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FleetERP
Freight operations

Middle Mile

The long-haul leg between hubs — where most of the distance, and most of the cost, sits.

Also calledLine haulLinehaul

Middle mile, or line haul, is the movement between consolidation points: hub to hub, warehouse to distribution centre, port to inland depot. It carries the bulk of the kilometres in most networks and therefore the bulk of the fuel, toll and driver cost.

Because volumes are consolidated and routes are stable, it is also the most optimisable leg. Vehicle size can be matched to lane volume, departures scheduled to fill capacity, and backhauls planned in advance. Small percentage improvements here dwarf large percentage improvements in first or last mile, simply because the base is bigger.

The failure mode is running line haul on habit. Lanes get set once and rarely revisited even as volumes shift, so networks accumulate departures that ran full two years ago and run half empty today. Reviewing lane fill quarterly against actual volume is unglamorous and consistently profitable.

Same category

Freight operations

The movement patterns and service models behind road freight.

3PL (Third-Party Logistics)

An outsourced provider that executes logistics — transport, warehousing, fulfilment — on a company's behalf.

4PL (Fourth-Party Logistics)

An orchestrator that manages a company's whole logistics network, including its other providers.

Backhaul

Freight carried on the return leg, converting an otherwise empty run into revenue.

Cross Docking

Transferring goods straight from inbound to outbound vehicles with little or no storage in between.

Empty Running

Kilometres driven with no load — pure cost, and the largest avoidable waste in road freight.

First Mile

The initial leg — moving goods from the seller or plant into the transport network.

FTL (Full Truckload)

A shipment that occupies an entire vehicle, moving direct from origin to destination.

Last Mile Delivery

The final leg to the recipient's door — the most expensive segment per parcel and the only one the customer sees.

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