How Backhaul Loads
Save Alberta Shippers Money

One of the most overlooked ways to cut freight costs in Alberta is also one of the simplest: coordinate your freight around your carrier's return trip. It's called backhaul — and smart shippers have been using it for decades to pay less for the same service.

At ReBar Transportation, based in Millet, Alberta, we've built our entire dispatch strategy around eliminating empty return miles. That focus directly benefits our customers.

What Is Backhaul (Return Load) Freight?

When a truck hauls a load from Point A to Point B, it has to get back home somehow. In the trucking industry, a truck driving empty back to its home base is called "deadheading" — and it's the enemy of every carrier's bottom line.

A backhaul load (also called a return load) is freight that fills that empty return trip. Instead of driving back empty, the carrier picks up another load on the way home, covering fuel and labour costs that would otherwise be sunk.

This is good for the carrier — and they can pass some of that benefit to the shipper who fills their truck on the return leg.

How Much Can Backhaul Save You?

The savings vary by lane, but here's the principle: when a carrier is already planning to drive through your area on a return trip, they don't need to charge you for the full cost of a dedicated run — they've already committed to the fuel and driver time. You're filling a truck that's going your way anyway.

In practice, shippers who regularly work with carriers to coordinate two-way lanes can save 15–30% on freight costs compared to one-off spot loads.

ReBar Transportation's Backhaul Strategy

Because we're based in Millet, Alberta — right on the Highway 2 corridor between Edmonton and Calgary — we run one of the most active freight lanes in the province on every single trip. This gives us constant backhaul opportunities in both directions.

Here's how we approach it:

• Every load is planned with the return in mind. Before we dispatch, we look for return freight on load boards, through broker relationships, and with regular customers.
• We actively tell customers our upcoming lanes. If we know we're heading to Edmonton on Thursday, we let customers know we can pick up a Millet-bound load from the Edmonton area that day at a preferred rate.
• We optimize for two-way lanes, not just point-to-point hauls. Over time, this builds a network of shippers who work with each other through us — everyone benefits.

Common Backhaul Lanes We Run in Alberta

These are routes where we're regularly looking for return loads:

• Millet ↔ Edmonton / Leduc / Beaumont
• Millet ↔ Calgary / Okotoks / Airdrie
• Central Alberta ↔ Red Deer
• Alberta ↔ Saskatchewan (Regina, Saskatoon — eastbound and westbound)
• Edmonton ↔ Fort McMurray
• Wetaskiwin / Camrose ↔ Edmonton
• Ponoka / Lacombe ↔ Calgary

How to Use Backhaul as a Shipper

You don't need to know the trucking industry inside-out to take advantage of backhaul pricing. Here's how to approach it when talking to your carrier:

1. Tell your carrier your regular lanes. If you're always moving freight from Red Deer to Edmonton, let your carrier know. They'll start looking for complementary loads to build around your freight.
2. Be flexible on timing when you can. Backhaul loads often have a window of a day or two. If your freight isn't time-critical, flexibility lets carriers find the right return match.
3. Ask about upcoming lanes. When you call for a quote, ask "are you running near [my destination] this week?" You might catch a carrier who's already headed that way.
4. Build a recurring relationship. The more a carrier knows your freight patterns, the better they can plan around them — and the better pricing they can offer over time.

The ReBar Difference on Return Loads

ReBar Transportation is a small, owner-operated carrier. That means when you call us, you're talking to the person who's going to be driving your load. We're not routing your call through a dispatcher who's never seen your freight.

This direct model means we can make on-the-fly backhaul decisions that a larger carrier might not bother with. If we're heading back through your area, we'll tell you — and offer you a fair rate to fill the truck.

It's simple math: a truck that's full both ways is a truck that can offer better pricing than a truck that's empty half the time. We'd rather carry your freight at a fair rate than drive past your yard empty.