Calculate ETA - Linehaul

In this section, we will review a common scenario for a linehaul.

Scenario

It is 8am EST on Monday. A truck is loaded. A new customer needs goods shipped from Michigan to Texas. They need these goods by 8am EST Wednesday. Can the request be met? What is the initial ETA of the load?

Constants

  • Maximum hours of time allowed for driving is 11.
  • After 11 hours of driving, the driver must STOP for 10 hours.
  • ProTrans interpreted DOT average speed is 45 miles per hour.

Calculation

  • Distance from the dock in Michigan to the customer in Texas : 1,746 miles.
  • Straight driving from Point A to Point B: 38.8 hours.
  • Driver can cover 495 miles per session (11 hours x 45 miles per hour= 495 miles).
  • Driver stops on Monday at 7:00pm and must remain stopped for 10 hours.
  • Driving resumes Tuesday at 5:00am and travels an additional 495 miles. Total distance covered is 990 miles.
  • Driver stops on Tuesday at 4:00pm and must remain stopped for 10 hours.
  • Driving resumes on Wednesday at 2:00am. There are 6 hours remaining until the desired arrival time.
    • Assuming ProTrans DOT interpreted regulation average speed at 45 miles per hour, the driver will have traveled a total of 1,260 miles.
  • 1,260 miles < 1,746 miles. Driver cannot reach the destination by the desired time.

Assuming the driver was to continue...

  • At the end of the driving session on Wednesday (1:00pm), total distance traveled = 1,485 miles.
  • Driver stops – Wednesday 1:00pm and must remain stopped for 10 hours.
  • Driving resumes Thursday 11:00pm. There are 261 miles left to drive (1,485-1,746).
  • Assuming an average speed of 45mph, the driver will reach the dock in 5hr 48min.
  • The ETA for this load is Thursday at 4:48 AM EST.

Result

The customer’s time requirement cannot be met. Based on the ETA calculation, the driver will need to travel an additional 485 miles as of 8am Wednesday.

The ETA for this load is Thursday at 4:48 AM EST.

Other Considerations

You may wonder what would happen to the ETA if a load arrived early or late to a stop. Whenever a load arrives to a stop early or late, or if an extra in-transit check call is added, the system subtracts the distance traveled from the total distance and recalculates the ETA using the exact same logic as detailed earlier.

The system assumes loads that arrive early to a stop don’t depart until the latest scheduled departure time. Since waiting adds to on-duty time, ETA may change if the driver needs to stop because he reaches his maximum on-duty time before his maximum driving time.