Draft:Relay traffic

A form of main run used primarily in (road) freight transport over longer distances. For this purpose, a meeting point is agreed in the middle of two truck tours running in opposite directions in order to swap the trailers of the trucks including their load. The vehicles then complete the second half of the other vehicle's tour. Suitable meeting points could be parking and rest areas along highways, such as public rest areas, parking lots of private parking providers or yards of carriers.

Advantages

Economic advantages:

Participants in relay traffic benefit monetarily by avoiding empty runs and increasing the utilization of their trucks in possible 2-shift operation.

Time advantages:

If several meeting points are organized along longer transport routes, the goods can be transported faster from the sender to the recipient. Regardless of the driving and rest times of the individual drivers, the load and trailers are always in motion.

Social benefits:

At the end of a shift, the drivers are ideally back at their home location. Resting times do not have to be spent at rest areas.

Ecological advantages:

By avoiding empty runs on the way back and by avoiding rest area search traffic, truck capacities are used in an ecologically more efficient way.

Today's application

Road freight relay traffic is practiced statically by larger freight forwarding companies and to a certain extend within cooperations. Since the beginning of 2024, the German software provider MANSIO is offering the organization of cross-carrier and dynamic relay traffic as a service provider via an integrable IT platform.