Freight Transport:
Cut Costs and Increase
Operational Efficiency

Freight transport is the activity of moving goods from a point of origin to a destination using vehicles suited to the nature of the cargo. In Brazil, road transport accounts for most of the volume moved, operated mainly by carriers and by shippers’ own fleets.

Road freight transport in Brazil operates with trucks and road equipment (tractor-trailers, semi-trailers, B-doubles and road trains) that travel the national road network. Carriers plan routes, manage the vehicle fleet, control operating costs and ensure deliveries within the contracted deadlines.

The main costs of freight transport include fuel, preventive and corrective maintenance, tires and retreading, vehicle depreciation, labor (drivers and maintenance team), tolls and administrative expenses. Effective control of these items defines how competitive the operation is.

To reduce operating costs in freight transport, it is essential to: (1) implement preventive maintenance based on mileage and schedules; (2) manage the full tire cycle to avoid early disposal; (3) control fuel consumption linked to tire condition; (4) standardize vehicle inspections with an electronic checklist; (5) use operational indicators to identify savings opportunities.

Cost per kilometer (CPK) is an indicator that divides total operating expenses by the mileage covered by the fleet over a period. It is the central metric of fleet management in freight transport: it makes it possible to compare efficiency across vehicles, routes and periods, and to identify deviations and savings opportunities.

Mechanical availability is the percentage of time the fleet’s vehicles are fit to operate, without being under maintenance or broken down. A fleet with high mechanical availability reduces route interruptions, avoids losses from delivery delays and increases operational productivity. Preventive maintenance is the main factor in keeping this rate high.

To increase fleet availability, corrective maintenance needs to be replaced by preventive maintenance: schedule services by mileage or calendar, carry out periodic vehicle inspections with an electronic checklist, record non-conformities and open work orders automatically. As a result, trucks spend less time stopped at the workshop and more time on the road.

Preventive maintenance in a truck fleet is the set of scheduled interventions carried out before a failure occurs, based on mileage covered, elapsed time or component condition. It reduces corrective maintenance spending by up to 40%, extends the useful life of vehicles and lowers the risk of unexpected breakdowns on the road.

Poorly managed tires can increase fuel consumption by up to 25% and lead to early repurchases that inflate the monthly budget. Tire management controls wear, defines the ideal moment for retreading and eliminates early disposal, generating savings of R$ 15 thousand to R$ 20 thousand per month in medium and large operations.

The electronic checklist is a digital tool that replaces paper forms in vehicle inspections. The driver or inspector fills out the checklist on their phone, records photo evidence of non-conformities and the system opens work orders automatically. It ensures traceability of inspections, standardized processes and fast detection of failures before the vehicle leaves on its route.

The main KPIs for freight transport fleet management are: cost per kilometer (CPK), fleet mechanical availability, preventive vs. corrective maintenance ratio, average fuel consumption per vehicle, tire useful life, retreading rate, number of work orders opened and resolved, and mean time to repair (MTTR).

Fleet management software centralizes maintenance, tire and inspection data in a single dashboard, automates the opening of work orders, schedules preventive maintenance and generates indicators updated with every inspection. Carriers that adopt this technology eliminate manual spreadsheets, reduce rework and make decisions based on real operational data.