The True Cost of Empty Miles: How Small UK Fleets Are Leaking Cash (and How to Fix It)

The Impact of Empty Miles: The Hidden Expenses

The True Cost and Scale of Empty Miles

In 2025, HGV drivers in the UK reported a massive 3.7 billion miles of empty mileage, a whole 31% out of the total 11.8 billion kilometres travelled by all GB-registered HGVs that year.

This rate of empty mileage has been stagnant for several years and is causing many fleets to bleed hundreds of thousands of pounds per year: a standard 40-tonne articulated vehicle running 120,000 km annually will be costing the fleet between £24,000 and £39,000, which results in a huge £240,000 to £390,000 loss for a 10-vehicle fleet.

Empty Miles Are Not Free Miles

You might think that because the vehicle is unloaded, it consumes much less fuel, making empty miles a minute cost in repositioning drivers. However, industry analysis suggests that an unloaded truck still burns 60-70% of the fuel that it would at full load, making empty miles a massive, unrecoverable cost drain.

It Isn't Just a Market Cycle

Freight volumes are softening; 2025 saw GB HGVs carry 1.53 billion tonnes of goods, which was a drop of 3% from 2024, while their total distance travelled fell by 2%. Despite these drops, the proportion of empty miles has not changed, indicating a deeper problem of efficiency within the industry rather than just a market cycle.

Why Smaller Fleets are Struggling

The Massive Competition

Small fleets are especially at risk when compared to their bigger competitors. Their smaller operation size means they more often rely on spreadsheets and almost a "gut instinct" for planning their routes. This inefficiency not only consumes a few hours a day per planner but also means that these smaller fleets are more restricted in their ability to work around the risk of empty miles.

The Size Disadvantage

Their size also means that they have less access to useful tools such as Transport Management Systems (TMSs) which the larger companies use to reduce total mileage by 15-30% through completely automated optimisation, putting smaller fleets at an even larger disadvantage.

The Missing Money Period

Paper-based Proof of Delivery (POD) can delay invoicing by days or even weeks which, for small fleets, can easily push their "Days Sales Outstanding" past 45 or even 60 days. HGV giants can easily mitigate the risks associated with this due to the sheer volume of their work, but for smaller fleets, this delay in payment can create a dangerous cash flow gap where they must find fuel and wages before being paid.

The Unstable Dependence

Small fleets usually depend on a single experience planner to manage their routing. If that person leaves, the efficiency of the operation collapses and the fleet are left without efficient planning.

Economic Headwinds: Why Small Fleets Can't Afford to Waste Miles

Retention Issues Are Rising

The shortage of drivers has evolved from a simple problem of numbers to a much more complex "skills" crisis. While general HGV driver employment has recovered slightly since 2021 by a 1% increase, the sector is currently facing the deeper issue of retaining staff and digital/compliance-heavy environment adaptation. Retention continues to be a major issue, despite pay rising by nearly 19% since 2021.

And So Is Volatility

The market is currently incredibly volatile, with quarter-to-quarter freight flows varying by up to 14% in 2025. Small fleets struggle especially with this volatility when it comes to planning return loads, which in turn leads to more miles travelled unloaded.

3 Practical Ways to Keep Your Trucks Loaded

Digital Load Boards: The Key to Finding Backhaul Loads Instantly

Small fleets often rely on brokers and phone contact for their loads, which greatly limits their reach. Making use of digital load boards helps expand their reach and reduce the time it takes to find backhaul loads.

Where To Look

Sign up for UK-based platforms such as Timocom, Clicktrans, or Trans.eu, as they will allow you to easily set up alerts for routes that drivers often run empty. These alerts will help to minimise the number of trips done unloaded.

Every Little Matters

Make sure drivers always check the load board before they leave on a potentially empty run. Even if the backhaul rate is slightly below target, it still helps compensate for the extra cost of the driver and the fuel that would've otherwise not been compensated for at all.

Always Look for Return Loads

One other massive advantage load boards provide is the ability to search by return leg when looking for loads. Many smaller fleets fail because they only look for loads outgoing from their depot, and do not check for loads heading to the depot/next pickup point. This small optimisation effectively doubles the potential loads drivers will be taking on both the outgoing and return journey.

Collaborative "Pooling" Networks: Collaborative Effort

Operating in conjunction with other small fleets can provide a small fleet with the opportunity to negotiate directly with larger retailers that they would otherwise not have solo.

Pallet Pooling Networks

Look into pallet pooling networks, such as IPP or CHEP, or local freight consortia. These organisations can help combine the workforces of smaller fleets together to give them the same volume that larger partners would.

For example, if a driver delivers pallets to a retailer in Birmingham, their pooling network could arrange pallets from different suppliers in the same area for them to transport on their return journey.

Utilise TMS Software

TMSs help with identifying return opportunities that manual planning with spreadsheets would often miss, as they can mathematically optimise for load factor rather than just distance.

Invest in affordable, cloud-based TMS solutions; these tools can help analyse data from previous trips to identify consistently empty runs, and work around these zones to suggest alternative pickup locations to ensure the truck is always full.

Optimised routing can reduce total mileage by 15-30%, as mentioned earlier, which directly translates to less empty miles and lower fuel costs.

Final Thoughts

Empty miles can be massively detrimental especially to the operation of small fleets, but they are by no means unavoidable.

By taking steps to optimise planning and using the tools available to make the most out of every return journey, empty miles can easily be turned into reliable profits that no longer drain money and put a small fleet at risk of collapse.

From a transport management perspective, focusing on improving visibility, finding practical ways to increase vehicle utilisation, and monitoring fleet KPIs (Key Performance Indicators).