Freight Operations / Lane planning
Short Haul in trucking
Plain-English explanation
Short haul describes freight moves covering relatively short distances — generally within a single metropolitan area, regional zone, or a range where a driver can complete one or more loads and return to the home terminal in a single day. There is no official mileage cutoff, but in practice short haul is often applied to runs under 200-300 miles. For drivers, short-haul work can qualify for an HOS exemption that simplifies logging requirements. The FMCSA short-haul exemption (49 CFR 395.1(e)) applies to drivers who: - Operate within 150 air-miles of their normal work reporting location - Return to the reporting location within 14 consecutive hours - Are released from duty within 14 hours of starting Drivers who qualify do not need to keep a logbook or use an ELD — they use time records instead. This significantly reduces paperwork burden for local and regional operations. Short-haul freight is often priced differently than over-the-road. Local delivery work may be billed by the hour, by the stop, or by a flat daily rate rather than by the mile, because the loading and unloading time at multiple stops makes per-mile pricing impractical. A driver making 8 stops in a city all day might cover only 80 miles — per-mile pricing would not adequately compensate the time spent at docks. From a carrier perspective, short haul offers the advantage of predictable home time and lower overnight costs, but typically produces lower total revenue per truck than over-the-road lanes because the revenue per driving mile is compressed by dock time.
In a load file, this language usually matters because it changes a rate, appointment, dock instruction, delivery record, or invoice packet.
Why it matters in trucking
Short-haul operations have different cost structures, HOS requirements, and rate models than over-the-road. A carrier moving from OTR into short-haul regional work needs to re-evaluate their pricing model — per-mile rates that work for 1,200-mile runs may not work when most of the day is spent at docks.
The useful details are the ones a dispatcher or billing desk can verify later: who approved the change, when it happened, and which document shows it.
Example in real use
A regional LTL driver starts at the terminal at 06:00, makes deliveries to 9 local businesses within 90 miles of the terminal, and returns by 15:30. Total drive miles: 185. Total day: 9.5 hours. The driver qualifies for the short-haul ELD exemption. Pay is calculated at an hourly rate plus a per-stop incentive, not per mile.
Where it shows up
Short haul shows up in local and regional planning where time can matter more than distance.
What to check first
- Loading and unloading time.
- City traffic, parking, and appointment rules.
- Pay per day or total time, not only miles.
Common mistakes or confusion
- Applying the short-haul ELD exemption without verifying that all three conditions are consistently met — if the driver occasionally stays out past 14 hours or travels more than 150 air-miles, the exemption does not apply for that day and a log is required.
- Pricing short-haul work by the mile using OTR per-mile rates — multi-stop local work has very different time economics than single-pickup single-delivery OTR; per-stop or per-hour pricing is usually more appropriate.
- Confusing short haul with local delivery — short haul has a specific regulatory context (the HOS exemption distance and time criteria); local delivery is informal shorthand for any nearby delivery.
Related terms
Related guides
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Sources and last updated
Last updated: 2026-05-07