Return Loads

The term ‘return loads’ is one you’re increasingly likely to hear in connection to the logistics and haulage industries. Nowadays, empty vehicles travelling back to the depot are seen as a wasted resource, a drag on costs and damaging to the environment. It’s better for business and it’s better for the environment if we can make full use of vehicles involved in transporting goods around the country and beyond. It’s in everyone’s interest if we can maximise the amount of goods transported across every journey made.

Return loads are one way to tackle this issue and to make transporting goods more efficient as well as environmentally friendly. The UK government has set ambitious carbon reduction targets for the UK. To reach these targets the UK will need to drastically reduce its carbon footprint. Unfortunately, empty return loads have been increasing considerably over the past few decades.

What is a return load?

When a load is delivered to its destination, if a new set of goods are then loaded and transported to the original departure point, then this is referred to as a return. This return load describes any goods that are carried by a vehicle, whether that’s a car, train, ship, truck or aircraft.

What is a Backload?

Another term you might hear is backload. This refers to a load that requires transportation from the region where you have been delivering, back to the city or region where you are based.

It’s a simple idea, but its increased adoption by the haulage industry is delivering real benefits to hauliers, their customers and the environment.

What are the advantages of return loads?

Return loads have a range of benefits for a variety of reasons and for different parties. For the haulier, collecting additional loads on the return journey to their home region is a much more efficient use of resources, allowing empty vehicles to make the journey. It improves fuel efficiency and ensures that vehicles and drivers are being utilised to the full. It also helps to keep costs under control.

For the client whose goods are being transported it reduces costs. The costs of the entire journey are, in effect, being shared between customers. It can often mean that goods are collected and delivered quicker if a return journey is being made nearby. With reduced costs, prices can be kept down for the end consumer making businesses more competitive and the end products more affordable.

For the environment, the benefits of return loads are considerable. It reduces the environmental impact of transporting goods and means that a separate journey doesn’t have to be made to collect the goods. Ultimately it reduces the amount of vehicles on the roads, reducing congestion and speeding up the transportation of goods overall. It’s one reason why the haulage industry is now keen to champion return loads.

In short, return loads are better for businesses who need to transport their goods, better for hauliers who can make more use of their vehicles and drivers while saving fuel costs, and considerably better for the environment.

An efficient return load service from SSO Logistics

SSO Logistics is committed to environmental protection and having recently maintained our FORS Bronze status, we are proud to say that most of our vehicles are not only smarter and greener, but our drivers are also safer and more efficient on the roads.

We offer backload services because we don’t want our vehicles driving around the UK empty and just wasting fuel for no reason. That’s why we can offer extremely competitive prices for backloads. If we are in your area doing a delivery already, we can grab your goods and bring them up to the Northwest or anywhere along the way, which makes us more efficient and saves you money as well.

Win, Win!

Where do SSO Logistics vehicles travel?

The main areas we have vehicles in everyday are London, Bristol, Midlands, Scotland and Yorkshire so if you have a customer based in any of those areas, why not give us a shout and see how much you can save. We also offer a special rate for loads being brought back from the capital.

As London is an area where we have several vehicles daily, we can offer prices as little as £350 for a load back up to the North West or potentially less if it was somewhere along the way. It’s in our interest to ensure that fewer of our vehicles return home empty so we’ll do our best to match your requirements to our schedule. You could reduce your own overheads and become more competitive in the process.

Find out more about how we can save you money and reduce your carbon footprint

If you think you could take advantage of these fantastic prices and help us with our journey to make ourselves more efficient and look after the environment, then get in touch with us on enquiries@ssologistics.co.uk or give us a call on 01744 416 999 to discuss your requirements with our friendly customer service team.