Three Ways Overloading Kills Profit

In any kind of transport and logistics operation, you’ll be aware of the dangers of overloading vehicles, improper load restraint and poor loading/unloading techniques. NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) estimates that about 10% of trucks on the road are carrying more weight than they are allowed to – a major safety issue on New Zealand roads.

When a truck is improperly loaded, whether it is packed too heavy or unequally loaded, its weight imbalance makes it harder to handle. This can cause drivers to misjudge brake distance, the potential to tip easily, or even jack knife the trailer. But it can also have another big downside: it’s a major drain on your budget. Below are the three biggest ways overloading hurts your bottom line:

Increased maintenance costs and downtime

Improper load restraint and over mass in a truck can be a recipe for disaster – fraught with out of scheduled maintenance and impromptu breakdowns, leading to reduced life of your assets. Because your vehicles or heavy machinery and equipment are the lifeblood of your business - losing the longevity reduces your return on investment, often costing 100s of thousands, even millions.

The good news is: you can prevent this. The main issue with trucks carrying more weight than they’re designed to is the increased wear and tear on the vehicle. It’s important to take a hands-on, proactive approach in looking for signs, like irregular wear on tyres, sagging suspension and premature brake damage. Drivers could do simple checks using an electronic checklist, then send the results directly to the mechanic team to review and schedule any further checks.  

Even if you are not overloading your trucks, maintenance is costly not only because of the repairs themselves, but also because of unplanned downtime. With a truck tracking system, you can schedule preventative maintenance based off time, odometer value or engine hours to ensure the hardest working vehicles are getting regular services and checks. A proactive approach to fleet management also gives you automatic alerts on the status of vehicles’ maintenance, allowing you to always have a proactive approach in looking for signs of overloading.

Wasted fuel

The more a vehicle weighs, the more fuel it can consume. Each kg requires the vehicle’s engine to work harder. A Massachusetts Institute of Technology study found that for every 100-kg reduction in weight, the combined city/highway fuel consumption could decrease by about 0.5 Litres/100 km for light trucks. Tyres can often run hotter since the rubber becomes more pliable under the extra weight. This causes them to deflate more rapidly, which also leads to higher fuel costs because under-inflated tyres can lower gas mileage by about 0.2 per cent for every 1 psi drop.

Technology can help uncover issues around fuel. Through pressure and temperature data from tyres can be monitored to generate reports and alerts instantly. With the added data provided through insights and alerts, you could be much better prepared for the road ahead at all times. A thorough system is all designed to turn data into insights, allowing you to make better decisions and improve on opportunities, like wasted idle time and burnt out fuel use.   

The cost of fines

According to the Land Transport Act, when it comes to heavy motor vehicles or transport service vehicles on the road, enforcement officers may:

• inspect the load on the vehicle;
• measure, or require to be measured, the weight of the vehicle or the weight on any of its axles;
• and direct the driver or person in charge of the vehicle to drive the vehicle to a site and onto a weighing device specified by the enforcement officer for the purpose of enforcing the law, even though the driver may not otherwise be permitted to drive the vehicle to that site

If an NZTA inspector performs a roadside inspection of a truck at a weighing station and it is found to be overweight, it can result in fines. An overweight penalty may apply either to gross weight or an overweight condition on an individual axle. Fines are calculated based on how much additional weight has been added starting from a minimum fine of $350 and rising to $10,000. Not only is your fleet on the hook for the fines, deliveries will be delayed and your capacity to take on new business will be diminished, resulting in less revenue and loss of reputation, something that is intangible and more costly than money.

Increase profitability & reduce costs

Running a vehicle over its mass allowance to allow for better productivity, is dangerous and irresponsible. In the long run, it doesn’t pay off. The best way to prevent the costs associated with overloaded vehicles is to avoid overloading them in the first place. However, it isn’t always as simple as that. Knowing the exact attributes for each vehicles can require an eidetic memory and a good grasp of maths to contently understand what you put on in cargo, and what is instantly still available. Each truck then can handle differently, so ensuring the correct cargo is put on the appropriate vehicle and trailer is of extreme importance. This all ensures optimal weight distribution – once understood, the opportunity to further optimise the operation allows you to increase productivity.

Once you pair an optimally running business, with an efficient workforce of assets, the cost reductions seen can improve tenfold. With telematics and a fleet management system, the average business can see a 12.7% reduction in fuel costs.¹ With a fuel bill that can range from thousands to millions pending your fleet size, 12.7% is a huge reduction. The benefits go further, from providing peace of mind on asset location and improved driver behaviour, to more efficient dispatching/routing and better customer service. Beyond mass monitoring, a huge reduction in costs and improved efficiencies across the board, a business is better with technology.

It’s important to train your drivers on how to distribute freight weight correctly. The NZTA produce an official New Zealand truck loading code with guidelines for trucks, heavy trailers or loads of more than 500kg.

When managing your fleet, an AI-based fleet management platform can help you reduce maintenance costs, wasted fuel and limit fines through the software’s predictive maintenance and better routing. With advanced insights for fuel and vehicle performance metrics and real-time alerts of on road problems, paired with proper processes around mass and loading, helps you make informed decisions to avoid overloading.

Additionally, with a proper Journey Planner tool, an exact route can be planned for an overweight vehicle, including waypoints, that takes weight into account – avoiding any infrastructure that’s not suitable to carry the weight.

By improving routing, fully utilising load capacity, and managing your fleet maintenance, you stand to earn greater long-term profits.

¹ 2019 Teletrac Navman Telematics Benchmark Report.