Tools ›Cartage ›Trip Cost

Trip-Cost Calculator

Enter a lane and cost basis — get the all-in trip cost, cost per loaded mile, breakeven rate for your target margin, and profit against an offered rate.

Lane

From

optional

Loaded

Deadhead

Miles auto-fill from a resolved lane (haversine × 1.20 road factor). Deadhead adds to fuel but not to the $/mi denominator.

Truck & fuel

MPG

Diesel

$/gal

Pull today's national diesel from Fuel Surcharge → Historical (EIA weekly).

Driver

Typical OTR / owner-op

Rate

$/mi

Avg mph

Costs

Tolls

Other

Permits, escorts, lumper, etc.

Analysis

Target margin

Revenue (offer)

Optional — enter the offered rate to see profit + margin.

Formula

Fuel gallons = (loaded + deadhead) ÷ MPG
Fuel cost = fuel gallons × diesel $/gal
Drive-hours = loaded miles ÷ avg mph (deadhead absorbed by pay/mile; per-hour cartage bills delivery leg)
Labor = 'per-mile' → rate × loaded miles · 'per-hour' → rate × drive-hours
Total cost = fuel + labor + tolls + other
Cost /mi = total ÷ loaded miles (deadhead adds to cost, not the /mi denominator)
Breakeven revenue = total ÷ (1 − target-margin%)
Profit / margin = revenue − total ; margin = profit ÷ revenue

Source: Standard trucking cost-per-mile analysis. Cost/mi over loaded miles matches carrier RPM convention (ATRI Operational Costs of Trucking, annual).