A route planner sees a vehicle's capacity as volume and weight. It doesn't see how pallets fit on the floor or the order they come off. In the example below we planned the same three deliveries two ways.
The route uses one truck: 54% of the volume, 4,500 / 5,000 kg. On paper, it fits.
Truck (10-Wheel), trip 1: 13 / 13 pallet spaces
Truck (10-Wheel), trip 2: 2 / 13 pallet spaces · extra trip
left at the dock: 2 × C
Floor capacity was part of drawing the routes, so the load is split across two vehicles.
Truck (10-Wheel): 11 / 13 pallet spaces
Truck (6-Wheel): 4 / 8 pallet spaces
Example scenario: the numbers come from the map coordinates and the site's pallet capacity calculation, not from a real customer. Pallets are 120 × 80 cm, 150 cm tall, 300 kg and can't be stacked.
In this example 15 pallets come to 21.6 m³, 54% of a 10-wheel truck's volume, and 4,500 kg against a 5,000 kg limit. To a route planner that checks volume and weight, one truck is enough and the shortest round trip is 199 km.
But the pallets can't be stacked, and only 13 fit on the truck's floor. A truck is loaded in reverse delivery order: the last stop's load goes deepest, the first stop's by the doors. When the floor is full, what's left at the dock is what would have gone nearest the doors: the first stop C's 2 pallets. After the truck returns, C needs a second 72 km trip: 271 km in total.
Floor capacity and unloading order are part of drawing the routes. A and B go on the 10-wheel truck (11 pallets, 13 spaces), C on the 6-wheel truck (4 pallets, 8 spaces). Both leave at the same time; 221 km in total, nothing left at the dock.
That's 49 km and one surprise trip less. The real gain is the missing surprise: the problem shows up while planning, not at the dock with the truck about to leave.
The shortest round trip is the same length in both directions, and a route planner that doesn't know the load can't tell them apart. Driven the other way, B's pallets are left behind and the extra trip grows to 126 km. To avoid overstating the difference, we gave separate planning the better direction.
Real operations add time windows, driving hours, fleet size and traffic. This page isn't a calculator; it's an example of why routes and loading belong together.
We're working on a tool that plans routes and loading together, and we'll announce it on this page when it's ready. Until then, you can plan a single vehicle's load, with customer order, in the 3D load planner.