Empty Backhaul, An Opportunity to Avoid Fuel Expended on the Road

摘要

An effort was undertaken to determine whether or not vehicle telemetry could provide data which would indicate whether a commercial vehicle was operating under loaded or unloaded conditions. With a straightforward method for establishing the load status of a commercial vehicle it becomes possible to identify whether specific regions or routes have a higher tendency to have trucks traveling without a load. A catalog of the regions or routes which have a surplus of empty trucks offers the opportunity for load matching or brokering to utilize these trucks increasing profitability and decreasing total VMT. The study develops a methodology to determine when a vehicle is operating with a light load or no load. A summary of load status in various routes and regions is compiled for the fleets in the industry sample. Conclusions on load trends are drawn and suggested uses and follow-on activities are discussed.