Five levers that really cut freight costs, and a few that only move them

Lever 1: you buy loading metres, not trucks

On groupage you pay neither the weight nor the cartons, but how much of the truck floor you occupy. A standard semi-trailer has 13.60 m of loading length, and an 800 × 1200 mm euro pallet takes 0.4 loading metres, because three pallets fit in 1.20 m of length. Every geometry saving comes from there:

• A non-stackable pallet takes the place of two. If the goods can be stacked and you say so, you pay for half the space — and if they cannot, a protective cap can make them stackable.
• A 1000 × 1200 mm pallet takes 0.5 loading metres against 0.4 for a euro pallet. On the same goods, the choice of pallet changes 25% of the space you are billed for.
• Film that overhangs the pallet, corner boards that stick out and broken timber turn a standard pallet into a non-standard one that no longer sits next to its neighbour.
• Two small weekly orders consolidated into one lower the cost per pallet: the rate per loading metre falls the more you occupy, up to the threshold where a full truck becomes cheaper.

That threshold sits between 12 and 14 euro pallets, and I worked it out with figures in the guide on groupage versus a full truck. If you are near it, ask for both prices on the same consignment: the difference shows up per pallet, not on the total of the shipment.

Lever 2: flexibility on the date and the hour is the cheapest discount there is

A truck's day is divided up by Regulation (EC) No 561/2006, not by the dispatcher. A driver may drive nine hours a day, ten hours at most twice a week (art. 6(1)), 56 hours a week (art. 6(2)) and 90 hours in two consecutive weeks (art. 6(3)). After four and a half hours of driving they need a 45-minute break (art. 7), and between two working days a rest of 11 hours, reduced to 9 hours at most three times between two weekly rests (art. 8(2) and (4)).

• A fixed unloading window at 8 in the morning, 900 km away, forces the truck to arrive the night before and wait. That night is paid for, because both vehicle and driver are tied up.
• Three hours of waiting at loading do not mean three hours lost but often a whole day: if the day's driving window is burnt at the ramp, the shipment finishes tomorrow.
• A two-day window instead of a fixed date lets the carrier put you on a run that passes there anyway. That is the difference between the price of a dedicated trip and the price of a filled one.
• Friday-afternoon loading is the most expensive slot of the week, because a regular weekly rest may not be taken in the cab (art. 8(8)) and the accommodation is paid by the employer.

If you tell me from the start which end is fixed — the loading date, the delivery date, or neither — I can look for the price in the right window. Flexibility you do not mention is never priced in your favour.

Lever 3: road tolls have become a decision, not a fact of life

Until the autumn of 2026, the Romanian road charge was essentially a vignette: you paid it by duration and the route did not change it. From 1 October 2026, goods vehicles over 3.5 tonnes pay TollRo, per kilometre, by road type and Euro class — the basis is Law no. 226/2023 and the tariffs come from Transport Minister's Order no. 1,925/2025, published in Monitorul Oficial no. 940 of 10 October 2025. For vehicles of at least 12 tonnes, VAT included:

• In Romania the difference between Euro VI and Euro III on a motorway is 29% of the toll. On a Bucharest–Arad run, ask which Euro standard the truck arrives with: it is a question that has an answer before loading.
• In Germany the CO2 class matters more than the Euro standard. A class 4 truck pays nearly eight cents a kilometre less, and on a 2,000 km round trip that is over 150 euro.
• Avoiding the motorway on national roads halves the toll, but rarely pays: over 300 km you save 72 lei, around 13 euro at the October 2026 rate, while an extra hour and a half of driving costs more, because driving personnel is the largest item in the cost structure.
• Unpaid TollRo is penalised with 10 to 20 times the amount due, or 5,000 lei where the distance cannot be established. An unregistered run is not a saving, it is a deferred fine.

Motorway or expressway

Euro VI 0.48 lei/km · Euro V–IV 0.55 lei/km · Euro III–0 0.62 lei/km

National road

Euro VI 0.24 lei/km · Euro V–IV 0.28 lei/km · Euro III–0 0.31 lei/km

Germany, over 18 t and 5 axles, Euro VI

34.8 cents/km in CO2 class 1 and 26.9 cents/km in CO2 class 4

Where the difference comes from

The CO2 component of the German toll: 15.8 cents/km in class 1, 7.9 cents/km in class 4, zero in class 5 (annex 1 to the BFStrMG)

Over 1,000 km of German motorway

Around 79 euro of difference between the same run made with a CO2 class 1 truck and a class 4 one

TollRo tariffs are updated each December with the consumer price index, so check the values in force on the day of the shipment. Since the system started, on 1 October 2026, CNAIR has stated that the platform had malfunctions and that no penalties apply during this period, while the payment obligation remains; interoperability with on-board units through SETRo providers is announced for 15 January 2027.

