Back(haul) to the Future
Supply Chain Management, Kean University and author of books on Lean and the Supply Chain for McGraw-Hill, Pearson, and Productivity Press
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Backhauling is a logistics strategy in which commercial truck drivers transport a load on their trip back to their origin point. It is the opposite of deadheading, which is when drivers make the return trip with an empty truck.
There are two different types of backhauling: internal and external. Internal backhauling is when a company such as Amazon or Walmart implements this form of logistics for its own fleet.
However, the majority of backhaul trucking is external, where companies contract with brokers and carriers as needed to deliver return loads. The driver’s initial delivery and return delivery could be for the same company—for example, returning unwanted or damaged goods, or for different companies.
Eco-Friendly Strategy
While the idea of backhauling has been around for a long time, in recent years it has the added benefit of minimizing carbon footprints.
Domestic trucking emitted 420m metric tons of CO2 in 2020—7% of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. Until electric or alternative fuels power most trucks, one of the best ways to impact the environment—while at the same time reducing supply chain costs—is by reducing empty miles.
To illustrate how big an issue this is, consider that more than 30% of trucks on the road today pull an empty trailer (“deadhead” or “empty miles”).
This inefficiency is caused by a lack of coordination across the industry as most shippers and carriers take a load-by-load approach to scheduling freight. Digital freight marketplaces help shippers and carriers fill these empty miles to some extent.
Running on Empty
The benefits of reducing empty miles through backhauling include:
- Reduces transportation and fuel costs
- Lowers carbon footprint
- Maximizes operational efficiency
- Increases asset utilization
- Creates new business opportunities.
As with most goals, however, it takes careful planning to obtain these benefits. Here are four ways to plan for fewer empty miles:
1. Plan routes automatically for backhauling efficiency. Having a list of several routes for your trucks makes backhaul trucking much easier and more efficient.
2. Account for vehicle size and capacity. By accounting for the truck’s capacity and size, you are able to avoid overloading, which can result in damage. It also provides good knowledge of the exact space available on each truck after delivering the customer’s freight before planning any pickups.
3. Optimize driver scheduling for your backhaul trips. Scheduling allows you to assign drivers to specific shifts or routes in the trucking operation, helping you to easily assign drivers who are available to pick up a customer’s freight on their way back.
4. Utilize multi-stop route planning. Multi-stop route planning is a dynamic way of optimizing delivery in the logistics space. It involves creating an effective route that connects several stops or destinations.
Many of these backhauling goals can be accomplished with the aid of a good transportation management system (TMS).
While backhauling is an old concept, it is something that we need to look at anew to reduce our carbon footprint and create a leaner, greener supply chain.