Every mile a truck runs without cargo (known as empty miles) costs money.
Eliminating these empty miles is essential because fuel is still burning, the driver is on the clock, and equipment is wearing down.
But no freight means no revenue.
In cross-border freight shipping between the U.S. and Mexico, this problem is more common than many shippers realize.
Equipment flows heavily northbound. Loaded trucks crossing into the U.S. far outnumber those heading south with return freight.
When carriers cannot find backhaul loads, they absorb the cost of empty miles and eventually pass it back to shippers through higher rates.
According to the American Transportation Research Institute’s (ATRI) 2025 trucking cost report, empty miles now average 16.7% of total mileage across the industry—nearly one in six miles generating zero revenue.
Operating a truck costs an average of $2.26 per mile. That means a significant share of every route is pure cost with no return.
The good news?
U.S. businesses are not powerless here.
There are concrete steps you can take to reduce empty miles, stabilize your freight costs, and become a more attractive partner to the carriers you depend on.
1. Plan Routes With the Return Trip in Mind
Most shippers plan the outbound leg. Few plan both directions at once.
Better route planning means identifying backhaul opportunities before the truck departs, not after it delivers.
When your logistics team knows which return markets have available freight, they can build round-trip lanes instead of one-way moves.
Historical lane data helps here.
Which corridors consistently generate return loads? Where do trucks frequently end up empty?
Answering those questions before departure reduces repositioning costs on the back end.
Cross-border shipping companies should treat the round trip as a single unit.
This approach to lane planning generates much more consistent equipment utilization.
Ask your logistics partner directly.
Do they plan for return freight, or just the outbound move?
2. Share Volume Forecasts With Your Carriers
Empty miles often result from a simple information gap.
Carriers plan equipment positioning around what they know is coming.
When they have no visibility into your upcoming volumes, they cannot pre-position trucks efficiently.
That leads to scrambled coverage, higher rates, and more repositioning moves.
Sharing a basic forecast helps carriers plan ahead.
Tell them what you expect to ship and in which direction over the next two to four weeks.
For cross-border freight shipping specifically, that lead time matters. Cross-border moves involve more planning layers than domestic freight.
You don’t need to commit to exact volumes.
A directional estimate is enough to help your carrier reduce empty miles on your lanes.
3. Use Freight Consolidation to Fill Partial Loads
Not every shipment fills a trailer.
When partial loads move separately, trailers run below capacity while repositioning costs increase.
Consolidate smaller shipments into full truckloads to improve trailer utilization.
This strategy also reduces the number of empty or near-empty moves in your network.
Cross-border shipping services that offer consolidation options are particularly valuable here.
Instead of moving three half-filled trailers, one full trailer moves the same freight more efficiently.
For U.S. businesses shipping to Mexico, consolidation also simplifies customs documentation.
Fewer crossings mean fewer compliance touchpoints and fewer opportunities for documentation errors to cause delays.
4. Build Flexibility Into Your Shipping Schedule
Rigid schedules frequently miss out on return freight opportunities.
However, adding 24 to 48 hours of flexibility changes the math. Your shipment is far more likely to find a matching return load with a wider window.
That flexibility does not need to be open-ended.
Even a narrow window, like “we can ship Tuesday or Wednesday,” creates options.
Carriers can match that timing against available backhaul freight and reduce empty miles on the return leg.
Talk to your operations team about which shipments carry hard deadlines and which ones have room to move.
Identifying that flexibility costs nothing. Using it strategically can meaningfully reduce your freight costs over time.
5. Diversify Your Trade Lanes
Companies that concentrate all their volume on a single directional market face recurring imbalances.
If your freight only moves southbound on U.S.-Mexico lanes, your carriers are consistently returning empty.
That one-way pressure drives up your costs over time.
Cross-border shipping to Canada may offer backhaul opportunities for equipment repositioning from Mexico moves.
Expanding your supplier or customer network, even modestly, can create more balanced freight patterns across your lanes.
This doesn’t require a full network overhaul.
Adding one or two lanes in underserved directions can meaningfully improve equipment flow for your carriers and stabilize your rates.
6. Work With Carriers Who Track Lane Balance Actively
Not all cross-border shipping companies approach empty miles the same way. Many focus only on individual transactions.
Leading firms manage lane balance across their entire network instead.
They track where equipment pools and identify available return freight.
This strategy helps position assets efficiently before any imbalances develop.
The difference shows up in your rates and service consistency.
Proactive carriers manage their lane balance to keep costs low. This allows them to offer more competitive pricing on cross-border freight shipping.
Because they avoid repositioning losses, those savings are passed directly to you.
When evaluating cross-border shipping service options, ask specific questions.
How consistently do they track backhaul availability on your lanes? Can they offer consolidation to save you money?
Will they share capacity forecasts with you when imbalances start to develop?
A logistics partner who treats lane balance as a shared problem, not just a carrier problem, will deliver better long-term results.
How Jansson LLC Helps Reduce Empty Miles
At Jansson LLC, we work closely with trusted carrier partners to analyze lane patterns and optimize equipment flows. Specialized focus on U.S.-Mexico and U.S.-Canada corridors allows for deeper lane expertise.
Better route planning and proactive communication are top priorities for every shipment.
Identifying consolidation opportunities also helps reduce your total spend.
Whenever timelines allow, flexible scheduling is encouraged to maximize efficiency.
Long-term lane stability, not one-off transactions, is the foundation of our cross-border shipping services.
For companies managing cross-border freight shipping in both directions, that stability protects your rates and your service reliability.
Contact Jansson LLC today to review your lane strategy. Let’s identify where empty miles may be costing you more than you realize.