Lever 4: write into the contract what happens when things run late

Most budget overruns do not come from the shipment rate but from what the quote does not say. And on delay, the CMR Convention helps less than you think:

• Compensation for delay may not exceed the carriage charges (art. 23(5) of the CMR Convention). If a production line stands idle for a day, all you recover under CMR is what you paid for the trip.
• The only way to raise that ceiling is to declare a special interest in delivery in the consignment note, against an agreed surcharge (art. 26). It is done before loading, not after.
• Free time at loading and unloading is governed by no convention: it is contractual. Ask in writing how many hours are included and what an extra hour costs, otherwise demurrage gets negotiated only once it has happened.
• Likewise: who pays for a repeated delivery if the consignee refuses it, how pallets are exchanged, and what happens if the delivery address changes en route.
• For loss or damage the cap stays at 8.33 SDR per kilogram of gross weight short (art. 23(3)). On high-value goods the difference is covered by cargo insurance, taken out before loading.

A quote that says nothing about free time, demurrage and re-delivery is not cheaper than one that does. It is merely incomplete, and you discover the difference on the second invoice.

Lever 5: check what is holding the price down

A price 30% below the market does not come from efficiency. The costs above are the same for everyone, so the difference comes from something that is not being done. The things that get cut first all have an article behind them:

• The financial standing required for the licence: 9,000 euro of capital and reserves for the first vehicle and 5,000 for each additional vehicle over 3.5 tonnes (art. 7(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1071/2009). A carrier without it does not have its licence in order.
• Cabotage: at most three operations in seven days after an international carriage (art. 8(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1072/2009), followed by four days in which the same vehicle may not run cabotage in that state (art. 8(2a)).
• Return of the vehicle: a fleet used in international transport must return to an operational centre in the member state of establishment within eight weeks (art. 5(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 1071/2009).
• A regular weekly rest is not taken in the cab, and the accommodation is paid by the employer (art. 8(8) of Regulation (EC) No 561/2006).
• The carrier's liability insurance. Without it, the 8.33 SDR per kilogram cap is a promise on paper, because there is nothing to pay it from.

None of these shows in a quote; all of them show at the first roadside check or the first incident. A truck immobilised at a check costs far more than the price difference that put it on your shipment — and your goods are inside it.

Savings that come back to bite you

• Changing carrier every month for a few dozen euro. The first run with someone new is always the one with surprises: they do not know the ramp, the hours, or the goods. The saving on paper is spent at the first missed unloading.
• Ordering a full truck "to be safe" when you have eight pallets. Below 10–12 euro pallets groupage is almost always cheaper, and the safety you are buying is better obtained from a realistic delivery window.
• Routing on national roads to cut the toll. See the arithmetic above: the toll falls by 13 euro over 300 km, the time grows by hours, and time is the most expensive item on the run.
• Declaring a high value in the consignment note instead of insuring the goods. At high values the surcharge asked for art. 24 ends up dearer than a policy, and the policy also covers the cases where the carrier is relieved of liability.
• Asking for a price without saying what you are shipping. The quote comes back on an assumption, and gets corrected at loading — upwards, because by then the truck is already there.

They all share one pattern: the cost is moved out of the quote into somewhere it is invisible when you compare two prices. The real saving shows on the month's total cost, not on the cheapest single run in it.

What to send me so I can show you where the saving is

If you want a calculation rather than an opinion, four lines are enough:

• What you are shipping, how many pallets, their real dimensions, and whether they can be stacked.
• The weight per pallet, not just the total.
• What is fixed: the loading date, the delivery date, both, or neither.
• The route with the real addresses, and whether either end has a time window.

I send you the price both ways, groupage and full truck, with what is included in free time and demurrage. If your figures show a saving in geometry or in the calendar, I tell you even when it means a smaller job for me: in the long run, a customer who knows where the price comes from stays a customer.