# Is a full truckload lower carbon per tonne than a part load?

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/answers/full-truckload-vs-part-load-emissions-per-tonne

Per tonne, yes. A truck burns only a little more diesel when full, so emissions per tonne-km fall as the load rises. A half-empty truck can double the emissions per tonne. Consolidating shipments, or asking your transporter to load-share, is often the cheapest freight cut you can make.

## How to measure it

- Diesel per trip from the transporter, or a factor per vehicle size.
- Tonnes carried per trip from invoices or weighbridge slips.
- Divide trip emissions by tonne-km to compare loads.

## When part loads make sense

Urgent or small orders may need part loads. Report them honestly; a shared or groupage truck allocates its trip across all the shippers on it.

## What Senseible does here

Senseible reads bills, fuel invoices and production records into dated, fingerprinted records, so the figure you send a buyer can be traced to its documents.

- [Milk run vs direct delivery](https://senseible.earth/answers/milk-run-vs-direct-delivery-emissions)
- [Freight bill with no weight or distance](https://senseible.earth/answers/freight-bill-has-no-weight-or-distance)
- [Truck freight factor](https://senseible.earth/answers/truck-freight-emission-factor-india)

Sources: [Smart Freight Centre, GLEC Framework](https://www.smartfreightcentre.org/en/our-programs/emissions-accounting/global-logistics-emissions-council/), [GHG Protocol Scope 3 Standard](https://ghgprotocol.org/corporate-value-chain-scope-3-standard), [2006 IPCC Guidelines, Volume 2 Energy](https://www.ipcc-nggip.iges.or.jp/public/2006gl/vol2.html)

Last reviewed 2026-10-23.