Return trips & backhauls

Manage return trips profitably and systematically

Return trips are a direct lever for utilization, empty-run rate, and results.

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Context

Backhauls are a management issue

Return trips are often handled operationally, even though their impact on margin and network quality is strategically relevant.

Assessment per round trip

An outbound leg that looks tight on its own can be the best decision within the round trip — and the other way round.

Two formulas, two numbers

800 loaded and 200 empty kilometres give 20 per cent under the usual formula and 25 per cent under the honest one.

Detection by vehicle and time

Same trailer, continuous in time, closed on the return — not by the distance between two places.

Sequence · about 45 seconds How two trips become a round trip — and why detection usually fails

    The outbound leg is assigned and priced — as a single trip.

    Runs automatically · can be paused at any time
    Sourced figures

    What can be publicly verified

    Official figures as a reference point — your own value is in the calculator below.

    21,6 % of vehicle kilometres in EU road freight were empty runs in 2024 — calculated as empty ÷ total, the formula that plays the problem down. Eurostat, road freight transport statistics 2024
    around 75 % of inland freight transport performance in the EU runs by road. That is where the lever sits — not in modal shift. Eurostat, modal split (tonne-kilometres)
    13 % is the empty-run share in international traffic — half the national figure. Anyone running long-haul is measuring against the wrong value if they use the EU average. Eurostat, road freight transport statistics 2024
    In detail

    Why return trips cost more than the metric shows

    The usual formula flatters the problem

    Empty divided by total has a catch: the more empty kilometres you add, the larger the denominator grows as well. The problem grows — the metric grows more slowly.

    • 800 loaded, 200 empty kilometres. Calculated the classic way: 20 per cent.
    • Same distance run, empty ÷ loaded: 25 per cent.
    • Five percentage points that never surface in management — extrapolated to a fleet and a year, an amount nobody sees.

    The second figure is the more uncomfortable one and therefore the better one. Both sit side by side in the calculator:

    Why the return load is negotiated from the weaker position

    Regular lanes, the telephone, the freight exchange — all three start from the single trip, after the outbound leg has already been awarded.

    • The trailer is already at the unloading point. The alternative is running empty, and the market knows it.
    • The result rests on individuals. If the dispatcher who carries the lanes in their head is away, the rate drops — without anyone being able to explain why.
    The fourth way

    Offering the return load before anyone searches for it

    The three ways above start once the trip has already been awarded. This one starts earlier: the system knows where a carrier last unloaded and offers them the matching load on its own. They maintain no search.

    1. First

      The lane already driven

      Whoever drove this route in the last six months sees the load first. Country and postcode area are compared, not straight-line distance.

    2. Then

      The return load

      The loading point lies where the carrier unloaded within the last fourteen days. Exactly the case where the truck otherwise runs empty.

    3. Last

      The country pair

      Whoever runs the country connection but not this route comes afterwards – as an offer, not as a match.

    One message goes out per day, at most ten loads, and each load only once per recipient. The principal named in it is always LOG|CONS: who drives for whom is not something a load notice needs to state.

    What the method cannot do: It needs history. A carrier without completed shipments reaches only the third stage, a new one no match at all. And it does not replace reach – anyone looking for capacity outside their own network needs a marketplace. This method is built for the case where the right carrier is already there and nobody knows it.

    Empty kilometers

    You pay for empty kilometres whether you drive them or buy them

    Those who drive them pay in costs. Those who buy transport pay in the price – just invisibly. Making them visible is the first step.

    Calculate empty-run rate
    Frequently asked questions

    Return trips, empty running and round trips

    How do you calculate the empty-run rate correctly?

    Empty ÷ total is the common formula, empty ÷ loaded the more meaningful one — there the denominator does not grow with the problem. The first for reporting outwards, the second for your own management.

    What is a good empty-run rate in road transport?

    For 2024 Eurostat reports 21.6 % of vehicle kilometres (national 24–25 %, international 13 %). Realistic in international charter traffic are 12–18 %; well-dispatched round-trip fleets are at 8–12 %.

    That is why the calculators here compare against 12 per cent and not against the official average: Measure yourself against the 21.6 per cent and you settle too early.

    Is a return load below full cost worth it?

    The alternative is running empty. Any return load that brings in more than the additional cost of carrying it is better. It becomes dangerous when the marginal case turns into the rule.

    Why does our system not detect round trips?

    Because it looks for them geographically. More reliable is looking at the same vehicle over a continuous period, closed on the return to the country of origin.

    What does analysis per lane add?

    The total says whether there is a problem; the analysis per lane says where it sits. The bulk of avoidable empty kilometres comes from a few lanes.

    Direct Inquiry

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