Empty Kilometres Are Killing Your Profit — Here Is How to Calculate the Real Cost
Empty kilometres are the hidden profit killer for Australian owner-drivers. Here is how to calculate the real cost of driving without a load and what to do about it.
Ask most owner-drivers what their biggest cost is and they will say fuel. Ask them if they factor in the fuel they burn driving without a load and a lot of them will go quiet.
Empty kilometres — the kilometres you drive without a paying load on board — are one of the most significant and most overlooked profit killers in Australian trucking. They cost you real money in fuel, tyre wear and maintenance while generating absolutely zero revenue.
This guide explains how to calculate the true cost of your empty kilometres and what you can do to reduce them.
What Are Empty Kilometres?
Empty kilometres are any kilometres you drive without a paying load. The most common sources are:
Return trips after delivering a load with no backload available. This is the biggest source of empty km for most owner-drivers.
Positioning movements driving your truck to a pickup location that is not near your current location.
Failed or cancelled loads where you drive to a pickup and the load falls through.
Depot runs driving between your base and a customer's yard without a load.
For many owner-drivers empty kilometres represent 20% to 35% of their total annual kilometres. That is a massive proportion of your time and fuel that is producing nothing.
The Real Cost of Empty Kilometres
Empty kilometres are not free. Your truck burns almost as much fuel empty as it does loaded, and every kilometre still wears your tyres and accumulates maintenance cost.
Here is the true per-kilometre cost of driving empty on a typical semi-trailer:
Fuel (35L/100km at $2.20/litre): $0.77/km
Tyre wear: $0.05/km
Maintenance allocation: $0.10/km
Total cost per empty kilometre: $0.92
That means every 100km you drive without a load costs you approximately $92 with zero revenue to show for it.
On a 500km empty return from Brisbane to Sydney that is $460 in pure cost. On an annual basis if you are driving 40,000 empty kilometres per year that is $36,800 in costs generating no revenue whatsoever.
How Empty Kilometres Destroy Your Job Margin
The impact of empty kilometres on individual job profitability is something most drivers dramatically underestimate.
Consider this example. You pick up a load in Melbourne and deliver to Brisbane — 1,750km loaded. The rate is $3,500. You then drive back to Melbourne empty — another 1,750km.
Most drivers would assess this job as:
Revenue: $3,500
Fuel (1,750km loaded): $1,347
Other costs: $600
Profit: $1,553
But the correct assessment is:
Revenue: $3,500
Fuel (1,750km loaded): $1,347
Fuel (1,750km empty return): $1,347
Other costs: $600
Real profit: $206
That is not a typo. The empty return trip nearly eliminates the entire profit on a $3,500 load.
This is why empty kilometres must be factored into every load assessment before you accept it — not calculated as a separate regret after you have already driven home.
How to Calculate Your Empty Kilometre Cost
Step 1: Estimate your empty return kilometres before accepting any load. If there is no backload available assume you will drive back empty.
Step 2: Calculate the fuel cost of those empty kilometres using your actual consumption rate and current fuel price.
(empty km / 100) x litres per 100km x fuel price = empty fuel cost
Step 3: Add the tyre wear and maintenance cost for those kilometres.
empty km x $0.15 (tyre and maintenance combined estimate) = additional cost
Step 4: Add the total empty km cost to your loaded trip costs before calculating your profit on the job.
This gives you the true all-in cost of accepting that load including the cost of getting home.
What You Can Do About Empty Kilometres
You cannot eliminate empty kilometres entirely but you can reduce them significantly with the right approach.
Always search for a return load before accepting an outbound load. Spend 10 minutes on Loadshift, TrucKit or your broker network looking for freight going in the direction you need to return. Even a partial load that covers your empty fuel is better than driving back empty.
Build relationships in the markets you service regularly. An owner-driver who runs Melbourne to Sydney regularly and has good relationships with freight forwarders in both cities will have far more backload options than one who takes whatever comes up.
Consider the round trip when quoting. If you know there is rarely a return load on a particular lane, build the cost of the empty return into the rate you charge for the outbound load. If a customer wants you to run to a remote destination with no freight coming back you should be pricing that accordingly.
Track your empty kilometre percentage. If you are running more than 25% to 30% empty it is worth reviewing your lane strategy and customer mix to find ways to fill more of your kilometres with paying freight.
TruckProfit Tracks Empty Kilometres Automatically
TruckProfit has a dedicated empty kilometres field on every job calculation. Enter your expected empty return distance and the app automatically calculates the fuel cost of those empty kilometres and adds it to your total costs before showing you the real profit on the load.
The empty km fuel cost shows in amber so it stands out clearly as dead money — a constant reminder of what that empty return is actually costing you before you decide to accept the load.
Calculate the real cost of your next load including empty kms — free at TruckProfit