In the hauling industry today, fuel is considered a major expense in the overall operating cost of the business. In fact, it takes up roughly 30% of the overall cost. Taking this fact into consideration, numerous efforts have been made to reduce fuel consumption in order to enjoy considerable savings.
In the hauling service, there are basically two ways you can cut down on fuel costs. First, the focus is on the reduction of the fuel consumption by ensuring more miles are covered with every single gallon of fuel expended. The second approach calls for the maximization of the vehicle use by covering fewer miles in the performance of the same job.
Of these two, the maximization of the vehicle use is known to offer greater savings in fuel in comparison to simply reducing the overall consumption of fuel. To do this, you need to focus on making the best out of your load space for every delivery journey you perform. There are actually a number of approaches that you can consider to achieve this, such as load stacking, consolidating the load as well as taking on back loads and using multiple decked vehicles. In this particular article, we will focus on the benefits derived from taking back loads as well as how you can best maximize your resources, which will include fuel, vehicles and drivers.
Understanding the Concept of Back Loads
Back loading is a common practice that is used by many hauling and freight operators in order to maximize the spare capacity of the vehicle’s return journey when performing a particular delivery. This means, instead of running with an empty vehicle on your return journey, you will ensure a delivery is booked. This will ensure that you make an efficient use of your resources. This is done by searching for loads that need to be delivered in between the same areas or route visited by the vehicle upon the return journey.
By taking on back loads for any empty or even partially loaded return leg, one will be able to enhance the fuel efficiency, increase the vehicle and driver utilization as well as eliminate the need for any additional journey for other deliveries.
Why Are Back Loads Important?
Taking on back loads is a recommended industry practice as it brings about a number of great benefits and is widely considered as a strategic operation tool that will help in the significant reduction of the inefficiencies that is well within the road distribution industry.
By choosing to take on back loads, one can look forward to the better utilization of vehicles and the freight industry as a whole can save millions of dollars through the significant reduction of fuel consumption as well as the maximization of the drivers and vehicles. As owners or operators, this can translate to greater income opportunities.
In the highly competitive nature of the haulage industry, operators have strong incentive to avoid or at least reduce wasteful journeys in order to minimize the overall cost as well as enhance customer satisfaction.
Benefits of Back Loads
Back loads bring about a number of benefits, which include the following:
- Increased fleet capacity
- Cost savings through minimization of operating costs
- Increased revenue through additional haulage work
- Environmental benefits through the reduction of the carbon dioxide emissions and road congestions
- Improved operation efficiency
- Access to a wider customer base
