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What Is Linehaul in Trucking and How Linehaul Rates Work
Say one load pays $3.60 a mile and another $3.40. The first might not be better. In linehaul trucking the word means three things, and the one that costs you money is the rate: base pay for the miles, excluding fuel surcharge and accessorials.
Key takeaways
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What Is Linehaul in Trucking
Linehaul in trucking is the main over-the-road leg that moves freight between terminals or hubs, and the linehaul rate is the base pay for those miles before fuel surcharge and accessorials. You'll hear it three ways.
The network leg. The terminal-to-terminal run inside an LTL network.
Long-haul driving. Loose shorthand for any over-the-road run.
The rate. Base pay on a load, with fuel and accessorials stripped out.
This guide spends most of its words on the third.
How Linehaul Trucking Works in an LTL Network
Pickup and delivery (P&D) drivers collect freight locally, and the terminal consolidates it onto trailers bound for other terminals. That consolidation separates FTL from LTL shipping.
Linehaul drivers then run terminal to terminal, often overnight, solo, in teams or in relays (meet-and-turn, slip-seat). Combo drivers split dock and city work.
Some ranking pages claim terminal runs escape hours-of-service rules. They don't. Under 49 CFR 395.3, a property-carrying driver gets 11 hours of driving inside a 14-hour window after 10 hours off, plus a 30-minute break after 8 hours driving.
The short-haul exception covers drivers within 150 air miles who return and are released within 14 hours. It waives logs and ELDs, not the driving limits, so relays get planned around the full hours-of-service rules.
Linehaul Trucking vs Long Haul vs Local Pickup and Delivery
Tell them apart by network position, not distance. LTL terminal legs can cross the country.
Linehaul. Terminal to terminal on a set schedule, often at night.
Long haul. Shipper's dock straight to the receiver, days out at a time.
Local P&D. City stops that feed the terminal, usually home nightly.
Pay and home time get their own comparison of OTR, regional and local trucking.
What a Linehaul Rate Covers and What It Leaves Out
A rate con can carry four money terms. Only one pays for the driving.
Term | What it covers | Who sets it | How to check it |
Linehaul rate | Truck, driver and miles, origin to destination | Negotiated per load (spot) or per lane (contract) | Back it out of the all-in rate. Percentage-pay lessors can see the rated freight bill (49 CFR 376.12(g)) |
Fuel surcharge | Fuel cost above a base diesel price | Shipper or broker schedule, usually keyed to EIA weekly diesel | Confirm the schedule and EIA week on the rate con |
Accessorials | Detention, layover, lumper, TONU, extra stops | Rate con terms agreed before pickup | Match each to the terms and event times |
All-in rate | All three in one number, standard on spot | Quoted by the broker or shipper | Split it before comparing loads |
The rules for each sit in this guide to accessorial charges every carrier should know.
How to Calculate Linehaul From an All-In Rate
Linehaul = All-in rate minus fuel surcharge minus accessorials
Per-mile rate = That figure divided by loaded miles
Hypothetical example, round numbers | Load A | Load B |
Loaded miles | 500 | 500 |
All-in rate | $1,800 ($3.60/mi) | $1,700 ($3.40/mi) |
Fuel surcharge | $400 ($0.80/mi) | $275 ($0.55/mi) |
Accessorials | $150 detention | $0 |
Base rate | $1,250 ($2.50/mi) | $1,425 ($2.85/mi) |
Load A wins all-in by 20 cents a mile. Strip out fuel and detention, and Load B pays 35 cents more for the driving.
Work from the rate con line by line. If you're keying them by hand, see how AI reads a rate confirmation and builds the load.
Fuel Surcharge Hides What a Load Pays
EIA says surcharges are negotiated privately by shippers and by transportation companies, and many key them to EIA's weekly on-highway diesel price. Each shipper or broker sets its own schedule.
DAT notes spot has no separate fuel surcharge, so you back fuel out yourself.
Right now the gap is wide. In its September 2026 rate report, DAT put the van spot fuel portion at a record 84 cents a mile. All-in van spot rose 12 cents while van linehaul, which excludes fuel, fell 2 cents.
DAT adds that rates lag rising diesel by three to four weeks. Averages for rate per mile in trucking help only once you know whether they include fuel.
Before you accept a spot load
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Match Revenue Per Mile to the Right Cost Per Mile
Set the base rate per mile against your non-fuel cost per mile, and the surcharge against actual fuel spend. Mix them and a weak base rate hides behind a generous surcharge until diesel drops.
The base rate also pays only loaded miles, and deadhead miles earn nothing. Load B's $1,425 over 500 loaded and 100 empty miles is about $2.38 per total mile, not $2.85.
Where Datatruck Fits
Datatruck is an AI-native TMS for carriers. Load reports carry a charge and expense breakdown, and detention and lumper sit as separate charges on the load and invoice.
Profit rolls up per truck, driver and lane, and into the Weekly Net Profit Report, so profit per truck shows which trucks earn on the driving. To see your loads broken out this way, book a Datatruck demo.
FAQs
What is the difference between linehaul and LTL?
Linehaul is one leg inside an LTL network, the terminal-to-terminal run. LTL is the service where many shippers' freight shares one trailer.
Does the linehaul rate include fuel surcharge?
No, it excludes fuel surcharge and accessorials. Spot quotes usually arrive all-in, so you subtract both to find it.
Do linehaul drivers have to follow hours-of-service rules?
Yes, they get 11 hours of driving inside a 14-hour window after 10 hours off. The 150 air-mile short-haul exception only removes logging, for drivers who return and are released within 14 hours.
How do you calculate linehaul rate per mile?
Subtract fuel surcharge and accessorials from the all-in rate, then divide by loaded miles. Hypothetical Load A nets $1,250, or $2.50 per mile over 500 miles.