Groupage and part loads by road

What groupage and part loads are

Groupage, also called part loads, is the way to move goods that do not fill a lorry. Instead of paying for a whole trailer for a few pallets, your load shares the journey with other customers’ loads heading the same way, and each pays for the space and weight it takes up.

It is a service for businesses that ship medium quantities: a few pallets, some packages, a small machine, a consignment that does not justify a lorry on its own. For the customer it means paying less than for a full load; for the haulier, filling each journey better.

Groupage or full load

Feature	Groupage	Full load
Space	You share the trailer	The trailer is yours alone
Price	You pay for what you use	You pay for the whole lorry
Route	Several collections or deliveries on the way	Direct from origin to destination
Dates	Fit the lorry’s route	You set them
When it makes sense	Medium quantities, no extreme rush	Large volume or a fixed date

There is no exact cut-off. Above a certain volume groupage stops paying off and a whole lorry works out better. When you ask us for a price, we tell you which of the two suits you.

Goods that suit groupage

• Loose pallets, from one to several.
• Packages and boxes, well packed.
• Small machinery and parts, such as rotavators or implements.
• Industrial goods and materials in medium quantities.

What does not suit groupage is anything that cannot be shared: loose bulk, which fills the whole body, and goods that could contaminate or be contaminated by other loads, such as organic grain.

How we run groupage

Regular routes

Groupage works when there are routes that repeat. At Transcosur we have regular customers and routes in Spain and France, and that is what lets us combine several customers’ loads on one journey instead of setting off half empty.

Curtainsider trailers

Part loads travel in a curtainsider, which opens along the side. That means each customer’s goods can be loaded and unloaded without moving anyone else’s, and at sites without a loading bay, with a forklift.

Loading order

Loads are placed according to the order of deliveries: what comes off first goes where it can be reached without touching the rest. Each load is labelled and secured separately, so it does not mix or shift with the others.

Tracking

The lorry is GPS tracked throughout the journey, and the traffic office knows at every moment where it is and which loads it is carrying.

Why groupage pays

• You pay less than for a full load when your goods will not fill one.
• You do not wait to gather enough goods for a whole lorry: you send what you have.
• Fewer half-empty lorries on the road, and so lower emissions per pallet moved. We run Euro 5 and Euro 6 vehicles and plan routes to cut CO2.

How to prepare your load for groupage

Because your goods will travel alongside others and may be loaded and unloaded more than once, preparation matters more than with a full load:

• Palletise or pack so the load forms a solid block.
• Stretch-wrap or strap pallets so nothing comes loose.
• Label each package with the consignee.
• Mark anything that cannot take weight on top or has to travel a certain way up.

If your goods are on pallets and fill the lorry, what you need is palletised freight as a full load.

What we need to know to quote

• What the goods are and how they are packed.
• Number of pallets or packages, with dimensions, height and weight.
• Whether they can be stacked.
• Origin and destination, with or without a loading bay.
• Dates: when the goods are ready and when they must arrive.

With that we see which route your load fits and send you a price.

Groupage between Spain and France

France and Spain are our main markets. Having routes in both directions is exactly what makes groupage possible: the more journeys there are, the easier it is to fit in a part load. If your goods are going to or coming from France, see also how we handle road freight between Spain and France.