What is a lorry’s cost per kilometre

The cost per kilometre is what each kilometre travelled by one of its lorries costs a transport company, adding up all the operating expenses: fuel, driver, depreciation of the vehicle, insurance, tyres, maintenance, tolls and subsistence allowances.

In Spain the reference is the road freight transport cost observatory (Observatorio de Costes del Transporte de Mercancías por Carretera), which the Ministry of Transport draws up with the associations of hauliers and shippers. It calculates the cost of several standard vehicles, among them the articulated container lorry, on assumptions for annual kilometres and empty running.

It is not a tariff but a guide for negotiating prices. It differs from the price per kilometre, which is what is actually charged: when the cost rises faster than the price, the haulier’s margin narrows.