Return Loads – Filling a Gap in the Haulage Industry
Productivity runs at the core of any business, not least in the haulage industry. This is why transportation options like groupage, whereby smaller-sized groups of cargo share a large cargo container, reduce overheads and drive haulage businesses forward. However, imagine as a haulage business you are required to transport cargo from London to Dover by truck and then see it over the English Chanel into France. For every paid trip you make in a full truck to Dover you will have the problem of covering the costs of an empty truck coming back to London. Save money on the journey Return loads can neatly address this problem. Instead of leaving your truck empty on each trip back from Dover to London, you can find other cargo to take back with you and thus make this leg profitable. You are, in fact, filling three gaps in your business: the waste of time, the waste of space and the waste of fuel. The roughly 240 kilometre round-trip journey from London to Dover, for example, could see you spend 120 kilometres of fuel and nearly two hours transporting nothing but air and space in an empty truck. But should you find a client to offer cargo for this homeward route, you effectively plug this loss. Make money on the journey Indeed, return loads can not just meet the lost costs of a homeward journey, they can also help you make more money as well. On busy routes, such as those between London and continental Europe, there are plenty of clients who want cargo to be picked up from the ports near Dover and then distributed in London. Even small haulage businesses, if they run regular trips on these common routes, can coordinate their vehicles to pick up cargo on the way back that is more lucrative than that which they picked up for the original journey. Expand your business on journeys This capacity to effectively double your routes by counting your return loads as new routes for new clients means you are now able to expand your business. If you market your London to Dover and Dover to London trips separately, you are doubling your productivity simply because you are turning obligatory yet useless journeys into new routes. These new routes, with potentially new clients and types of cargo, will eventually produce new business relationships and can expand your business. Create more routes for the industry Ultimately, it pays to invest in sharp methods to coordinate and distribute these return loads among your fleet of vehicles, whether it is large or small. Apart from a good logistics team and effective software, expert online marketplaces for the haulage industry offer an accountable and efficient means for your business to make more clients and fill more homeward routes. All in all, these routes now need not be voyages of loss, but rather paths to profit and growth. Norman Dulwich is a correspondent for Haulage Exchange, the world’s largest neutral trading hub for same day haulage jobs and return loads in the express freight exchange industry. Over 2,500 transport exchange businesses are networked together through their website, trading jobs and capacity in a safe ‘wholesale’ environment. Related Articles – return, loads, Email this Article to a Friend! Receive Articles like this one direct to your email box!Subscribe for free today!
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