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Did you know that almost 20% of the total cost of your fleet is taken up by fuel prices? If you are looking to maximise your haulage company’s profits and make your operations less costly, here are a few things that you can do to cut down on your fuel consumption while carrying out delivery work. Monitor and Encourage Good Driving Habits I’ll admit that giving your experienced hauliers driving tips and tracking their habits can be a sensitive topic, but reviewing their driving behaviour really is a great way of ensuring that they are maximising their fuel efficiency. There are various tools available that review their performance and track their fuel consumption while they complete delivery work. By tracking their tendency to brake suddenly, accelerate abruptly or corner too quickly, you’ll be able to offer your hauliers tips and training on how to drive more smoothly. You’ll then be cracking down on their bad habits that consume excess fuel, and will make your freight forwarders more environmentally friendly drivers. Have an Open Line of Communication To make your delivery work more fuel-efficient, you should communicate directly with your drivers. Instead of having them come back to the depot before embarking on their next job, you can simply send them to their next destination by phone, avoiding extra mileage while also saving time. If you communicate regularly, your drivers can also keep you updated about their progress and inform you about delays, which will help you better manage your fleet and assign each driver to the nearest job. Choose the Most Efficient Route While many haulage companies think that the shortest route is the most fuel-efficient, it often turns out that finding the least congested route is better. If your drivers spend lots of time in traffic or drive down short but very windy roads, they will be using more fuel because they’re constantly stopping and starting. Maintain Your Vehicles It seems obvious, but maintaining your fleet is crucial to keeping your delivery work fuel-efficient. Things like checking your tyre pressure and engine or de-clogging the air filters and removing roof racks when they aren’t needed can dramatically cut fuel consumption. Use Haulage Exchange’s Online Platform Another great way to maximise both your fuel efficiency and delivery work is to use an online platform. Haulage Exchange helps make your operations more effective by enabling you to reduce empty runs. When you log onto the platform, you can see what jobs need to be done and pick up a new load of freight so that your hauliers aren’t wasting fuel by driving empty lorries after making a delivery. You’ll find this online platform particularly useful, as it integrates with any software and is easy to use. What’s more, the mobile app sends live notifications about your location and availability, making it easier to communicate with other haulage companies and freight forwarders to get more delivery work. Author Plate Norman Dulwich is a Correspondent for Haulage Exchange, the leading online trade network for the road transport industry. Connecting logistics professionals across the UK and Europe through their website, Haulage Exchange provides services for matching delivery work with available drivers. Over 4,800 transport exchange businesses are networked together through their website, trading jobs and capacity in a safe 'wholesale' environment.
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