Your trucks are moving, but your money isn’t.

It sounds dramatic, but it’s true. Every time a vehicle hits the road without a load, it’s burning fuel, racking up driver hours, and wearing down your fleet. All without bringing in a cent. That’s empty running, and it’s one of the most common (and costly) blind spots in transport operations.

The worst part? Most businesses don’t even know how much it’s costing them.

Empty running, also known as deadhead or non-revenue miles, is one of the biggest and most overlooked sources of lost margin in transport. It’s easy to miss because the trucks are still moving, drivers are still working, and operations feel busy.

But activity isn't the same as productivity. Empty miles cost money. And if you're not actively tracking them (and their costs) they're likely doing more harm than you realise.

What Is Empty Running?

Empty running refers to any part of a journey where a truck is on the road with no load. This usually happens:

After a delivery, on the way back
Between two jobs
When moving a vehicle to the next pick-up location

These miles still use fuel, increase vehicle wear and tear, consume driver time, and tie up your fleet, all without generating any revenue.

The Big Problem? Not Knowing the Costs

Many operators don’t know how much empty running they have or how much it’s costing them. If you're relying on spreadsheets or memory, you're likely missing the bigger picture. When cost data isn't linked to trips and vehicles, it's easy to assume you're making money when you're not... or that your empty running isn’t as big of a deal as it is.

How a TMS Helps Reduce Empty Running

A Transport Management System (TMS) like Stratum helps tackle empty running in two major ways:

Smarter load and route planning
Clear visibility into cost and margin

Let's look at each.

Smarter Load and Route Planning

Empty miles often come from poor planning. When jobs are booked in isolation or dispatched without looking at wider fleet activity, it leads to inefficiency. One-way trips, underutilised vehicles, and missed opportunities.

A TMS helps solve that by:

Matching jobs based on location and timing
Instead of treating every job as a one-off, a TMS lets planners group jobs that fit together. For example, it helps pair outbound and return legs, or groups pick-ups and deliveries within a given region.

Planning multi-drop and backhaul work
The system supports multi-drop routes and automated backhaul planning. That means fewer trucks going out full and coming back empty.

Visualising real-time vehicle availability
With a live view of vehicle location and capacity, planners can see which units can take on extra loads or be routed more efficiently.

Coordinating across depots or contracts
When different parts of the business operate in silos, it's hard to share work. A TMS gives central visibility, allowing planners to combine loads from multiple sources and reduce dead mileage.

Visibility Into Costs and Margins

Better planning is only part of the story. You also need to understand the financial impact of every mile on the road. Without that, you can’t know whether a job or route is profitable once empty running is factored in.

A TMS like Stratum provides:

Cost tracking per job, vehicle, and route
The system logs costs like fuel, driver time, maintenance, tolls, and distance. This gives you a detailed view of what each journey really costs.

Automatic margin calculations
By tying revenue and cost together, the system shows you exactly how much profit (or loss) each job is delivering.

Reporting on low-margin or high-cost jobs
Stratum can flag jobs or routes that regularly run below your margin threshold, especially those that involve excessive empty mileage.

Data for better pricing and planning decisions
With clear cost-per-mile data, you can price jobs more accurately, decline unprofitable work, or adjust schedules to reduce empty running.

Empty Running Is a Cost You Can Control

You won't eliminate empty running completely. But you can reduce it. And when margins are tight, like they always are in transport, even a 5 to 10 percent reduction can make a noticeable difference.

A TMS gives you the data and tools to do just that. It helps you stop guessing, start planning smarter, and put numbers around what’s really happening on the road.

Want to See Where Your Empty Miles Are Hiding?

If you’re not tracking or planning against empty running today, you’re almost certainly losing money. Stratum TMS gives you full visibility and control over your fleet's productivity, including where empty miles are costing you the most.

Take the guesswork out of routing and profitability.

Read more here or get in touch to see how it works.

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