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For Shippers

Know Where Your Fuel Surcharge Dollars Go.

You know what you’re paying in fuel surcharge. FreightFlow helps you understand what is driving it⁠—by load, lane, carrier and operating condition.

Tired of fuel programs built on estimated costs and assumed MPG? FreightFlow helps you build a carrier-agreed program around actual, load-level fuel costs.

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Fuel spend / Network view

Sample data

Sample Data • April 2026 • 18,000 total miles

Sample view • Illustrative filters

  • Carrier
  • Lane
  • Facility
  • Customer Division
  • Dedicated / OTR
Total Fuel Surcharge Paid
$7,320
Actual Fuel Cost
$8,640
Variance
−$1,320

Sample Data • Variance = surcharge paid − actual fuel cost. Negative values mean actual cost exceeds surcharge.

Tractor Fuel
$7,200
Reefer Fuel
$1,440
Loaded Miles
16,200
Deadhead Miles
1,800
Cost Per Mile
$0.48

Actual cost vs. surcharge paid

ActualSurcharge paid

USD • Weekly totals • Scale: $0–$3,000

Load-level fuel spend • Sample Data

Load / LaneActualPaidVariance
FF-1042 / DAL–ATL$640$550−$90
FF-1043 / CHI–MEM$510$460−$50
FF-1044 / ATL–MIA$420$380−$40

All figures are Sample Data—hypothetical, not customer results.

The Visibility Gap

Why base your fuel budget on estimates and assumed MPG?

Traditional fuel surcharge programs use indexes, standard MPG assumptions and mileage tables to estimate cost. They tell you what to pay⁠—not what your freight actually consumed.

FreightFlow connects fuel surcharge payments with tractor fuel, reefer fuel and deadhead at the load level, giving shippers and carriers a shared basis for moving beyond estimates.

  • What did we pay?

    See fuel surcharge expense at the load, lane and carrier level.

  • What drove the cost?

    Understand tractor fuel, refrigeration requirements, miles and operating conditions.

  • Where did empty miles occur?

    See deadhead associated with servicing your freight.

  • How does actual activity compare?

    Compare fuel surcharge payments with the underlying fuel economics.

Interactive Product Demo

See Where Your Fuel Surcharge Dollars Go.

FreightFlow connects fuel surcharge payments with actual operating activity so shippers can understand what is driving fuel spend across loads, lanes, carriers and facilities.

FreightFlow / Shipper fuel intelligence

Hypothetical Sample Data

Illustrative records only—not customer results.

Turn one fuel surcharge payment into a complete fuel story.

Load
SF-2084
Lane
Dallas, TX → Memphis, TN
Carrier
Sample Carrier
Loaded Miles
460
Deadhead Miles
58
Fuel Surcharge Paid
$410
Actual Tractor Fuel
$295
Actual Reefer Fuel
$72
Deadhead Fuel Cost
$51
Total Actual Fuel Cost
$418
Variance
−$8

Variance = fuel surcharge paid minus actual fuel cost.

Tractor fuel excludes separately shown deadhead to avoid double count.

  1. Fuel Surcharge Paid
  2. Tractor Fuel
  3. Reefer Fuel
  4. Deadhead
  5. Actual Fuel Economics

Cost composition (Tractor / Reefer / Deadhead)

Move beyond estimated costs and assumed MPG. Use shared, load-level fuel data to build a transparent fuel program agreed with your carriers.

A Shared View for Shippers and Carriers.

FreightFlow is designed to create transparency⁠—not simply reduce reimbursement. Shippers and carriers can use shared operating data to agree on a fuel program built around actual costs, with fuel clearly separated from linehaul.

Shipper

What did we pay, and what drove the cost?

One Load. One Set of Facts.

Carrier

What did the load actually cost, and what was recovered?

Want to see your fuel spend this way?

Give FreightFlow a sample of your transportation data and see the actual fuel economics behind your network⁠—and a clearer basis for building a fuel program with your carriers.

Follow the Fuel Surcharge Dollar

See the story behind every fuel surcharge dollar.

Instead of treating fuel surcharge as one blended transportation expense, FreightFlow provides the detail needed to understand what is actually driving it.

  1. Fuel Surcharge Paid
  2. Tractor Fuel
  3. Reefer Fuel
  4. Loaded Miles
  5. Deadhead
  6. Actual Fuel Economics

Load-Level Visibility

Start with the load. See the entire network.

True Fuel builds a fuel record at the individual load level and then allows shippers to roll that information up across their transportation network.

