GREENLANDSCAPE [ INSIGHT ]
by Dave Kiesling VP of Transportation Management, Kenco Info@KencoGroup.com | 800-758-3289
To Reduce Empty Miles, Shippers Must Share to Save
For an industry that prides itself on running lean, the supply chain has a glaring inefficiency on the roads every day: trucks with plenty of space to spare. Empty miles leave revenue on the
both deadhead and partially full trips. They can also help customers track shipment metrics to understand both short- and long-term achievements; for example, how much they’ve reduced emissions through collaboration. Maximizing these relationships also requires shippers to remain flexible—and even rethink their day-to-day operations. For example, shippers who close their docks at 3 p.m. lose out on truck space that might be available post-5 or even 7 p.m. Keeping staff for just a few hours longer can get goods out the door quicker and potentially reduce the number of trucks moving partial shipments the next day. The more a driver moves during hours of service, and the more equipment is rolling, the lower the cost. As shippers look to cut costs even in the face of greater demand, the time to get creative with transportation solutions is now. Multiple shippers are moving down the same lanes to deliver goods to the same stores and suppliers, creating redundancy that’s damaging both to the environment and the bottom line. By opening themselves up to greater collaboration and leveraging the latest technology, shippers can begin to reduce their empty miles—and make that extra 29 feet of space a thing of the past. n
deadhead from its final delivery in Memphis back to Atlanta, making it an easy “yes” to lend the space to another shipper that needs to move goods back into Georgia. The owner simply needs to notify other shippers the space is available. Conflicts begin once two shippers discuss sharing space on the same haul. Yes, those 29 linear feet are available, but are the deliveries a good fit to travel in the same truck—e.g., fragile goods traveling with heavier items? And if there are multiple options for which loads should share space, how do shippers work together to determine which arrangement is most efficient? TURNING TO A TMP Working with a transportation management partner (TMP) can significantly reduce these complexities
table while quickly burning through fuel budgets. Among non-tank operations, 16.3% of miles were deadhead in 2023, according to the American Transportation Research Institute. The challenge lies not only in completely empty trucks but also in partial loads. Flock Freight estimates suggest 43% of trucks had at least partially empty hauls in 2023, with an average of 29 linear feet of open space on each truck. In an increasingly ecommerce-driven world, that’s an unsustainable average. Because empty miles are an industry- wide challenge, finding a solution will take cooperation between shippers. That means even the fiercest competitors need to rethink how they might work together as businesses look beyond their lanes to deliver goods as efficiently as possible. And with the rise of new AI-fueled shipping technologies, finding these partnerships is now easier than ever. Generally, sharing a completely empty truck isn’t a source of friction. For example, a truck may be moving
by automating the space-sharing equation—no longer is a human
required to pour over spreadsheets and find good matches. Using an AI-assisted analysis, a TMP can review capacity across their customer base, all shipments and all lanes, to find collaborators for
20 Inbound Logistics • June 2025
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