Fuel is visible. Many of the other costs of a transport operation are less obvious: waiting time, empty running, tyres, maintenance and the productive hours lost when a vehicle is unavailable.
Start with the whole movement.
A useful cost review follows the journey from loading to delivery and the next assignment. It asks where the vehicle is working, where it is waiting and whether the return movement creates value.
The right question is not only “what did the trip cost?” It is “how well did the resources work?”
Look at the measures together.
- Cost per kilometre alongside cost per unit delivered.
- Vehicle utilisation alongside service reliability.
- Maintenance and tyre costs alongside vehicle availability.
- Planned movements alongside actual distance and waiting time.
Make the improvement practical.
The answer may be a different route, a better loading window or clearer coordination with the customer. Small operational changes become more useful when they have an owner and a measure that shows whether they worked.
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