Comparing directions is the most common argument in the cab and the most useless one for as long as a single number is involved. The rate per kilometre to Scandinavia is higher than on the classic western legs, and that is usually where the discussion ends. It is actually where it begins.
The number that would settle the argument is deliberately not here. The gap between north and west is not a constant: it moves with the season, the freight, the customer and how quickly you find a return load. Anyone who quotes it as a single percentage either measured a different route from yours or made it up. What follows is a breakdown of what makes up that gap, and a way to measure it on your own loads.
What the north adds
The ferry. A separate line you can neither optimise away with your driving nor drive around. On some routes it is comparable to a day’s revenue.
Empty running. A return load out of the north takes longer to find, which means a larger share of the kilometres are driven at your own expense.
Weather and time. In winter the same mileage takes more days. The rate per kilometre does not change, but the number of round trips in a month falls — and that is the most underestimated effect of all.
Count the round trip, not the leg
One round trip is loading, delivery, finding a return load and getting back. A direction that wins on the leg regularly loses on the round trip, because the return load takes longer to find.
What the west adds
A denser network of loads and shorter gaps between them. The rate is lower, but there are more round trips in a month, and tolls on the main corridors are predictable and can be worked out in advance. For a first year this is usually the calmer option: fewer unknowns and faster feedback on your own numbers.
What you know in advance, and what you don’t
| Line | Known in advance? | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Vehicle rent | yes, a fixed monthly amount | the price list on Rent a tractor |
| Fuel | no, it follows mileage and prices | your own refuelling |
| Tolls | roughly in the west, worse in the north | the toll operator’s calculator — for Germany, Toll Collect |
| Ferry | only for a specific sailing and date | booking with the operator — northbound, e.g. Scandlines Freight |
| Empty running | no | only after the round trip is done |
| Round trips per month | no | only after the month is done |
That first line is the only one you can fill in before you sign: the monthly rate for each vehicle is listed on Rent a tractor and does not depend on the direction — it is the same for the north and for the west. What it covers and what it does not is set out in What the rental rate covers. Every other line you have to measure yourself, which is why this article does not end in a number.
How to decide
Take two real round trips — one northern, one western — and reduce them to the same formula: revenue minus fuel, tolls, ferry and rent, divided by the number of days. What you get is income per day, not per kilometre. That is the only figure you can honestly compare, and it is exactly what the portal collects for every load, so that by the end of your first quarter you are working from your own data rather than somebody else’s.
What that calculation looks like across a whole month is on What is left — with the caveat that it is a worked month with no direction attached, not a comparison of north against west.