  1. Load
  2. Lane
  3. Carrier
  4. Facility
  5. Division
  6. Network

See where costs are occurring, identify patterns and understand why one part of your network behaves differently from another.

Carrier Visibility

Compare carriers using more than a fuel table.

Different carriers can experience different fuel economics while serving the same transportation network. FreightFlow creates greater visibility into those differences.

  • Fuel surcharge paid by carrier
  • Actual fuel activity by carrier
  • Deadhead associated with servicing your network
  • Tractor versus reefer fuel
  • Lane-level differences
  • Dedicated versus OTR performance

The objective isn’t to find the cheapest carrier. It’s to understand the economics behind the transportation you’re buying.

Refrigerated Freight

The trailer is burning fuel too.

Temperature-controlled freight creates fuel expense beyond the tractor. Reefer runtime, temperature requirements and operating mode can materially affect fuel consumption.

FreightFlow separates reefer fuel from tractor fuel so shippers can understand the additional energy required to protect their product.

  • Reefer fuel by load
  • Reefer fuel by lane
  • Reefer fuel by carrier
  • Temperature requirements
  • Continuous versus cycle operation where available
  • Trailer-level consumption

For refrigerated shippers, fuel visibility shouldn’t stop at the tractor.

Deadhead

Understand the miles you don’t see on the bill of lading.

Freight often requires a carrier to travel empty before pickup or after delivery. Those miles still consume fuel and can materially affect the economics of serving a facility, lane or customer network.

FreightFlow helps connect deadhead back to the freight that caused it.

Hypothetical Sample Movement • Sample Data

  1. Empty reposition90 miles15 gal tractor fuel
  2. Pickup0 miles2 gal tractor fuel
  3. Loaded transit720 miles120 gal tractor fuel
  4. Delivery0 miles3 gal tractor fuel

Sample Data • Complete movement: 810 miles · 140 gal tractor fuel · 30 gal reefer fuel

All figures are hypothetical. Fuel includes activity across the complete movement, including pickup and delivery.

Dedicated & Private Fleet

See fuel across every operating model.

Many enterprise shippers operate a mix of OTR carriers, dedicated fleets and private fleet assets. Fuel visibility can become fragmented across those different operating models.

FreightFlow creates a common framework for understanding fuel across the network.

  • OTR

    Understand surcharge payments and actual freight-level fuel economics.

  • Dedicated

    Separate tractor fuel, reefer fuel and deadhead within dedicated operations.

  • Private Fleet

    Connect operating activity directly to fuel expense and load-level performance.

Better Fuel Programs

Build your own fuel program around actual costs.

Outdated fuel surcharge programs depend on estimated costs, assumed MPG and broad averages. Your network operates in real conditions⁠—with different refrigeration requirements, empty miles and fuel consumption.

FreightFlow gives shippers and their carriers a shared record of tractor fuel, reefer fuel and deadhead. Use it to build a fuel cost program for your network, with agreed data sources, calculation rules and reimbursement terms.

  • Validate

    Compare index, mileage and MPG assumptions with actual operating data.

  • Understand

    Separate tractor, reefer and deadhead costs to see what your freight actually requires.

  • Improve

    Build a transparent fuel program with your carriers, using agreed cost definitions and reimbursement terms.

Keep fuel in the fuel budget⁠—not hidden in linehaul.

With a carrier-agreed fuel framework, fuel can remain a separate, visible part of transportation spend instead of being blended into linehaul pricing.

Shared Transparency

Better data creates better shipper-carrier conversations.

A fuel program should start with shared facts⁠—not two spreadsheets, estimated MPG and two different versions of the truth.

FreightFlow gives both sides a clearer view of the same underlying operating activity. Agree on the data, cost definitions and reimbursement terms together, so fuel stays transparent and separate from linehaul.

One freight movement. One fuel story.

Who Uses It

Visibility for every team responsible for transportation spend.

  • Transportation

    Understand cost and operating performance across carriers, lanes and facilities.

  • Procurement

    Build carrier-agreed fuel programs using actual operating data rather than estimates alone.

  • Finance

    Keep fuel expense visible in the fuel budget, separate from linehaul and traceable across the organization.

  • Supply Chain

    Identify operational conditions that are contributing to transportation cost.

See where your fuel surcharge dollars are going.

Give FreightFlow a sample of your transportation data and see how actual fuel costs compare with your current program—and how shared data can support a carrier-agreed alternative.

Book a Demo

Better visibility. Better conversations. Better fuel programs.