Tk 520 a year for one district, Tk 690 up to three and Tk 1,670 for more than twelve. If you want long-distance work, take the wider permit from the start.
5Get the fitness certificate and renew it yearly - Tk 900 for a heavy motor vehicle, Tk 450 otherwise, plus a Tk 450 inspection fee.
6Take the trade licence and a TIN from NBR. Truck owners pay advance tax, so keep the tax accounts straight from day one.
7Hire a driver and a helper. Check yourself whether the driver's licence covers heavy vehicles - a heavy truck driven on a light licence means a case and an impounded vehicle.
8Get work through one fixed wholesale market - Mahasthan Hat, the Khajanagar mokam, or the arots at Jatrabari and Karwan Bazar. Stay in touch with the truck stand and the inter-district goods transport association.
9Write down the fuel for every trip - how many litres and at what price. Without that one register you will not notice when the freight rate has slipped below cost.
10Raise the rate the moment fuel goes up. When diesel went from Tk 100 to Tk 115 in April 2026, some routes raised the freight in a day while others bargained for several days, and that gap is your loss.

Seasons

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Where it works well

Strong fitBogura · Mahasthan Hat is one of the country's biggest vegetable wholesale markets, and the five-tonne rate from there to Dhaka is a known benchmark.
Strong fitChattogram · Goods move nationwide from the port and the Khatunganj wholesale market; Dhaka-Chattogram is the country's main freight route.
Strong fitDhaka · Everything the country ships ends up here - the arots at Karwan Bazar and Jatrabari, and the Tejgaon truck stand.
Strong fitJashore · Imports through the Benapole land port move to Dhaka by truck, and rates on that route are regularly reported.
Strong fitKushtia · Rice moves nationwide from the Khajanagar mokam, with regular trips to Dhaka, Munshiganj and Manikganj.
Strong fitMymensingh · The district produced 418,000 tonnes of fish in 2024-25, about 12 percent of the national total, and fish trucks run to Dhaka every day.
PossibleCumilla · Midway on the Dhaka-Chattogram highway, so return loads are available in both directions.
PossibleGazipur · Steady work hauling raw material and finished goods for garment factories.
PossibleNarayanganj · A concentration of factories and warehouses, giving plenty of short-haul pickup work.
PossibleRangpur · In the potato and vegetable season demand for Dhaka-bound trucks from the north rises sharply.

Risks and cautions

HighOther: The government sets the diesel price; nobody sets the freight rate. On 19 April 2026 diesel went from Tk 100 to Tk 115. On a 70-litre trip that added Tk 1,050 of cost the same day, but raising the fare took a day on some routes and several days of bargaining on others. The whole of that gap is the vehicle owner's loss.
HighDependency: Fuel supply is itself a risk. During the shortage in March and April 2026 drivers collected diesel from pump to pump along the route, trips took longer and that time cost money too. An idle vehicle does not stop the instalments or the wages.
MediumDemand: When the rate goes too high the goods stop moving. In April 2026 traders said they could not send consignments because freight had risen. You can raise the rate to cover costs, but past a point the number of trips falls instead.
MediumCompliance: Bad papers stop the vehicle on the road. Fitness certificate, current tax token and route permit - let any one expire and there is a case. The permit's district coverage limits how far you may work, and running twelve districts on a one-district permit is itself an offence.
MediumLate payment: On wholesale-market work the fare often comes only after delivery and weighing, and with bigger traders several trips' money piles up. The diesel, meanwhile, was paid in cash up front, and that gap is what exhausts a small owner's capital.

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