What is empty running in road freight?
Empty running is when a truck drives with no cargo between paid loads. It made up 21.6% of all EU road freight kilometres in 2024.
Logifie Team
Logistics Technology Experts
Empty running (also called deadhead mileage) is when a truck drives with no cargo after completing a delivery, before its next paid load. In 2024, empty vehicles accounted for 21.6% of all EU road freight kilometres, 25.8% for domestic trips and 12.6% for international ones, per Eurostat .
That gap between a paid outbound leg and the next paid load is a major efficiency drain in European road freight. It shows up as fuel burned, driver hours paid, and toll charged for kilometres that earn nothing, which is why carriers track it as a core performance metric.
Why does empty running happen in European road freight?
Empty running happens because freight flows are rarely balanced. A carrier hauling goods from Rotterdam to Milan will not always find a paying load back the same day, in the same trailer type, at a rate worth taking. Regional imbalances, tight delivery windows, trailer or ADR (dangerous goods) compatibility, and limited visibility into who else has a return-leg load all push carriers toward running empty rather than waiting for a match. Cabotage (the right of a foreign carrier to operate domestic transport within an EU member state) sometimes fills part of the gap, but strict EU limits mean it rarely closes it entirely.
How much does empty running cost carriers?
Every empty kilometre still consumes diesel, driver time, tolls, and depreciation, with zero revenue to offset it. At EU-27 scale, that is 21.6% of all road freight kilometres generating cost without income, and the share varies sharply by transport type and country.
| Transport type | Share of empty vehicle-km (2024, Eurostat) |
|---|---|
| National road transport | 25.8% |
| International road transport | 12.6% |
| EU-27 average | 21.6% |
| Highest national share (Cyprus) | 43.7% |
National hauliers work smaller, fragmented networks with fewer return-load options, while international carriers on dense corridors draw from a deeper pool of loads.
How can carriers and shippers reduce empty running?
Reducing empty running comes down to planning the return leg before the truck is empty, not reacting after. A TMS platform that matches available capacity to open loads across a carrier's network turns a one-way booking into a planned round trip before the truck leaves the yard. Real-time shipment tracking gives dispatchers an accurate read on where each vehicle will be, so backhaul loads can be booked while the truck is still outbound. Shippers can help too, by publishing loads further ahead and staying flexible on delivery windows, widening the pool of trucks able to take the return leg. Industry commentary from digital freight-matching providers reaches the same conclusion: wider network visibility correlates with lower empty-running shares than manual, phone-and-email load sourcing.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between empty running and a backhaul?
Empty running is the problem: a truck moving with no cargo. A backhaul is one solution: securing a paid load for the return leg instead of running empty. Every backhaul booked is a kilometre that would otherwise have counted as empty running.
What percentage of trucks run empty in Europe?
Across the EU-27, empty vehicles accounted for 21.6% of all road freight kilometres in 2024, according to Eurostat . The rate is roughly double for domestic transport (25.8%) versus international transport (12.6%), and it varies widely by country, reaching 43.7% in Cyprus.
How do digital freight exchanges reduce empty miles?
Digital freight exchanges and TMS load-matching tools widen the pool of visible loads a carrier can see before a trailer goes empty, letting dispatchers book a return-leg load in advance instead of searching after the fact. Wider visibility across more shippers and carriers generally correlates with a lower empty-running share for participating fleets.
Does empty running affect CO2 emissions reporting for carriers?
Yes. Every empty kilometre burns fuel with no cargo to offset, so a high empty-running share inflates a carrier's grams-of-CO2-per-tonne-km figure under the ISO 14083 freight emissions methodology , even if total fleet emissions stay flat. Reducing empty running is a direct lever for improving reported freight carbon intensity.
Carriers looking to fill return-leg capacity and cut empty kilometres can get a quote from Logifie to start planning backhauls before the truck leaves the yard.
