Load Factor
In Arabicمعدل استغلال سعة الحمولة
The share of a vehicle's carrying capacity actually used, by weight or volume, on a trip or over a period.
What is load factor in fleet management?
Load factor compares what a vehicle carried with what it could have carried. A truck rated for a 20-tonne payload that leaves with 15 tonnes has a load factor of 75% on that trip. It can be measured by weight, by volume or by pallet spaces, depending on which a load reaches first: the weight limit or the available space. Over a period it is often calculated in tonne-kilometres, and it must be stated whether empty legs are included, because they pull it down sharply.
Weight-based load factor needs the payload of every trip. Telematics supplies it from on-board weight sensors, or from loading data in a linked waybill system, to be compared with each vehicle's rated payload.
How it works
- 1Payload recorded on every trip
- 2Compared with rated capacity
- 3Low-fill routes and sites reviewed
Why does load factor matter in fleet management?
A truck running at a 75% load factor costs almost as much per trip as a full one, so its cost per tonne delivered is about a third higher. Raising load factor means consolidating orders, choosing the right vehicle size for each route and planning backloads, and it is one of the quickest ways to carry more with the same fleet. But it has a hard ceiling: the permitted gross weight and axle loads.
What you gain
- Lower cost per tonne
- More cargo, same fleet
- Right truck size per route
How does Safee help measure load factor?
Safee does not calculate load factor itself, but it records the figure it is built on. With weight sensors, the load weight of every truck and trailer is known at each loading, and the Load Tracking Report totals daily loaded and unloaded weight per vehicle. Divide each load by the vehicle's rated payload and you have load factor per trip, which you can then group by truck, driver, loading site or customer. The same data warns of the opposite problem: the Load weight limit alarm fires when a truck goes over its permitted limit.
A field example
An animal feed distributor in Buraidah runs 30 trucks with a rated payload of 18 tonnes each, delivering bagged feed to farms across Qassim. Weight data in Safee showed an average load of 11.5 tonnes per trip, a load factor of 64%, with the lowest figures on small farms' orders delivered the day they were placed. The company moved small-farm orders to fixed delivery days for each area and combined them on one truck. The average load rose to 15.3 tonnes, or 85%, and the same tonnage now needs about 25% fewer trips.
Frequently asked questions
Should load factor be measured by weight or by volume?
By whichever runs out first. Dense loads such as cement or feed reach the weight limit first; light, bulky goods such as furniture fill the space first, and measuring them by weight makes the truck look emptier than it is.
What is a good load factor?
It depends on the work. Full-load bulk haulage can stay above 90% on loaded legs, while multi-drop distribution falls through the day with every delivery; compare like with like and follow the trend.
Want to put this to work in your fleet?
Talk to a Safee fleet expert about your vehicles and how you operate, and we will suggest what fits.
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