Fewer kilometres to drive, not just cheaper fuel.
Fuel savings win a few per cent on the litre. The larger item sits next to it: kilometres that never had to be driven at all. Empty returns, extra distance from a badly sequenced day, and jobs that never carried a margin.
Three places where a fleet drives further than it has to
- 01
Order sequencing
The same set of loads driven in a different order is a different distance. Planning on a timeline shows that distance before anyone leaves the yard, and it accounts for driver working time, not just kilometres.
- 02
Empty returns
A vehicle coming back without a load drives the same kilometres for nothing. One view shows routes waiting for cover and vehicles available for return loads, so the return can be closed before the unloading is finished.
- 03
Jobs without a margin
The most expensive kilometre is the one that never had to be taken. Order profitability is calculated on real operating costs, so it shows which freights carried a margin rather than which looked good on the rate card.
Where this work actually happens
Route costs have no single switch. Below are the modules where this work actually happens.
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Transport planning
A timeline, the autoplanner and an ETA calculated with driver working time. The autoplanner proposes assignments; the dispatcher approves them.
Transport planning -
Transport settlement
Order profitability calculated on real costs once the job closes.
Transport settlement -
GPS fleet tracking
The route as driven next to the route as planned, with deviations and unplanned stops.
GPS fleet tracking -
Order book
Client orders with loading and unloading points, goods and requirements. The sequence that planning later arranges starts here.
Order management
The plan is built from cost, not from distance
Planning does not stop at the shortest way round. The approach distance to the loading point, road charges, additional procedures and overheads all enter the calculation, so the cost of a route is visible before anyone accepts it. The optimisation model is chosen at each planning run: highest profit in cash, highest freight margin, or shortest distance. Five planning modes cover the usual dispatch scenarios, from all-with-all to back-to-base and finding a truck for one specific order. Changes during the run, swapping vehicles, trailers or crews and depositing trailers or loads, recalculate resource availability immediately.
Route costs – common questions
- 01
How is this different from fuel savings?
Fuel savings are about how much a vehicle burns on the kilometres it drives. Route costs are about how many kilometres have to be driven at all. The two levers work independently and add up, which is why they are described separately: fuel in lower fuel costs, distance here.
- 02
How do we know a route was driven as planned?
From the planned route set against the driven one. The system shows deviations from the plan and unplanned stops, so a conversation about extra kilometres rests on a record rather than on memory. The detail sits in GPS fleet tracking.
- 03
Does the system decide which orders to refuse?
No. It shows order profitability on real costs, and the decision stays with the dispatcher or the sales desk. The autoplanner works the same way: it proposes vehicle-to-route assignments, and a person approves them.
- 04
What about work handed to subcontractors?
Orders passed to subcontractors appear on the same timeline as your own vehicles, with their status. Settling that work sits in transport settlement.
- 05
Can we plan for something other than the shortest route?
Yes. The optimisation model is chosen at each planning run: highest profit in cash, highest freight margin, or shortest distance. The same set of orders will fall out differently depending on what matters this week.
- 06
What happens when a route is already running and things go wrong?
The plan recalculates in flight. Swapping vehicles, trailers and crews and depositing loads are handled with resource availability checked at each change, and the system flags when the schedule stops adding up. The mechanics sit in transport planning.